An afternoon away from the kids, it was time for a creative retreat! Always one take advantage of a bargain, as part of a Mothers Day gift, I’d signed Mum and myself up for the DIY Shabby Chic Workshop (1), “Painted Furniture Workshop” to learn to, well, paint furniture, shabby chic stylee. Run by the snazzy Tanya, DIY Shabby Chic offer Shabby Chic Furniture as well as these DIY workshops for the creative sorts, like me. I would describe this workshop as the Jamie Oliver of painted furniture. Thanks to the fabulous Autentico no prep chalk based paint, we quite literally got stuck in within 10 minutes of arriving and a short demo. I’d had images of myself endlessly sanding down furniture. However Autentico paints eliminate the need for this and can be used on most surfaces from wood, to metal, to plastic, varnished and unvarnished surfaces alike. Advised to bring our own small piece to work on I found a nice little number for a tenner from a junk shop in Eastbourne, during a visit to see the parents. From the outset, the paint was very quick drying with a little help from a hairdryer (ouch to their electricity bill) and I managed to get 4 coats on (not the advised 2, oops) very quickly. Probably not the most finite job in the world, but the paint covered fairly well over the dark wood. I think if you want full coverage, especially on dark surfaces, I would add more coats or, to keep the costs down (Autentico isn’t the cheapest as you would expect), give the item a quick coat of emulsion first. As I said the Autentico paint can be used on almost any surface.
After an hour and a half of painting and drying, with a cuppa throw in at the very reasonable price of 50p, we then watched a demo in how to distress, wax and varnish our pieces of furniture. Armed with sandpaper, after painting for 1 and half hours we then sanded it off, as my Ma observantly pointed out. However this is how you achieve the ‘shabby’ look. Waxing basically adds moisture into the paint and wood and takes away the chalky residue. The varnishing creates that all important water resistant layer to protect your item. Personally I was rather reserved with distressing my table because I didn’t want it to end up looking like it needed upcycling again, as so many ‘shabby chic’ pieces are in danger of looking. I did use the distressing to good effect though, bringing out the lines and curves of the table.
I refrained from varnishing because Ma and I have signed up for the DIY Shabby Chic Workshop 2 “Paint Effects & Finishing Techniques”, learning how to decoupage, add gold leaf and crackle glaze. Looks like I’ve found another upcycling craft to become obsessed with and I’m really looking forward to letting myself go with a bit of the ol’ decoupage.
Thankfully the kids survived their 3 hours with the hubby on a Saturday afternoon. All I need to do now is get another pass and convince the hubby to look after the offspring in a couple of weeks time. Better bring out that Jamie Oliver cookbook so I can get stuck in with cooking a meal and earning that pass for the second installment of this creative retreat. :)
After an hour and a half of painting and drying, with a cuppa throw in at the very reasonable price of 50p, we then watched a demo in how to distress, wax and varnish our pieces of furniture. Armed with sandpaper, after painting for 1 and half hours we then sanded it off, as my Ma observantly pointed out. However this is how you achieve the ‘shabby’ look. Waxing basically adds moisture into the paint and wood and takes away the chalky residue. The varnishing creates that all important water resistant layer to protect your item. Personally I was rather reserved with distressing my table because I didn’t want it to end up looking like it needed upcycling again, as so many ‘shabby chic’ pieces are in danger of looking. I did use the distressing to good effect though, bringing out the lines and curves of the table.
I refrained from varnishing because Ma and I have signed up for the DIY Shabby Chic Workshop 2 “Paint Effects & Finishing Techniques”, learning how to decoupage, add gold leaf and crackle glaze. Looks like I’ve found another upcycling craft to become obsessed with and I’m really looking forward to letting myself go with a bit of the ol’ decoupage.
Thankfully the kids survived their 3 hours with the hubby on a Saturday afternoon. All I need to do now is get another pass and convince the hubby to look after the offspring in a couple of weeks time. Better bring out that Jamie Oliver cookbook so I can get stuck in with cooking a meal and earning that pass for the second installment of this creative retreat. :)
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