English Rosy Bunting

  Living in rental accommodation after having lived in your own home for years takes some adjustment, especially when you like to put your own (in my case, colourful!) stamp on a place. Therefore I am thinking of different ways I can add a bit of personality to our new home, and bunting is what I’ve gone for in the kitchen! 

We are lucky in that the house has been decorated in a modern style (not every wall is beige or magnolia! Horray!) but I still want to add some personal touches. The end wall in the kitchen is painted brown – it is probably called something trendy like ‘mocha’ – (it sounds worse than it looks, honest!) and so I really felt it needed brightening up. 

The fabric I used for this bunting caught my eye immediately; I bought it in a fabric store in Manchester that my cousin took me to when I visited her in April – everything was sold by the kilo! It worked out at about £5 a metre. I actually bought a metre of it to use as backing for a small quilt I will (eventually) make. I love the vivid pinks and reds in the roses and the subtle background of cream leaves to add depth to the print. It has a real English, vintage, summer, garden party feel about it, which I miss now I’m in Canada! 

When I cut the size of the quilt backing, I was left with a 6″ strip of fabric which I knew would be perfect for a small strip of bunting. I managed to squeeze 8 ‘mini’ flags from it, and used a peachy coloured fabric for the back of each flag, to maximise the number of rosy flags I could make. (For anyone interested, the width and height of each flag is 6″). As the fabric is actually upholstery fabric, it’s quite thick which made making the points quite tricky to turn out. They look fine from a distance! 

Unbelievelaby I didn’t measure the binding (it was all I had left from a strip I had bought a while ago) but the length couldn’t have been more perfect for the gap between the 2 windows! Phew! 

I just love bunting and think it gives a real summery feel to wherever it is used. I declare summer is officially here now (I’m ignoring the fact there was a snow blizzard here last night!) 😉

Home sweet home – part 3 – coffee table

Today is the perfect day for DIY and so I’ve been out enjoying the sun on our patio working on my coffee table project. I purchased the table second hand for $25 (£13.60) a few weeks ago. The seller told me it was about 80 years old; it had belonged to an old man so maybe it is that old…I hope it is as I love to breathe a new life into a piece of furniture again. Plus, it’s made of solid wood, which is the main reason why I bought it. 

I was told about ‘Milk Paint’ by a friend here in Canada and so thought I’d give it a go. The paints are powder based and made from natural products: milk protein, limestone, clay, chalk and natural pigments. They are to be mixed with water to produce the finish you require. I ordered them from the company ‘Homestead House’ and purchased 4 tester quantities in loyalist (green), limestone (cream) and cathedral taupe (grey – 2 packets). They are designed to give a shabby-chic distressed look, which is just what I am after.

They are super easy to use. I mixed a ration of 1:1 powder:water and mixed it thoroughly in a jar. For one coat of the coffee table I used 2tbsp of powder and water which was just enough. The first coat went on very easily after I had sanded the table down. As it’s so warm today it was literally drying as I was applying it! You only need to wait 20-30mins for a second coat which is great as the project is coming along nice and quickly (unlike the usual wait of 2 hours or so with oil based paints). Plus, the paint doesn’t have that horrid odour you get with oil based paints. 

I had enough powder for 2 coats (it is suggested that 2-3 coats is needed for an opaque look, with less for a stained look).  Considering each packet was $6 I don’t think that’s bad! The second coat went on well, and it really does give it a distressed look. Once it dried some of the wood started to ‘chip’ – I had read this might happen as I didn’t use a bonding agent on the previously painted surface. I like the look though, very distressed!   

 
Finally, I added a coat of wax for protection and to bring out it’s true colour. It now sits pride of place in our lounge and provides the much needed storage we were after.  

 
Now onto the next project: a wooden hutch/cabinet in cathedral taupe and limestone, to display my vintage tea cups 🙂 

Home Sweet Home – part 2

I drove my husband crazy last weekend when we were moving all our furniture to our new house, by announcing I had bought a second hand steamer trunk and needed to go and collect it from the other side of the city! Needless to say it wasn’t high on his priority list but we went and collected it (for a steal at $50 – £27) and he is actually very impressed with it (phew!). I am using it to store my fabrics and sewing equipment in, plus it doubles up as a coffee table and is an interesting piece of furniture. 

 

I’m not sure on its age, it has a worn label on one corner that looks like it may have said ‘Atlas’. There is no key for the lock but it all functions perfectly fine. It’s made from metal, painted navy blue and has some scratches on it, which all adds to is charm, and it is lined with a wood-effect paper. I’m sure we will make great use of it and give it another ‘life’!