30 October 2012

Annie Sloan Mini-Makeovers

Well, my gloom seems to have been lifted. I went for a lovely walk yesterday and when I got back, after thawing my fingers out over a cup of tea and a chocolate chip cookie, I grabbed my Annie Sloan stash and set too. As you might have noticed, I am a bit of a hoarder. I buy things and then put them in the spare room until I can decide what to do with them and where in my house I can find a space for them. 

A couple of years ago. I bought a lovely oil painting of a boat in a harbour from one of my local junk shops. Possibly not everyone's cup of tea but I thought it looked kind of like some of the little harbours in deepest darkest Cornwall, the kind that has managed to stay hidden from the hoards of rampaging tourists that descend on us during the summer months, (or maybe even somewhere in the Mediterranean) so, I bought it for princely sum of 50p. The frame was a bit ugly but nevertheless, I still really liked it so I put it in my spare room awaiting a transformation. 

Before
Cue Annie Sloan, a coat of Old White, some clear wax and YES ...... some antique wax as well!! I was feeling brave. As the picture itself is old-ish, I thought I should make the frame look older so I bravely gave it a coat of antique wax over the coat of clear wax and then rubbed everything back to expose some of the gold that was on the frame before I painted it. I have to say I am really happy with it.

After
The next thing to get the Annie treatment was a cute little trug. It was a present from one of my daughter for Mother's Day last year and it had some lovely primulas planted in it. Once the flowers had died back, I planted the foliage outside in my garden, where they are doing very nicely, and I put the little trug in the spare room with the rest of my stash of lovely things.

Before 
I initially painted the base, inside and out, with a coat of Greek Blue, a gorgeous sunshine blue like a Greek island sky. However, I then had a bit of an epiphany. My Christmas theme this year is red and white rustic and I realised that I should have painted it white so I could use it to put something Christmassy in. So, I set to and painted over the Greek Blue with a coat of Old White (although it might need a second coat, I haven't decided yet).
 Et Voila ....... cute little trug all ready for Christmas.

After

2 comments:

  1. Lovely upcycling Kay! The picture looks a million times better in that lovely frame ... love, love, love Annie Sloan!

    Claire xx

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  2. Love the picture Kay it looks so different with the frame done in the cream.The trug could probably do with another coat.It will look lovely at christmas filled with pine cones,holly and baubles..great xx

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