Alex's Sewing Table

Alex commented on one of my recent auctions that a little coffee table would be perfect for her sewing table. ...if only. Alex is a fantastic young mum to two darling children and a talented crafter herself, and her birthday was coming up later in the year,  so I suggested we could find a piece that would suit as a sewing table from my stash ( read hoard and ready to burst out of the double garage where the cars should actually be parked but has now been taken over and we call it my "studio") of projects. So I sent her a "please use your imagination before pic" of a funny desk / hall table I had and she picked the colour, Antoinette. I was really pleased she picked this colour as it is a gorgeous Annie Sloan pink and not a colour I have done many pieces in yet. Today I finished her sewing desk and sent her an iPhone shot:

After - sneak peek shot

Its always a bit nerve racking when you show someone a refinished piece if they have only seen the raw original piece as you never know what they are expecting it to end up like. Luckily she said she loved it, so now all we need to do is load it in the ute and take it down to her next time we visit.

Here are some more shots with some detail. I need to do some more pieces in this colour as it really is pretty without being super super girly, especially if you can highlight some nice hardware. This little desk had great bones and I used the original  hardware, painting it in hammered silver metal paint, only a light coat to make it look vintage and worn, it became a nice feature on the drawers instead of blending in with all that brown as I originally purchased it.

After - fab original hardware

After- refinished in AS Antoinette

After - love staging with this op-shopped brass bird cage

After - detailed hardware

After - final

 and a post is never complete with out the before shot...

Before - photo I purchased desk from

Carla, pp villa design

Oak Dresser Refinish in Country Grey

These old deco oak pieces are a joy to refinish and they all lend themselves to being painted in colours, which is fun to choose what they will look best in. I am always on the look out for them and I usually finish them up by leaving the mirrors off,  as it makes them much more versatile as a great bedroom or lounge piece, and the mirrors are normally not in great shape anyway. Check out this post for the before Before Oak Dresser and here are the pics of the after. She now has a lovely new home in the Bay somewhere

After - all dressed up

After - only slight distressing on some edges

After - middle drawer with rounded front detail

After - hardware change up for an update

Carla, pp villa design

Revamped Sewing Machine Table

I think everyone has seen one of these in their time and probably knows someone who has one. The old singer sewing machines which were made as a hide away machine in a decorative table. I love them and have picked up two at different times. My first one was very worn and split in the top and sides and had some borer holes in the back panel. I pulled it all apart and destroyed the parts with holes and managed to save one side of drawers and the base. For years I have wanted a singer table but felt that the revamped ones I had seen were all the same, mainly painted black with a slab of wood put on top to create a hall table and I wanted something different.

I searched through pinterest and found pictures of some made as side tables, fully inspired I went about to create my own.

Here she is before, nice woodpile in the background!

Before - bit rusty with potential

My local DIY store had some (really expensive) metal paint that you could paint straight onto wrought iron and it stopped rust as well. So I grabbed some of that and talked to my local kitchen splash back shop and ordered some coloured glass. You can get every single colour imaginable, but I wanted a plain white with some depth to it and toughened as I knew it would be used as my table top. The paint was very hard to work with, not like my normal paint at all. Very gluggy and thick and I ruined two paintbrushes doing it as I needed two coats. But the cover was excellent and dried to a gloss satin finish, exactly what I was going for.

Here is the finished table, sitting nicely next to my couch in the lounge room.

After - perfect height next to the couch

After - lovely original details

After - Rosie taking a photo opportunity

After - toughened white painted glass top

Carla, pp villa design

Summer Reminder

While we are all sitting through a storm in the North Island and around the country, I came across this gorgeous photo I took of flowers picked from the Villas garden in summer.
So I continue to hear the rain outside but this is what I have to look forward to in summer, going to try and grow some different varieties next season, any tips for Hydrangea growing??

Carla, pp villa design

How to paint your "woodsy" Front Door

We are currently reno-ing ( is that a word) or DIY as we call it in New Zealand our kitchen come lounge come dining room, it is all open plan with a light wooden floor. The Front Door is very "woodsy", this is a word my friend Keri and I use, she is not woodsy, everything in her house gets upgraded to white and modern, I am also not woodsy, everything in my house gets painted. BUT some people really like wood and think you are partaking in a crime if you paint wood, which is what most of my friends and family thought when I told them I was going to paint the front door .....black.
Everyone was very polite and said "are you sure?" which probably really means, "OMG you have a lovely wood door and I think it will look terrible painted black, it might even be Rimu, and why black, why not white like most things you normally paint?!"
So I did think on it for a while and taped it up and left it like that for a week, and then I undercoated it.... and left it for another week

Before - all taped up and waiting for a colour decision

Before - All taped up and undercoated

When I started to paint I thought, gee this is really really black, it might look a but harsh...maybe I should paint it white to match the rest of the windows after all??

During - with Poppet and Rosie the cats helping out

During - Black going on, eek!

And then it was finished and I love it - phew! The door looks really dramatic and is a focal point now, the door panels all have lead lights in them and it makes these look funky and interesting instead of dated and old fashioned, let me know what you think? Luckily the family all like it too.

After

After

After

After - peeking outside

After - all finished

Retro Furniture Chest Updated Before and After

I am sure everyone has seen this type of retro furniture in an Aunts or Grandparents house and never thought anything of it. This was a beautifully made piece in perfect condition but needed a major revamp to make it something you would be proud to showcase in your home again. Seeing it "nude" you would not notice the craftsmanship of the details of the drawers and legs, all solid wood, but after some sanding, painting, hardware changes and waxing inside and out, it looked special again. Painted in Annie Sloan, Country Grey, a deep creamy beige colour, an easy neutral colour that works with a lot of different interiors.

Before - all prepped and ready to go

Before - what she looked like on the Trade Me Site

After - Country Grey by Annie Sloan paint

After - new hardware updates the whole look

After - gorgeous detailing highlighting by distressing edges

After - didn't even notice the leg detail before hand

After - lovely wood showing through the top

I have read on other blog sites that the Australasian Annie Sloan Country Grey is a different colour to the American version that is purchased in the States. Either way it is a beautiful colour which ties itself to a lot of colour schemes so I will continue to use it. This piece now has a nice new home in Tauranga.

Carla, pp villa design