Making an Entrance

Having made the most of this lovely mild weather over the weekend by catching up on a little gardening, my thoughts now turn once again to inside the house, where I am (very) slowly turning my house into a home which reflects my tastes rather than those of the previous owners.



Note this is NOT my hall although I wish it were........

I am the worst kind of decorator in that although being quite competent with a sander and a paintbrush, I am very prone to acting on a whim and as the mood takes me.

Thus we have a very-nearly-almost-but-not-quite finished family room / dining room (really just the french windows to finish now, honestly that's all).

A half started study/bedroom ( two walls with one coat of paint only, so a long way to go with this one......)

And

a half finished hall

So it is with a sigh of regret that before I can honestly allow my conscience (and paintbrush) to tackle the living room, to rid the walls of their dark gold colour and replace with a paler colour (like in the images below).........

and before I can start to paint over the gloomy battleship grey cupboards in the kitchen and transform then into something like those in the the lovely kitchens below.........

 



I really must finish the hall first.

There's a staircase to prime/undercoat,  and then paint as it is currently stained dark brown.
Having stripped the newel post a while back and found the results not all that wonderful, I have decided to paint all but the handrail which I will strip and keep natural wood, along with the newel post.

Then there are the walls to finish - they've already had a couple of coats to cover the dark mushroom colour - and the woodwork - the picture rail and skirting board already primed and undercoated, just needing  a top coat of satinwood  - and then the 5 internal doors, thankfully only 2 left to top coat.

I think thats all :(

And so I thought I'd share with you some lovely photos of hall and entrance ways that I am finding helpful in making me grit my teeth and get out the dust sheets.

all images from Vintage Home

I think this last one would be a little hard to live with, albeit it makes a most cheerful entrance!

Thank you for all your interesting comments on my last post - I hope you enjoy these images too!

Inspirational Rooms

As you've all had an overdose of pictures of my home in the last few posts

as I've shared my furniture painting progress,

I thought it might be nice to have a look inside some other homes for a change!

So I've found some gorgeous interiors here from one of my fav tumblrs, Vintage Home, which I hope you'll enjoy

cushions to make a statement in front of an eclectic selection of artwork

a collection of colourful patterned bargello cushions displayed against a turquoise wall

more interesting cushions and an eclectic mix of vintage furniture

 simple stripes with a limited palette can add a real punch when woodwork is painted to match

an unusual but successful colour combination with a comfortable velvet chaise paired with bold wallpaper and natural textured rug

cosy little attic bedroom in zesty shades

simple country style using a limited palette of strong powder blue and off whites

I just love this chair in this simple room conducive to creating!

cheerful modern country style with limited palette - love the stripey sofas with that hit of colour supplied by the throw and flowers!

pretty country style entrance hall

love these colours and the beautiful painted cupboard

pure vintage mix

strong colours and bold prints here used to great effect

now what a clever idea to display all those old shirt buttons!

a beautifully colour co-ordinated yarn stash to die for!

And the cupboard's just gorgeous!!!



Hope this has stimulated your homemaking creativity a little!!

Or, at the very least, provided you with some eye candy!

Painted Furniture

Last week was a busy one in terms of painting furniture, shopping for vintage things for the house and  meeting up with friends, leaving precious little time for a blog post, so once again there has been a lack of posting!

Bessie

and Logan both "helped" in giving a new lease of life to a tired old brown varnished 1940s chest of drawers, now painted and waxed using the marvellous Annie Sloan paints that a new shop in a near by town now supplies - hooray, for I have been wanting to try out these wonder paints for a while now, and although I have a bit of tweaking still to do to get the effect I want, I have not been disappointed!

The chest of drawers is now painted in Paris Grey, a lovely chalky pale blue/grey

I may distress the old brass handles more so you can see more of the brass again,  although I did not like them enough to leave them completely unpainted

I painted another old barley twist table, this time using Country Grey and an antique wax finish

And I just couldn't resist buying this gorgeous dark turquoisy teal colour Provence and using it immediately, so I painted an old brown varnished standard lamp base (bought last year at a boot fair for a few pounds) to give a shot of glorious colour!

in place in the sitting room BEHIND Mr Gs chair so he can't see it!

Still to be waxed so the finished result will probably look a little darker, but it makes me smile every time I see it!

Needless to say poor old Mr (stick-in-the mud!) G is really not too sure about it - it's all too modern and adventurous for him, it having taken a year or two for him to adjust to the idea of even subtle pale painted furniture, this has just blown his mind!

So to ensure a bit of domestic harmony I may use the antique wax which will tone it down a bit - but Bella loves it and so do I !

 

But surely he can't object to this antique French gilded wood lampbase which arrived this morning, won for £4.50 on eBay - being an accountant he'll be sure to appreciate the VFM (value for money) it represents!

And I shall promise not to paint it.

And he seemed to like the new but antique style clock which I found for the kitchen for £6.50

I just blame it all on books like this..........

and the lovely book mentioned in my last post ;)

for giving me ideas..........

And he definitely liked this little antique oak chair I found and oiled using Danish oil

So it's not all disharmony here really




As Logan



and Bessie



can testify......

or maybe would do, were they awake!




Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post!