Outing my Urges... furniture urges and a coffee table makeover!

Happy Monday Lovelies...

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Yep it's true I have urges of the furniture/reno kind, sometimes they are very strong and impulsive...  they compel me to start ripping up lino in our old kitchen, 8 months pregnant on a Sunday evening whilst hubby went out to get milk! 

And other times they grow, I'll see something and it'll quietly 'bug' me for ages until I give in to the urge!  The coffee table in our family room was just this kind of urge, a grower.... 


     


Before ~ He didn't stand a chance ;)

It was one of the first pieces of furniture I purchased myself when I moved out of home, long before kids and before I was married.  I brought it home in the back of my teeny Ford Festiva Trio and it's lived in 4 houses with us, in two States...  one might say he's well travelled.  

It's old now, it's a tank and boy if he could talk! 



Before Close Up

I guess I've kept it around this long in part for sentimental reasons but also it's very practical for the family room.  This coffee table is super solid and practical; we play games on it, eat off it, craft on it...  I'm not in the least bit precious about it.  I was almost ready to farewell him in favour of a new one, but it's the perfect size and I haven't seen one I love enough to replace him.  


So back to my urges, whilst I sat having brekkie on Saturday morning I couldn't stop looking around our family room....

We have two chocolate brown leather sofas (they are super comfy and again take a beating, but wouldn't be my first choice...  sometimes you need to let the Mr have a say in things;).  Anyway with the sofas, a dark stained TV console, and coffee table it was a sea of brown... Way.Too.Much.Brown!  Something had to give, I see this as natural progression, my hubby thinks I'm nuts and the kids think I'll paint anything that doesn't move!  




So as I downed my cup of tea I decided that the coffee table had finally made its way to the top of my 'paint hit list'; he didn't stand a chance....

I dragged the big sucker outside started sanding. 


He previously had a very dark reddy/brown stain.  I primed and painted the base first.


This only made the top stand out more and look well, just wrong.  So I sanded and sanded the top to remove the stain. 

My plan was to sand it back and give it a coat of clear sealer, but I still wasn't feelin it... 

So I decided to try tone it down by giving the top a wash of light grey, I was aiming for driftwood....   I heart driftwood. 




New crystal cut glass knob completes him

I also changed his hardware, I mean what's a makeover without some new bling!

He was originally sporting an iron ring pull... but it just didn't go with his new look.  So I added a crystal cut glass knob 'to complete him'...



I think he turned out just fine and is 'kickin it' back in front of the tellie...



He might just stay with us for a little bit longer... that is until another urge strikes ;)

Jo xx

Do you have urges of the furniture kind?  Love to hear about 'em!

Susan's Makeover and why she's not Lazy!

Hello there lovelies!

There's a definite chill in the air as we close in on Winter here in Sydney...  I'm loving our new heater and a glass of wine on this Friday evening (TGIF!).

I have two boys who love drawing, writing and general list making... this all creates one massive mess, refer to Exhibit A below...


Exhibit A ~ Massive mess

 
They have a dedicated spot in our 'library', which sounds rather posh and like we live in a manor house... but really it's just the dining room we don't use, and as there's no TV in there and it's where they do their homework.. it got dubbed the library when we first moved in and it kind of stuck. 



Anyway the library was messy, disorganised and generally drove me crazy!!

I recently stumbled across a Lazy Susan in an Op shop...





Before her makeover

I already have one, which I use in the pantry so I was already a fan of Susan, and even though I wasn't sure exactly where I'd use a second one, I decided she'd come home with me anyway.

Here she is when I got her home... crazy fake tan and generally unloved.


As I thought about where I'd best utilise Susan, I began to wonder why / how she got the Lazy tag... who was Susan anyway?  I had to know. 

So it turns out the Lazy Susan was not named after a spectacularly lazy chick at all.  The exact origin is unclear, but one theory is that the name derives from 1700s when servants were referred to as 'Sussans'.  The round spinning food server as we know it got it's official name in 1917... so Susie's almost 100 years old... you go girlfriend!

Organised space = creative boys = happy mummy

I sanded, primed and painted her in two coats of semi gloss white.

Then I sorted out the jumble of pencils, crayons, textas etc etc into some tins and white pots from Ikea.

She works a treat, much better... 

 




The boys were super excited when they got home from school and without any prompting studied for the entire afternoon! 

The thought crossed my mind to check their temperatures, as I was seriously concerned they might be coming down with something ;)




I reckon every home could use a Susan!
So if you come across one be sure to be nice; she's friendly, useful and far from lazy!



Have a great weekend lovelies!

 

Jo xx

Mother's Day and the Tale of the Little Wicker Side table

Hi there coastal lovelies!

My boys :)



I hope everyone had a fab Mother's Day, and because I'm a mum it's taken me a few days to get this post out!

I enjoyed pancakes for brekkie, not made by me, received 2 gorgeous cards and a 'jar of love' filled with cute little notes and "to be shared" lollies!


We took a leisurely drive down the coast, which was lovely, very windy and a little chilly but lovely.   Stopping at Stanwell Tops, and on to Thirroul for fish n chips and a catch up with some dear friends.  Then Nachos for dinner, again not made by me!

All in all a pretty high calorific day but I figure Mother's Day is a free pass and any calories consumed don't count!

Now Sharing the tale of the little wicker side table....

This little guy had seen certainly seen better days, most people would probably pass him by, but I thought I'd try to save him.

Top before

Firstly a good scrubbing was in order, my littlest man helped with this (you can just see him in the background!). Warm soapy water with some disinfectant.





Top After

Then I made a mix of paint with some water and layered on various shades of grey and some white for the final coat



....and here he is rocking his new 'weathered coastal' look ;)

And the little Weathered wicker side table  met some lovely magazines and lived happily ever after... the end.

