Now as I mentioned in my last post about moving to Exmouth, rather than buying new furniture for our house I decided to 'make do and mend' by rejuvenating and updating a few pieces we already had.
We've moved from a 2 bedroom flat to a 4 bedroom semi detached Victorian Villa, so needless to say we needed as much furniture as we could find to fill the extra rooms we now have! The lounge in the flat was all about dark wood and pale walls, but with our new beachy lounge the heavy and block-like furniture looked unseemly and completely out of place. So, I read a few blogs, watched a few tutorials and set out on a mission to transform our furniture.
First things first, what effect did I want to create?
Well, I wanted lighter and more vintage looking furniture to compliment the house's well preserved period features and airy rooms. Given the fact that two of the pieces I wanted to update were Ikea veneer, it was clear early on I was going to need a heavy duty paint. As everyone in the world seems to be using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (including my best friend Hel's, who's been using it to refresh her period cottage absolutely adores it) I naturally chose that as my go to product. However the only shop in the area that sells it was closed the afternoon I went to buy some, so that put something of a spanner in the works. Disappointed, I trudged home but on the way noticed family owned paint shop 'Wilsons Paints' on Church Road in Exmouth, so thought I'd pop in and see if they had anything I could use. The answer was 'Ragged Jacks', a paint they've been making for a while that is versatile and comes in a huge range of colours. It gives good coverage and usable on most surfaces, so I thought I'd give it a shot...
My first project was a vintage nest of tables I'd bought from a thrift shop in town for £15.
I gave them a quick sand down (pretty half hearted if I'm honest) and then started slapping on the Ragged Jacks in 'Willow' from their Secret Garden collection. After one coat, it had covered pretty well, but I wanted a more solid finish, so added a second coat. Once this had dried I used some standard sand paper to distress the edges and areas of the table tops to give it a worn and shabby look. The key is not to get carried away and take too much off, as it is quite fun! Once I was happy with the look, I put a couple of coats of matt finish varnish to seal it and protect the tables from coffee mug ring marks etc. A word of warning- the varnish I used dried a little yellow in places where I slapped it on a bit thickly, so be careful. Luckily, it works well with the finish I was trying to create but may not be everyone's cup of tea, so apply thinly and build up the cover gradually.
Et Voila! Whaddya think?
Next up was my Ikea 'Lack' coffee table in black-brown veneer (I know, I know, but it was fashionable when I bought it, I promise).
Hardly inspiring, huh?
Well, I had my reservations about whether the Ragged Jacks was up to the job of clinging to the slick, slippery surface of the cheap veneer, but I needn't have worried. It was almost completely covered after one coat, but as I had some coffee ring damage that had ripped off the veneer down to the chip board beneath (Hubby doesn't use coasters...) I built the paint up in a few coats to cover over this. Each coat dried in about 15 minutes in the July sunshine so within an hour I was ready to distress the bad boy and varnish it up. I love the result:
I did exactly the same thing to the black-brown Ikea bookcase we had and now have a matching range of furniture, all for about £15 worth of paint and varnish!
I love that I've been able to achieve this using a local range of paint and not paying through the nose for it. I've definitely been bitten by the shabby chic bug- I'm sure there will be plenty more projects appearing on the blog in the next few months, so watch this space! If anyone has any tips to share post below!
Lots of love
Mrs T
xxx
