overhaul

Junk Shop Sideboard Makeover

before and after, Decorating, Makeover, Upcycling
FINDING A JUNK SHOP SIDEBOARD

The Armoire which caused so much chaos, see prior story about internet fraudsters, was finally sold to a lovely local lady.  This left a gaping chasm in the hallway, and I needed to find something in which I could store art paper supplies, and general ‘stuff’.  I trawled local ads and ebay, looking for an Architects Plan chest.  But a) they are really expensive even in dire condition and b) the depth dimensions are large, and It would have been a little too deep for the space in the hall.  So I needed something long, waist height so it did not interfere with the visual diagonal line of the banisters and with multiple storage options, oh and also to be as cheap as possible.  The local charity shops proved fruitless and I was beginning to look online at more expensive and new options.  But I do like a bargain, so that was not really doing it for me….

So I set off to a shop in my town that has house clearance stock and opens at strange random times.  It is a hit and miss affair, but this time I struck gold.  I found a dresser base style sideboard in full-on orange pine, all for under £80, brilliant!

Here is the offending item pre-makeover:

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The sideboard is modern pine, solidly made but way too orange and dull.

GETTING STUCK IN

I felt like something dramatic was needed for the sideboard, and found some graphite Annie Sloan chalk paint left over in the stockpile.  I gave it a really good sand and two coats of paint.  This is the point when you start something and you always think “Uh oh…”, but there is no going back once you have begun!  I used about a 5th of an Annie Sloan pot of chalk paint for the whole sideboard, (and that was 2 coats), and the half a tin of clear wax.  I recommend dipping your paintbrush in water each time before you dip it into the chalk paint, then swirl it once before applying the paint, this creates a much smoother paint finish than neat chalk paint.

The original drawer handles were really pretty cup shape ones in aged brass which I thought would look great against the graphite, so I kept them, and added new matching knobs to the two cupboards.IMG_1200

A coat of clear wax was applied all over once the paint was bone dry.  I also gave the top surface area another coat to add extra protection (my family brutalise the furniture a lot so better to be safe than sorry).  I let it dry overnight and then gave it a serious rubbing to buff the wax up to a sheen.

THE RESULTS

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I  LOVE it!  The grey is not totally 100% solid, so it has an interesting effect.  And I have a fabulous huge surface area to play with for dressing.  So I started with some glass domes:

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Guest room overhaul part 1

Decorating, Makeover

I have a small second spare guest room that is languishing at the top of the house, and one that tended to get used as a dumping ground for all the things I mean to sort out one day, but never get around to doing.  I needed to make it dual purpose as both a room with a piano for my daughter to practice in, (thanks to my godaughter who has lent us one…) and also as a workable spare room.

The room is in the eaves of the house, so it has an angled ceiling and walls, and a dormer window.  It has always been a cream and pale blue scheme, with patterned sisal carpet.  There is a cunning daybed which opens out either into 2 x singles or into a double, (and this is only used at Christmas and Easter when relatives overflow, as we have another larger guest room for visitors to use throughout the year).

The shelves made it really cluttered to add a piano into the mix, so I had a serious purge and cleared them all out and removed the shelves.  I then worked around the existing carpet, bed, artwork and chest of drawers to come up with a new scheme that was fresher and more spacious.  I wanted to keep the paintings which are by family members, they already have a blue theme in their colours, plus beautiful maple and gilded frames.

The mission:

To spend as little as possible on raw materials, and to refresh the room using whatever I had lying around the house.  I did a rough moodboard to keep my mind focused.

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Decorating:

I found a great wallpaper called ‘Charlotte‘ to use on the back wall where the shelves once stood.  It is a light blue paisley on white and cost only £18 a roll from B&Q, plus it is paste the wall paper which is amazing, (first time I have used paste the wall paper and it is SO easy). It took less than an hour to whack it up and I only needed one roll.  I then repainted the remaining walls in First Dawn by Dulux, which is pretty much an exact match for the pale blue used in the wallpaper.  The woodwork was all repainted in Farrow and Ball’s Wimborne White, which is quite a bright white for them.  The room instantly looked fresher, brighter and bigger.

Total cost: £56.41

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