My first DIY project with my daughter...

My daughter is mad about Littlest Pet Shop animals. Whilst in a junk shop we found an IKEA BOALT knick knack shelf, brand new in it's wrapper for a few quid. We decided it would be perfect to display her figures and set about decorating it.

I don't have a picture of the before. I can't even find one online. I don't think they make these any more. It was pale wood with a hardboard back.

Anyway, here's the after.

The wood was bare so I primed and painted it, then we went through my sheets of vintage wallpaper and cut pieces to size. She did the cutting which is great because she doesn't normally like scissors. I guess straight lines are nice and easy. We glued the pieces in with wallpaper paste. (Hence wallpaper paste disposal disaster...)

She loves it.

I love it.

And Bad Bobby loves it.

He's just making sure I'm aware it's tea time in two hours. Or, you know, whenever I'm ready and have given up taking photos...

My daughter now wants to write a book, no wait, a SERIES of books, make 2 little films and make a wooden deer to sell on ebay! That's my girl...

Oh, and you chazzing, car booting brigade out there? Some of these LPS animals (particularly cats and dogs) fetch over £30 EACH on ebay so keep 'em peeled! 

Grandads vintage wallpaper...

I'm back from trips to the Isle of Wight and Devon and no DIY has taken place. Perhaps when Connie goes back to school this week but I've hurt my back so perhaps not.

I have a whole summers worth of second hand scores to share but I want to start with a post about my late Grandads house in Devon. My Grandad passed away 13 years ago but his second wife, my step grandmother still lives in the large Edwardian house.

I stayed there earlier this month and asked her if I could share the fabulous wallpaper with you. I think there's something for everyone here. So come on in.


In the huge hallway is a pretty pink toile de jouy above the dado rail and a soft pink below. Elegant and classical.

In the sitting room things get a little bolder...

I love this design and I think it works as the room is so large so it doesn't suck all the light out of the room. This is on just one wall.

The kitchen was decorated in the 1971. I think it shows...

Again, just one wall is papered. To give you an idea of scale, that fireplace is above shoulder height.

In the drawing room you can see the oldest wallpaper in the house.

 

This was the best room for receiving guests. It's very elegant in here, if somewhat shabby chic. 

Here's the ceiling moulding at the top of the room above the door.

 

Fabulous high ceilings

On the staircase, below the dado is anaglypta with so many layers of paint on it. Very English.

See the bakelite light switches? Grandad painted everything. Perhaps I get that from him. 

In one of the bedrooms is this greek themed wallpaper. 

Here's the door to give you an idea of the scale...

 

A piece of wallpaper was used under the glass finger plate on the door too. The other walls are a soft grey.

On to the bathroom with this mustard yellow...

 another bold choice with the orange woodwork.

In the back bedroom, is this fabulous paisley design.

Some strong colour on the fireplace too.

The next landing up has this doll wallpaper. My grandmother loved dolls...

 

Isn't it amazing? Those dolls are huge!

Last of all, what was my dads attic room and what would have been the servants room originally.

I'm guessing another 1960's paper. Hopefully decorated after dad left. 

Around the same time, all the furniture in here was painted in gloss hot pink. 

So you see, the feature wallpapered wall is not a new thing. My family invented it long ago! And the desire to paint everything is clearly in my genes, even if the colours I choose are less bold. 

I hope you enjoyed a wander around this beautiful house.

Second hand scores...

Despite all your good wishes for our chazzing adventure in Fleet, we didn't do well at all. My only purchase being this mediocre jug...

and a new looking t shirt for my daughter...

I laid it out to photograph it and Freddy couldn't resist coming to lie on it.

My daughter fared no better with this tiny pile of treasures...

She's not really into sewing but the thimble and beads are for her Littlest Pet Shop animals that she likes to customise with sequins, beads, blu tack and pipe cleaners.

Fortunately the chazzing in our town has had much more to offer lately. I snapped up two rolls of vintage wallpaper. Yay!

And these utterly beautiful and comfortable Hush Puppies.

Hush Puppies may be granny shoes but I've already spent a day in them with no blisters at all so I must be at the age where comfort is more important than the connotations of the label.

In other news, my first batch of kitchen related products should be arriving next week and I'm dying to show you! Shame my kitchen isn't photo shoot ready. Soon....

LINK

Alpenhimmel Shop discount for all readers...

The lady who runs the Etsy shop I mentioned in my last post has kindly offered my readers 20% off all orders placed between now and 31st October.


