I Love To Strip!

Furniture of course, sorry to disappoint - or was that a sigh of relief!

I have always loved finding an object or piece of furniture which looked like it needed a revamp because as a have a go, recycling kind of girl, I could give it a new lease of life.  Oft times I’ve been heard to say “I’m not paying that!  I could make, paint, recycle instead!”  Over the  years I have worked on tables, chairs, fireplaces, a piano and even pots which I then sold to Harrods………ooohhh!  Together with a pal ages ago, I used to teach paint effects and stencilling, quite lucrative it was too.  All these ideas for stripping can be stressful sometimes though, especially when I run out of room to store things or don’t actually do anything with them – yes that does frequently happen!

Anyway, I haven’t done any for ages but am now in the process of stripping and polishing some tables for good friends Sandie and Al.  The room stinks of Nitromos.  I’ve taken a few ‘before’ photos and I’m putting them on the blog as an incentive to actually finish them by Christmas, in between everything else!

The other photos show a sea-chest, a chair and a dresser. The old sea-chest is undercoated and waiting for me to decide what colour to paint it.  It’s really old and my late father-in-law used to store his dahlias in it, so it has sentimental value – ah...  I hide all the ironing in it (for months) now - shush! The dresser was a bargain buy from the saleroom which, together with a table and four chairs, I paid £40 for, not bad.  I have painted each chair in a different colour just for fun. This green one was painted red in places underneath first, then the red was covered with candle wax (to create a barrier) which was rubbed off with wire wool after the top, green coat was dry – are you still with me??

I’m having a practical week as I am starting to do some arty/crafty workshops again, starting with a Hallow’een one, so I will try and put some of the ideas on the blog. 

I love getting messy!!! Good music, glass o'vino, some nitromos and wire wool - what else can you ask for, perfick!  (Just read this bit again.  How sad am I?!!)