The pink bedroom revamp began with a complete re-painting of the floor. It was (pointing no fingers,) covered in all kinds of hair dye and gunk. So, old fashioned, plain, sanded boards were out of the question. I shall let you into a secret. I may be slightly guilty of reading instructions on things briefly; and then finding out what actually works for me! In this case, my old favourite Cuprinol garden paint was used for the main floorboard colour. It painted smoothly and I did two coats with a strong yacht varnish on top. At the edge of the room was a patch of nasty hardboard planks, covering a gap in the original floor. It really stood out like a sore thumb, and didn’t look nice at all.
This was first primed with a general undercoat, then sectioned out with blue tape, and painted in chalk furniture paint. Each section was then stencilled with a basic design, and hand painted with tiny details. The final stage was to paint the edging by hand and varnish the whole rug which was shaped around the shape in the wall.
The over-sized lamp was a labour of love, but has the Summery Bloomsbury vibe I was after! Again, the lamp base was primed and painted with detailed sections of chalk paint in soft colours, with smaller contrasting details on top. ( And then varnished) Trim and fabrics were sourced on Ebay, and the old nylon fabric cut off the wire frame. Next, a piece of newspaper was used to make a template of a section of the shade and laid on the fabric. (allowing generous seam allowance) These eight sections were machine stitched together to make a kind of ‘dress.’ Once it ‘fitted’ fairly tightly, the shade was stretched over the wire and hand stitched at the top and bottom, pulling it as taught as possible at each point. The trim and bobbles were added with a glue gun .
The old wooden bedside cabinet was found at the recycling centre. It was sanded down and painted in chalk furniture paint with acrylic and chalk paint detail, then varnished. The detail on the drawer picks out shapes barely noticed previously!
All in all this room feels very feminine and light now. Unlike some of the rest of the house which lends itself to more muted colours, this room has a little French charm of its own. Looking out over the garden is a pleasure now, famed by the new duck egg blind and revamped window pelmet, in old french ticking and vintage lace. It has been the perfect winter studio when too cold to be outside.
Paintings over winter have included the three below
Rain
One
Bloom
And in this house, nowhere is safe from the dance of the paintbrushes..
I seem to have met my doppelganger on the bathroom cupboard!
Have a wonderful day
Love, Liz at the Beach Hut XX
