Edwardian dressing table in milk paint completed!

The light is not good today but we dragged it outside for its photo shoot. Let me just remind you of the 'before' (which is not a proper before as the top has been refinished and the drawer bases replaced!)

And now?

It doesn't look too frantic when you see it all together...

 

You don't distress it, the paint just flakes off where it feels like it. There's not a great deal of control or symmetry.

 

 

So what do you think? Honestly? I know everyone is very kind here in the world of blog. But would you really give it room space? Does anyone think I've ruined it? 

Just curious. I really like it. I think it makes a change from flat chalk painted pieces! So I won't be offended. 

You can see more about the painting process here 

   

 

 

 

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Edwardian dressing table in milk paint...update...

Wow! Sorry about the delay there folks. Life has well and truly gotten in the way! I have been otherwise engaged with teaching Year 2 to sew, being a single parent while the husband works abroad, surviving a week with THREE seven year olds birthday parties and creating a plumbing crisis.

I thought it would be a nice surprise for the husband if I could change the bathroom taps and we might actually be able to use the hot tap. How hard can it be to change a tap? Answer: very hard if your pipes are not modern sizes. Anyway he was a little bit cross at the thought of coming home to a house with no water so I put it all back together and miraculously the old tap is now fixed (?) but leaks because I don't have the correct tighteny uppy thing. And that'll have to wait...

And I have a COLD! I don't ever get colds, I thought myself virtually superhuman, but after about 4 years cold-free I have succumbed to the lurgy. I'm very disappointed to be a mere mortal. Pah!

And there you all were, probably thinking the dressing table had all gone horribly wrong and I didn't want to show you. Well, that's a matter of opinion!  I like it. But I can see that it's not going to be to everyones taste! It's furniture marmite!

You might not believe this but I don't actually paint EVERYTHING white or cream. I do love the 'pale and interesting' look, it's true but in the past I have flirted with colour. The huge bookcase in the living room is green. See? I can be wild!

Okay, you're unlikely to see me painting furniture in strong colours often. But I love green, grey, blue and beige in interior decor. 

This Edwardian dressing table made me want to do a stronger colour. I wanted to go a little bit masculine with it. So I chose taupe. I only have two colours of milk paint, cream and taupe! Playing it safe!

The taupe turned out to be not very taupey at all and for a while there it just looked cream. I had some problems with it too. I did about 3 coats with very poor coverage and no hint of cracking whatsoever. It dawned on me that the paint was too watery. (Milk paint comes in powder form.) So I mixed it up a bit thicker and we hey!

Perhaps a bit too much?

 

Sometimes you've just got to hope it'll look alright in the end... don't be scared! (Okay you can be a bit scared!) If this was my first time with milk paint I would have wept!

The big reveal is not quite ready yet. Sorry. I thought I'd have it done by now. But here's a sneaky peak at the bits I have finished, to whet your appetites. Or not.

It's very grungey. 

I need a little more painting time, a lot of waxing and a dry day so we can drag it outside for it's photo shoot.

And I need a lot of hot ribena. Every cloud has a silver lining.

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Furniture from friends and the Friday flea market...

I've had a lovely week. I brought a new piece of furniture in from the garage to work on. A friend gave me this. It's an Edwardian dressing table. Don't I have nice friends?

 

  

It fits quite nicely between the pile of flooring and the pushed back dining table. This isn't really a 'before' shot as I've already removed the mirror section and refinished the top. I had to replace the drawer bases as they were badly warped making the drawers impossible to pull out. I also decided to lose the two wing mirrors as they are very clunky and make the whole thing absurdly wide. 

This shot shows the difference between the old wood finish at the top and the refinished part looking glossy and rich. The rest of the wood is being painted in milk paint and it's not going to plan so far, but I'm hoping to finish it all next week. 

Freddy is casting a critical eye over my work...he likes the smell of the milk paint! I'll come back and show you when it's done...

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Dee  from Dee Dee's vintage retro delights and I share a love of these vintage big eyed animal ornaments and I said I would post a picture of mine which I inflict upon my daughter although she'd rather have Disney tat on her shelves. Dee has an entire mouse orchestra of these that I'm envious of!

I love these guys! They've all been collected from boot sales and charity shops.Against my daughters will. Aw come on! How can you not like them?

I squeezed in a trip to the flea market this morning and found this:

 

Isn't that lovely? (It's wet because I washed it)

And the other side?

It's a crate lid! My crate fetish refuses to go away! Sadly the rest of the crate was missing but I got this for £1 and I'll turn it into a rustic sign. I think I like the top view best and the sides will be like a little frame...

I think we're in for a further dumping of snow tonight and then a downpour to wash it all away. Not a moment too soon. The snow has turned to ice on all the footpaths here and I've been risking life and limb on the school run. Hooray for rain! x

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