Wallpaper Dilemma!

I decided this weekend i'd kick start decorating the tiny back room at the boyfriends - it'll eventually be a spare bedroom/dressing room & I have been given sole decorating responsibility :) Exciting times!

I'd already decided I wanted it to be quite clean & light, bringing colour in with accessories & soft furnishings, so embarked on a little trip to B&Q to pick up some paint. Whilst I was there I took a little detour to the wallpaper aisle, not expecting to find anything that would really jump out at me & was pleasantly surprised when I spotted these super cute designs -

                            Left - Statement Brighton                                                          Right - La Vie Ordinaire

At just £19.98 a roll it's an absolute bargain & the playful style is exactly the kind of thing I was after - I think they would make a really quirky statement wall whilst still keeping the room nice & light -  I just can't decide which I prefer, I really love the colours in the Brighton design, but think the scenes in 'La Vie Ordinaire' would suit a dressing room more - decisions decisions! What do you guys think?!

Natter, Knickers and Nipple Tassels!

A few months ago now I attended a crafts evening with a couple of friends. All I knew about said evening was that it was titled "Natter, Knickers and Nipple Tassels", that it was held at a friend of a friends house and that wine was involved. Sold!

We arrived at 7:30, box of wine in tow, really not knowing what to expect and it was so much fun!

The lady running the evening was called Naomi, as soon as we were in the door we were presented with a glass (or in my case teacup!) of wine and within about 5 minutes were knee deep in material, picking out what we were going to make our first pair of knickers out of. There was a table full of feathers, beads, sequins and the biggest bowls of glitter ever!

I came away with a pair of home made knickers which I sewed myself (!) on one of the sewing machines that had been set up for us to use (under Naomi's watchful eye of course! My past experiences with sewing machines have been bordering on catastrophic) and 3 pairs of nipple tassels, 2 sans the tassels to be worn under clothing as jazzy nipple covers and one amazingly over the top pair for *ahem* "special" occasions!

I also left with the overwhelming urge to set up my own little sweatshop, make my own pants and never buy a shop bought pair again, but of course that didn't go quite to plan. I have however developed a penchant for drinking alcoholic beverages out of teacups!

Naomi also runs her own business, Sparkly Pink Designs, which has lots of lovely bits and bobs, take a look! http://www.sparklypinkdesigns.co.uk/

Easy Peasy Paint Job

I thought i'd take advantage of my free time a couple of weekends ago and do something productive. There are a few pieces of super old bedroom furniture that have been sitting in our garage for as long as I can remember. My mum and dad inherited them from my Great Great Aunt (I think!) about 20 years ago and apart from being very grubby and a bit battered they were in surprisingly good condition when I finally managed to unearth them from their cobwebby corner. 

After discussing the whole idea of giving the bedside tables a new lease of life with a guy at work I discovered you could purchase what could possibly be the best 3 things EVER.

Spray Primer.     Spray Paint.     Spray Varnish.

Who knew?! … Anything that means pretty much no cleaning up time is a winner for me, so after a quick trip to B&Q and armed with my trusty aerosol cans and a few sheets of sandpaper I was good to go.

So here are my handy tips for painting wooden furniture:

1) Wash Wood - My tables were very grubby, so I gave them a quick wash down before doing anything, unless yours are of a similar state i'd say you can go ahead and skip this part!

2) Sand Wood - I went over the whole thing with a bit of standard sand paper just to smooth out any little chips and cracks in the old paint work. It's also meant to help the primer adhere to the wood better

3) Wash Wood - Wash down all the areas you're planning on spraying to get rid of any dust/grease/general grubbiness that might affect the paint job

4) Let it dry 

5) Prime Wood with handy spray primer - So simple! … Just follow the instructions on the can, mine said to hold the can 30cm away from the surface and spray in back/forth motion. Basically just keep the can moving!

I gave mine a couple of coats with white primer (I was going with a lightish overall colour, the primer came in a few different colours so i'd say it depends on your final colour as to what colour primer you'd go for.) 

It only took about 15 minutes between coats so really isn't very time consuming going for a couple! 

6) Let it Dry (Touch Dries in about 20 min)

7) Paint Wood with handy spray paint - I went with Rust-Oleum Slate Blue. As with the primer I gave mine a couple of coats, pretty much the same technique, just keep the can moving and make sure you get in all the gaps!

8) Let it Dry (Touch Dries in about 20 mins)

9) Varnish Wood with handy spray varnish - Same again! … Back and Forth, keep the can moving, couple of coats etc etc

10) Let it dry

DONE!

 I also bought some metallic gold spray paint for the drawer pulls which came out lovely and shiny!

The only problem I encountered is that after spraying one of the tables I realised i'd need another can of paint to do the 2nd, and on returning to B&Q they had sold out of my colour… So i currently have one beautifully finished bedside table and one who is still awaiting it's Slate Blue coat. A job for my day off next week!

I really do recommend this to anyone, it was about 10 times easier than I was expecting and the results were absolutely amazing! I'm so so happy with how it's turned out.