Monday 25 June 2012

Crazy for Candy Colours!

I had the overwhelming urge to get creative last week! It's been a couple weeks since ive had time to do anything! Been so busy setting up the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Countryinthecity and trying to get my head round the twitter world (@CountryITC)... so I eventually just had to do something fun!

I found a few small pieces hiding in cupboards which I spent the evenings this week painting!

You might have read my blog on the spice rack in my kitchen. Before I had that  new rack, I was using another small wood shelving unit for a spice rack. I had planned on just throwing out the old one...so unlike me?!...but then my compultion to save everything kicked in and I decided I would give it a make over!
Spice Rack (Before)

I had, for weeks now, been chomping at the bit to try out my new paints! One of them was Dulux Willow Tree Silk Paint. Its like a gorgeous fresh minty green! I was thinking about what I could try it out on!? ....This little shelving unit popped into my mind again. I cleaned it up and gave it a quick rub over with fine sandpaper. I always lay brown paper roll under my painting projects if im painting indoors to protect the floor from drips, its cheap and since there is never enough newspaper lying around its always good to have...also I am a messy painter!!

Whilst rummaging in the storage cupboard for the spice rack I found this old mug wall rack that I had rescued from my grandparents house a few weeks ago...it was pretty worn and the varnish was peeling off of it, but if its made of wood then I will always keep it for a rainy day painting project! Also, as it was peeling it just made it easier to give it a quick rub over with some sandpaper.
Mug Wall Rack (Before)
I had loads of little sample pots of paint in various colours and chose Marble IV by The Paint and Paper library which is a chalky emultion paint..it looked grey on the tin but was more like a dusty lilac. I gave the mug hanger a coat of this paint too and left them both to dry.
Watching paint dry can be fun!

I then caught the painting bug and so dug out this little wall shelf & a little stool ready to make them over too!
Wall Shelves (Before)

Stool (Before)

I had a new pink emulsion which I used to paint the shelves. Its Dulux Matt Emulsion Paint in Sorbet! Which looked good enough to eat!! I then decided to do the stool with the same clour as the spice rack.

Here's the results!
Spice Rack (After)
Mug Wall Rack (After)
Re-purposed into a jewellery hanger!
What do you think?

Wall Shelf (After)

Stool (After)
I hadnt planned on painting all these things in candy colours it just was where my mood took me this week....


Friday 1 June 2012

All the books in one place...

Our collection of books has been scattered across our home for the last couple of years....we just find a place to put some of them here and a spare shelf to squash some in there and pile some up over there...So i've spent ages looking for the right bookshelf to go in our hallway to house all these books in one place. It had to be half height as it was going in the hallway and I didnt want it to be tall and looming over me everytime I walked past. It had to be wider than your average bookcase, with deep shelves...its difficult to find something when you already know exactly what you want!?! In the mean time we were using one of those cheap wooden rack shelves from Argos. It did the job, but was ugly! I had to walk past it everyday as it was in our hallway...and so it was constantly at the front of my mind that it needed replacing with something more my style!
After what felt like years of always looking out for the perfect bookshelf  ...I finally found that perfect bookshelf (and at the perfect price - £15!!) at a car boot sale about 2 months ago.

I was probably about as excited, if not more, than Dumbos mother waiting for the stork to deliver her new baby!
It finally arrived!!!
Book shelf (Before)

Its actually an old dresser top!!
It has beautiful barley twist down the sides...Barley twist is something that 10 years ago I would have gagged at the idea of having in my home. I was all about the minimal straight lines etc. Now I love my furniture to have character and for it to be interesting and beautiful and to make a statement.
This item comes with a tale...(of course!)
From start to finish getting has been a nightmare!
I snapped it up as soon as I saw it at the car boot sale....We lugged it across the car park to the car, opened the boot...and it was about 2 inches to big to fit in the opening! Eeek! This had never happened before! You would be amazed at some of the things ive fit in that car! I made some phone calls to see if I could find someone with a van to come and help me...no joy!
After an hour of standing in the car park trying to think of way to get it home, begrudgingly, I had to admit failure and take it back to the guy I had bought it from! Luckily he could see how much I really loved it and offered to bring it back the following week for me to collect! Brilliant! I could arrange a van to collect it...so after several failed attempts to collect the bookshelf over the course of the next 7 weeks...he eventually agreed to drop it off to my house as this had now dragged on for just shy of 2 months!

Book shelf (Before)

It was filthy so needed a good clean, and it had some holes and bumps so my husband filled those in, once the filler was dry he sanded it back flat and we gave it a couple coats of Farrow & Ball Paint to freshen it up. The paint colour I chose to use (because that was the one I had most of) was pretty much exactly the same as it was before...so the after picture isnt that dramatic a change!  
It does look much fresher now though!
Book Shelf (After)

.....The only thing left to worry about now, was would it fit!? The space in the hallway that it was destined to go was only roughly about as wide as the shelf, I hadnet measured it so really had no idea!? If the bookshelf was wider than the space it would stick out into the doorway of our spare bedroom. I had a back up location for it incase it was too big...its always best to be prepared...usually that means having a measuring tape...but in this case it was just about mentally preparing myself that it wasnt going to go to plan.
Miraculously it fit. EXACTLY. Another centimeter and it would have been too big! How lucky!
Book Shelf (After)
You can see on the right there that it meets the edge of the doorway perfectly!
So despite all the difficulty in getting it to my house...its finally here and its even more beautiful than I remember! Most certainly was worth the wait!!
......Such a shame to have to cover it in books really!!