The code you'll need is PAINTEDSTYLE.

Here's a link to the Alpenhimmel shop.

So if you were tempted before by gorgeous copper dowry stencils...

or vintage laundry labels...

even vintage wallpapers by the yard...

Oh my!

...or any of the other lovely things in her shop, now is the time to buy!

I've just bought some vintage wallpaper as I get 20% off too! Surely I must now have enough for the patchwork vintage wallpaper wall!

Happy shopping!

 [ Is this a sponsored post? I had already published my previous post before Charity from the Alpenhimmel Etsy shop wrote to offer me and you readers 20% off. I will always tell you about the products I find, use and love. I loved the little stencil so much that I recieved it, used it and blogged about it all in one day! ]

Secret vintage wallpaper...

I finished the chest of drawers late last night. I hate it. I have to do it again today. It's slightly depressing. As if it weren't bad enough, having to have ALL of ones summer clothing out alongside the winter clothing because it's so cold, I have nowhere to put ANYTHING! There are piles all over the upstairs and my husband and daughter are getting fed up with me.

I'm getting fed up with me too.

So, on a different subject, I bought an old picture frame from a charity shop. I thought it would be nice if my six year old painted me a picture for my future gallery wall. The frame I found was a few quid from Oxfam. It's been painted in the past and that's fine. The glass has little air bubbles in it so it's very old.

On the back someone had stuck some old wallpaper. I guess to keep thunder bugs out. That excited me!  So I took it home and carefully steamed it off, ignoring my husband saying, ''What are you DOING? It's RUBBISH! Who would want that?''

Here's where it got exciting. Under that wallpaper was another wallpaper.

 

And underneath that, was another wallpaper...

 

And under that wallpaper was another one. Probably the nicest one of all but sadly, very brittle and hard to get a big piece.

It felt a bit like pass the parcel. I like to think of someone changing their picture every now and then and re-wallpapering the back every time with leftovers of whatever was in fashion at the time. Make do and mend, indeed!

The two largest pieces are being saved for the wallpaper wall.

Right! Enough fannying around. There's work to be done...

My bedroom (a work in progress...)

I've been a bit quiet lately. Have I been wallpapering in a patchwork fashion?
No, but I think I have chosen a wall! And it's a different wall to the one I was thinking of. Which means I can have one gallery wall and one patchwork wall. I just hope it doesn't make the room feel smaller!

Here's the new wall I 'found'.

It has a door in it and is half obliterated by a huge mirror and a double chest of drawers so the impact of the patchwork wallpaper will be broken up I think. (And of course my dressing table is ALWAYS as tidy as this. I certainly haven't just shifted piles of crapola onto the floor!)

Sadly I can't start anything as this wall needs to be chased for the upstairs rewiring which hasn't yet begun. So for now, inspired by a picture on Pinterest...

...this will have to do.

But it will leave this wall...

...free for the pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I got another one!

From eBay

I love white flowers. My favourite picture is this one by Van Gogh...

Currently in the living room

Sadly I'm not a millionaire so this is a print in an old car boot sale frame. But I LOVE it.  And the new one reminded me of this one.
I had an old frame which almost fits, I just need to saw the edge off the picture. I like how it looks. Slightly grand and slightly knackered with it's missing corner.

The bedroom is very much a work in progress.

Missing door handle

  I bought this huge chest of drawers when we moved in.

 

It fits that wall perfectly. It's an old 1950's fake french number which had a dated, cracked and peeling paint job. 

 

So I've stripped the top, which appears to be solid mahogany, stained it and lightened it with a paint wash before sealing it.

 

Then I started priming the drawers. I didn't want to sand them in case the paint has lead in it so I used my beloved Zinsser primer.

Er, then I got a bit distracted and started something else. That happens a lot around here. 

But it is NOT going to be white.

And here's a close up of the mirror...

This was a gold plastic frame with a cardboard picture of a ship in it when I bought it from a charity shop for £2 long, long ago. 

 Here it is painted white in my last house...

  We're having important guests to stay in September and they will have this room so I do need to get it finished by then. Even the orange skirting boards! I wish I had a photo of this room when we moved in. Every surface was papered in 1060's abstract textured wallpaper and most of it was orange. Even the door. I can't even remember what was on the floor. I reckon I'm halfway there.

Thank you for all your ideas on my last post. The film poster is going to live on the stairs.

One last pic for today. 

Fat Freddy

A permanent fixture on my bed!