Enjoy the down hill run to the weekend ;)

Jo xx

Why I Happy Danced through this week and some Vintage Treasures!

Hello lovelies,

I seriously have no idea where the last week went...  absolutely flew by!  There are just never enough hours in the day.  Since I last posted lots of stuff has happened... lots! Two crazy exciting things happened...  I won a prize, me, I never win stuff!

Two fabulous and generous women, Renata from Forming Circles and Alison from Mums Who Make ran a competition via Facebook called 'Pay it Forward'.  In short, they asked for submissions about why, how, what you would do with a market stall.  Anyway out of a total of 140 entries, they picked 12...  Coastal Home Love was one!  I could not believe my eyes when I read the announcement.  I'm so happy and grateful for this amazing opportunity.  The prize was a $500 market package to help set up a stall at a market of my choice!  Lots of work to do now, lots, but lucky for me I love what I do :) 

Then if that wasn't enough; the cherry on top came yesterday... I got home after a long day, to find a story published by ShireWomen on their Facebook and web pages, about Coastal Home Love!  Big huge thank you to Alison and Rebecca for this feature article, you girls rock!

So I have pretty much happy danced through the entire week!

I'm sorry that was all rather wordy, so to balance I have some pretty pictures now of a some wonderful vintage treasures I found this week.  I heart treasure hunting, and got lucky with this haul!

 
The cream crochet blanket, I love!; it's the perfect size for draping over knees (Nana style), or hanging over the back of a chair and it's made of wool, no marks or pulls... Score!


I got two vintage silver trays, the large one has pretty engraving, is really heavy and stamped on it's bottom! ;) 


I found a cute wicker bread basket, a lovely oval shaped platter and a white ceramic bowl with twin blue stripes. 


I also found a little tree thinga-ma-bob on a stand, I think it's for jewellery, it'll get a little spray job and sit on my dressing table.



Now I may or may not have a thing for ice buckets; I mean how many does one need after all?  But I just can't seem to pass them up....






Two more join my little collection, including a stainless steal one, just a little bit posh, and a lovely little vintage enamel, nautical style one... glee!


Wishing you all a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Jo xx

Furniture Ramblings on a Chilly Autumn day....

G'day!

We've had a true Autumn weekend in Sydney, sunshine with a chill in the air!  We schlepped down to our local appliance shop where Hubby bought a gas heater.   It's not very attractive, but I guess function sometimes wins out, and with electricity prices soaring it's possibly a good idea. Personally I'd rather a crochet granny blankie on the lounge, but he wasn't too keen on that idea... can't imagine why!

We also stopped in at our second home, Bunnings where I bought some new paint in some delish colours which I can't wait to use! 

I managed to finish up a couple of small projects including a pair of nesting tables.

I just love nesting tables, they are like the penguins of the furniture world, they mate for life!   There's something about their sweet coupling that gets me every time.   Anyway before you think I'm completely loopy, here's a few pics of the lovely couple.....

Before their makeover, not so much a glamour couple...

Here's the happy couple after after their makeovers,  enjoying a cup of tea and some quiet time.

They received a good sanding down, priming and two coats of a soft French Grey. 

I finished with some light destressing and a coat of bees wax... I seriously think this is like the botox for furniture, gives it such a lift!


Wishing you all a brand new Shiny week!

Jo xx

Cute little side table in Chalky French Blue

Good evening!

With the school holidays behind us here, I finally got to finish up a project...  I was starting to have painting withdrawals! 



I bought this little side table last week and just knew it had potential to be a little stunner... 


The before photo was taken on location in my workshop (aka the garage, much to my hubs disdain, not sure why he thinks the car should get first dibs on this luxury accommodation!)..

... anyhow moving right along; this little guy sat sad and unloved, missing his original nesting partner.  That is until I rescued him...

I thought he was the perfect candidate for a test run on a new paint.  I've been wanting to try chalk paint for ages, this paint is not chalk paint per se, but I think it gives a similar finish.  It's in the Dulux Limewash range and I chose a French blue colour, so yummy! 

It was a very different painting experience for me;  I learnt two things,  one this paint does not like cold weather!!  It seems to clumpify (yep just made up new word)... ie. it kinda just clumps together and solidifies (which come to think of it is probably a better word than clumpify!)..  anyway this meant I had to sand back a few times in between coats. 


Secondly, it doesn't like to get wet before sealing,  I'd just finished sanding and was ready to give it a wax, but then the phone rang.... on returning I found a bird had flown under the patio and pooped right on top (cheeky little rascal!).  I'm hoping this is a sign of good luck!  I had to wash off the ahem, poo, which left water marks (arrgghh!)...   back to more sanding and another coat of paint!

I will definitely use this paint again, I love the soft aged finish it produced, it sanded back a treat and the brushed was up super easily.

As for Lil Blue, I think he's a keeper ;)  For now he's in the Master bedroom, however, I do tend to rotate furniture around the house on a pretty regular basis, so this little guy may have some more travels in him!  I hope you like him too.

Jo xx

Hello is anybody out there?

Hello Bloggy world! 

I'm Jo and I'm a total newbie at this, I hope you'll be patient and kind with me whilst I tackle this rather steep learning curve!

I've been a blog follower for a few years now and it's always been a dream to start my own, but procrastination is my middle name, so it's taken me a while to take the plunge.  I started my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coastal-Home-Love/216726428338470 last year, however, only 'published' it in January 2012...  Yay! first tick off my New Year's Resolution list!  This blog is my next step towards following my creative dreams... 

I have some great projects lined up and can't wait to share! In the meantime any tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)  I hope you'll 'follow me' on my upcycling and vintage adventures!

Jo  xx