Thursday 14 July 2016

Floral & faded wood tutorial - using napkins! (plus how to make a fire-pit table)




I absolutely love the old worn and faded ‘floral-pattern-on-wood' look, and I've been meaning to have a go at achieving it for some time. I finally got around to it this week and I'm so happy with the outcome. It's incredibly effective and so easy to do. You can achieve this lovely faded worn look on any wood surface, and it looks especially good on tables, drawers, chairs, welsh dressers and wooden trays. I'm going to try this on my welsh dresser next but first I wanted to give my copper fire pit a makeover. Since I have a small garden I decided to make use of space by giving the fire pit a dual purpose - so I had a piece of wood cut for the top of it, so when it's not being a fire pit it can be used as a table! this provided the ideal surface for my experiment!


decoupaging wood with floral napkins

A floral wood tabletop tutorial

How to make a fire pit table top


My cosy little seating area looks so pretty now, and if you're admiring my new Peru wooden deckchair loungers you'll find these at Homebase, and they cost £99 for a pair. I absolutely love them, they look so natural and blend into the garden perfectly, they're also incredibly comfy and come with a head rests! I also headed to Homebase for my varnish and hand-held sander (links are below.) You could use simple sandpaper sheets for this, wrapped around a wooden block but I love the smooth finish of a sander, and I’ve used it on a range of projects time and time again.  

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Thursday 14 January 2016

Quick and easy - sample pot makeovers


Christmas has been and gone, the decorations are down and everything looks bare and downright boring. Spring is just weeks away so I thought I’d do some brightening up in my little abode. When it comes to home makeovers we assume it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of money, but this needn’t be the case. Picking just a couple of things to lighten and brighten can make a world of difference, and for small projects like these, all you need is one little sample pot of paint! 




Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Monday 10 November 2014

Shabby chic wooden heart GIVEAWAY - from Earths Deco.


 photo woodenhearts.png


I bring crafty good news! I have FIVE of these gorgeous shabby chic hearts to giveaway to five of my readers this week, courtesy of Earths Deco - a lovely cottage business who craft Home ware and Jewellery using mainly natural materials.  If you'd like one of these gorgeous trinkets to shabby-chic-up your Christmas tree, all you have to do to enter is:


1. Leave a comment below, telling me what you'd like from Santa this year.
2. Follow A Handmade Cottage AND Earth deco's page on Facebook! 


The competition ends at midnight on monday 17th November. Good luck, and don't forget there's 5 chances to win ;-) 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Monday 18 August 2014

Video tutorial - How to paint, distress and wallpaper furniture


Hi all,  Well I recently showed you my latest upcycle project - 'How to create a distressed wallpaper cabinet' and in this new video, Ralphy and I show you the entire process in just a minute! Should you want to try this yourself you can CLICK HERE for a full list of products and a detailed step-by-step tutorial with pictures.
Enjoy the film!

JM x






www.ahandmadecottage.com
www.twitter.com/ahandmadecott
www.facebook.com/Ahandmadecott­age


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Wednesday 19 March 2014

How to shabby chic your garden furniture ... in one afternoon.


Well it's spring (almost) and at this time of year we all head out into the garden and stand hand-on-hips accessing the winter damage, and ponder how to bring our gardens back to life. What I want is a pretty summery haven, what I have is some shabby-looking furniture in dire need of some TLC. I can't afford to replace everything but nor would I want to. So before you raid your money box and head down to Homebase I have two words for you ... 


SHABBY CHIC!!



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...