So I have't been sewing much lately. I set myself a slightly more challenging task - to revamp the front room.
My Hubby has been away and I need to keep myself busy so I planned to redecorate. The room has been looking rather sad for a while and the dado rail was coming away from the wall and some of the shelves were falling down too. The paper had been painted over several times and was also getting rather battered. Time for a new look.
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| Wallpaper Stripping |
I prepped the room over the first two weekends he was away. One weekend I stripped the wallpaper and then filled the walls during the week. The following weekend I sanded the walls ready for papering. I had also been keeping an eye on Freecycle and managed to aquire a new to me sofa, which was perfect for our needs and would replace our rather battered leather sofa. A friend helped collect it and I waited for a week to get rid of the old one. The space was difficult to work around!
On Saturday, my Mother in Law and I went to South Shields market and bought the fabric for the curtains and some fabric for sofa throws; went to B&Q and bought lining paper and paint and we were ready to go.
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| Walls ready to paint |
Sunday morning we emptied the room and set to work painting the ceiling and papering. Most of the paper went on well, but there were a couple of sections that i wasn't happy with the finish and I ended up taking them off and pasting some more on. just putting lining paper on made such a difference, lighter and brighter.
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| Alcoves and walls painted |
Monday we painted. The alcoves were painted "Proud Peacock" and the rest of the walls buttermilk. both by Dulux paints. I used the spirit level to ensure all my top edges were straight. I have a fairly steady hand and only needed to touch up the white paint on the coving in two places.
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| Impressive art |
Tuesday was spent making glossing the woodwork and making the curatins and throws and getting everything ready to dress the room before John arrived home on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately the curtain tape I had was faulty and it failed to gather and the threads snapped, which meant a trip to Dunelm Mills to buy more on my way back from picking John up from the airport on Wednesday. I also needed he assistance in hanging the large painting.
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| Freecycle Sofa and my painting. |
He has said he wanted the walls painted orange, but I decided to include one of the large paintings I made for my MA. It's very orange and contrasts nicely with the feature walls. All in all a job well done, and a nice room to relax in.
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| Hearth and alcoves |
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| The finished room. |
