Some times you find things in the most unexpected places, for instants a odd dinning chair in the middle of a park car.. yep this really did happen, I actually do think they are following me or the word is out on the street that I give makeovers to even the saddest looking chairs, when I saw her just sitting there looking a little bit lonely I thought this is your lucky day, your coming home with me. I had a good look around the car park to see if any one was watching me as I quickly walked over to this chair picked her up and popped her into the back of my car, my deed of the day.

 

 

 

As she was a freebie I thought I would experiment and just have fun, I wanted to go for a real distressed not so perfect looking upholstered chair. Embracing the imperfections, I painted this chair in a light coat of french linen, heavily distressed the frame (which I love). For the upholstery I wanted it to look like this chair was upholstered in old french grain sacking, as vintage sacking is very expensive these days I just upholstered this chair in thick natural linen and stencilled the french writing on the back and finished off with chrome studs that I aged using black acyclic paint. I love, love, love stencilling and I want to do this again I also like the studs as a stylish alternative to double pipping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think she turned out just fine, and you wouldn't dare find her dumped in the corner of a car park but you will find her in her new home, Jamie's walk in wardrobe taking pride of place. 



Upholstery Update : Keeping Floral Contemporary

 

Do you feel that classic floral's maybe to cutesy for you ? well this week I have upholstered a chair and a matching stool for a friend of mine by using floral print fabric and picking the boldest colour for the double pipping to enhance the floral print, this gives these pieces of upholstered furniture a wow factor and keeps them up to date and contemporary.

The chair and stool is hand painted in Annie Sloan French Grey and finished in Annie Sloan clear wax. The fabric is by Clarke & Clarke.

 

This is a great way to mix classic floral's and contemporary colours to give your interiors a modern twist. Use the brightest colours within your classic fabric to use as the main colour scheme for your room, here I applied this to the double pipping but you could apply this with accessories and other textiles in bright shades to develop a contemporary feel to your home.

 

 



Upholstery Update :: First Client

A couple of weeks ago I got my first ever upholstery client, I was really excited that someone would want me to upholster their chair. When I first saw the chair I knew it was going to look amazing, a dainty antique Louis 14th, already painted in Annie Sloan old white and upholstered in a emerald green velvet which sagged in the middle, probably from years of  someone sitting reading in a corner somewhere ( it looked like that kind of a chair...cosy).

 

 

As this was the first chair I have attempted to upholster outside of college I thought it would be nice to show (my right arm) Jamie, what I have been getting up to, as I was working through the process it was lovely to get an extra pair of hands and work together to make this chair perfect, and I believe I may have passed on the upholstery bug (Jamie didn't want to come up for air) as it's quite catching once you see one through you want to start another.

 

My client chose a beautiful wide striped linen fabric, which had tones of charcoal greys and natural linens, yes it was gorgeous .

 

fabric by Annie Sloan.

 

 

 

 

 

The transformation of the chair was breath taking, I love upholstering antique chairs that no one would look twice at, and after a bit of love the finished results are so worth it. 

 

Oh and one more thing the little heart was made with some leftover material from the chair as a little thank you gift to my client for picking me to upholster their chair. A great way to use any scrapes of material you have leftover and looks cute hanging on a handle to, and the best thing is there easy peasy to make.

 



The little farmhouse dresser....

 

Don't you love it when you see country farmhouse kitchens full of charm and character...little wooden breakfast stools, the big island in the middle, baskets of potatoes and vegetables resting on the table, the muddy wellies by the back door and that rocking chair in the corner, but you may not have the room for the island or a big farmhouse table in your kitchen but you may have room for a small dresser that you can feel with all your lovely things and create a country farmhouse feel in your home.

 

A friend of mine was redecorating and had a old dresser sitting in her garden ready to be thrown out, when I spotted it sitting there I couldn't help ask if I could take it home with me and she was more than happy to see the dresser out of her garden.

 

when I got this dresser home and started to have a look at the small details I couldn't believe how cute this dresser was, I love the panelling at the back of the dresser and the matching carved details at the top and bottom.

 

Before pic.... yep kind of gross and dated.

 

 

 

After pic ... ta-daa!!

 

 

A bit of love and yes it looks a lot different, I painted the dresser in Annie Sloan - french linen, a new favourite of mine, I also got rid of the glass panels and replaced with chicken wire to bring it up to date and created that farmhouse feel, I distressed the edges and finished with Annie Sloan clear wax.

 

I really was surprised how good the dresser looked, the chicken wire really has made all the difference. The best thing about having a dresser is you can display all your lovely kitchen ware, recipe books and linens in one place and it brings a personal touch to your kitchen instead of hiding your stuff behind cupboard doors you should display the things you love.

 

 

 

 

 

The dresser is filled with all my vintage home wares from my online shop so if there is anything that caught your eye then make sure you take a look.

 

www.yardofbleu.etsy.com

 

 

 

A summers evening

A shop update :: A summers evening

 

 

Today at Yard of Bleu were having a 'summers evening' with our new stock that will be available to shop at Etsy by the end of the week.... Imagine a summers evening spent wearing a sheer lace slip, relaxing in our Ercol collection sipping a cup of chamomile tea.

 It's all looking so peaceful here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available to shop at www.yardofbleu.etsy.com

 

crochet lace tablecloth

Coffee and cream crochet lace tablecloth

Ercol white painted Chairs

Vintage lace slip

White heritage lidded sugar bowl

Hand painted children's rocking horse

 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks new stock our summers evening look with light lace, white barn painted furniture and touches of natural linen.

 

 



Upholstery update :: sky blues the limit

when you start with a chair that looks like it’s been kept in a skip for the last 20 odd years its exciting knowing that you are going to bring this poor little chair back to life and by the time your done with it, it’s going to be a complete head turner.

I took this pic after I stripped it down, originally it was upholstered in red velvet with brass studs, making this chair look OTT and tacky as the wooden frame is already elaborate enough, I wanted to make this chair look elegant and more simple.

 

I got to learn how to button this term which was really interesting, working out the dimensions for the diamonds and covering buttons by hand is a lot harder then I imagined and the little arms can be fiddly to, but the end result is worth every minute as I’ve fallen completely in love and this will be a hard one to let go.

 

 

I painted this chair in Paris Grey - Annie Sloan {new addiction} I sanded the edges, I think this also helps bring out the beautiful detail that’s in the wooden frame and I decided to go for natural linen in sky blue.

I think this chair would look amazing in a bedroom or if you had a walk-in wardrobe you could have this chair to sit and try on all your beloved shoe collection. {I think Carrie would approve} yep I think I've found the perfect excuse ladies for us to own a chair like this.

Grey Love

Having been inspired by grey interiors {from my last post} this week I made it my top priority to work on a few projects using grey as my main colour scheme, I came across this amazing vintage cupboard with gorgeous column details which I knew was going to look amazing painted and also this big chest of drawers with the original key lock features which I fell in love with.  



Painted in Annie Sloan - Paris Grey and finished in Clear wax.

Painted in Annie Sloan - Paris Grey and finshed in clear wax .

 

 

I'm really pleased with the way they both turned out. next time I will take a before shot so you can see the transformation from start to finish.