Cupboard Love :: Up-cycling an unloved cupboard

You wouldn't believe how sad this little old cupboard looked when first spied across the auction room.  Covered with shiny paint that was scuffed and peeling, the inside stained and dirty. But I loved the shape of the inset panels that give it an almost ecclesiastical look. So bid on it, and won.

With lots of hot soapy water and elbow grease it was soon clean and sparkly. A few coats of white emulsion covered the almost indelible brown stained interior. A root amongst oddments of left over paint turned up grey undercoat, and a tiny unused sample pot of Farrow and Ball, Green Smoke emulsion (£4.25). 

I began to experiment. First a good coat of the matt undercoat. It dried with a nice smooth finish and was a hundred percent better. Next the fun bit. I used the F & B emulsion and a bristle paint brush. One that was about an inch wide to fit inside the tiny pot. I loosely painted it with  brushstrokes from top to bottom, leaving it to dry with the undercoat exposed giving a kind of folky aged look. That was it, I was happy that it didn't need anything else doing.  I'd imagined that I would have to go through lots of processes of distressing or ragging...but no...

I think it looks a million times better than before. It only took a teeny weeny bit of paint...just look how much is left in the tin. It suits our new bathroom with the tong and grove bath, handmade panelled door, grey walls and slate flooring, oh and the cute little three legged stool bought at the same auction.  It feels a bit like a log cabin in there now. 

My final handiwork was altering a pair of long filmy curtains that were too sheer for a ground floor bathroom overlooked by a garden. I've had these curtains for ages and love their folksy Scandinavian embroidery (not hard to guess where I got them from) but they just weren't practical for the space. 

Thankfully they were very long so I was able to triple the layers. Firstly I shortened the top, lifting up the embroidered section on each one bringing them up closer to the top of the window. I cut off the extra fabric and then folded over the top twice to make a little pocket for the curtain rod/wire to thread through. I pinned and then pressed this and then placed the length of fabric flat on a smooth surface. Measured the window drop exactly and applied this to the curtain folding it back at this point and pressing again and pinning to the pocket. Finally I lay the curtain on the flat surface too ensure that each of the section (now pinned at the top) was equal in length, turning up a hem on the final section and stitching. 

Hey presto, a set of curtains that preserve everyones modesty whilst letting in a little of daylight and didn't they didn't cost a thing. They even pick out the exact same green of the cupboard...

A good morning's work...

...have you done any upcycling projects recently...

Quick edit...I found the before photo...I thought there should be one somewhere:-