David had been moaning that I have taken over the office with all my craft stuff and that he had nowhere to put his things. To which, I couldn't help pointing out, that most of his stuff is rubbish that needs sorting instead of piling up .... but then I took one look at my office and thought ...kettle.... pot.... black.... you know what I mean...!
Anyway I was fed up of his stuff hanging around the kitchen worktop, the top of the kitchen cupboards, in the wine rack (!!) - you get the picture - so I decided that I would find him his own space and filing area. He doesn't have as much as me, since I file all the house bills, so it's strictly for HIS papers. I started to look on ebay and found this bureau which was badly photographed and hadn't had any bids. Lucky for me! so I swooped in and hey presto, I won it! (for once that I win something - when I say win, it did cost me 25 quids but still...)
So here it is in all its glory before (this was the photo used on ebay - see what I mean about poor photo?!
Still it didn't look bad enough to deter me from snapping it...
So I started by sanding it roughly to get rid of the varnish finish and allow the paint to take on better. I wanted to use Annie Sloane chalk paint to save on time and primer but unfortunately there are no local stockist near me in Birmingham so I decided to prime it and use Farrow and Ball paint instead. Since I am French I thought French Gray would be most appropriate -especially since it matched some of the colour in my wallpaper!
I hate sanding but it is important when you prime to make sure you get a durable finish. Farrow and Ball in particular is quite unforgiving if you do not prepare your surface properly. Since i don't fancy doing this again for a long time , it was worth putting in the elbow grease at the start...
Once the unit was primed, the worst was done and I just gave it two coats of paint to get my final result. I am still not quite sure it is going to stay quite like this. I quite fancy adding some vintage french writing on the door, and maybe a brownish glaze to give it some dimension. However, for now, it will do as I have plenty of other things to do. At least it blends in the decor of the room, so for now that's good enough for me! If I do any changes you'll be the first ones to see, I promise!!
I wanted to make a nice present for a friend of mine with whom I share birthdays and since I know she likes sewing I thought of this little box. She has not got a lot of room where she lives at the moment so I didn't want to lumber her with a great big thing and thought this little version would be perfect. Now lets hope she likes it. It's made out of a 12x12 piece of card and recovered in fabric. I have also added a bit of padding on the inside to make it more lush and so she can use it to prick pins when she's not using them. I haven't given it to her yet, so let's hope she'll like it (and that she doesn't read this before I give it to her or that could seriously kill the surprise!). She's away on holidays at the moment so I think I m safe....
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