Half Moon Table

I was doing my usual browsing online on mudah.my (similar to craigslist for those who are not familiar to the site) and I came across this half moon table that I have been looking for for quite some time. And the owner was selling it for only RM50!! ( I checked out some shops earlier and a brand new non-fancy half moon table easily costs about RM200 and above). And this one even had some carvings on it.

This was the picture of the table the seller uploaded on mudah.my.

The colour did not go with my decor but I figured, at that price I do not mind taking the risk of painting it. So, I contacted the seller and we agreed to meet. The seller even agreed to meet us about 3 minutes away from where we are currently staying (Just a note of caution: when purchasing from strangers, try your best to arrange for cash-on-delivery and never meet in private!). My husband and I met the seller in a crowded parking lot, did a once over of the table and it was a deal! When you get a deal like that, I suggest don't walk.. run back to your car, before the seller changes his mind :o)

So, last weekend, we spent half a day working on the table. I managed to coax my husband to make good use of his muscles and help to sand the table (I HATE sanding!). Hey, what do you know, he even sprayed on the primer for me (see how far some sweet coaxing gets you?:o)).

This is how it looks after being sanded by Mr.Muscle (hehe.. thank you, sayang!).

After waiting an hour for the primer to dry (waiting was agony!), I started painting the first coat and found out three-quarter way that I ran out of paint. That was because silly me just decided to use the left over half-can of paint from this project knowing that this was a much bigger table. And the place where I bought the paint was half an hour away, yes, I'm adventurous like that! :o) Soooo.. after another trip to the paint store (where I bought one BIG can of white paint and 3 cans of white spray paint.. why take the risk?? hehe) , I managed to finish a second coat and this is how it turned out:

Tadaa! My "new" white half moon table!

There was some water damage "bumps" on the surface of the table which we could not get rid of so I just covered it with a napkin and a doily. What do you think?

Do you like my apothecary jars which I filled with candles and seashells? I love them!

Now that I have this half moon table, I need to do something about the mirror. I see another paint job in the near future.. :o) so stay tuned!

Twigs & Feathers

Bedside Table

Our guestroom needed a bedside table. But a bedside table is waaaay down our list of priorities. So when I spotted an old, black, chipped "antique" table no longer in use at my mum's house, the lightbulb inside my head immediately went off. I have never painted furniture before, so this was my chance to try. After doing some minor convincing, my mum agreed to let me have the table (I think she was just happy that someone has taken it off her hands :o) hehe..). I quickly started working on it before she changed her mind :o).

First step, I sanded the table to get rid of the varnish and then I sprayed on a primer to ready it for painting. And here's how it looks after sanding:

Next, I used a spray paint in "Baltic White". Biiiigggg mistake. Number one, I did not like how the colour turned out (although it looked pretty good on the colour chart), number two, the drips from a spray paint is very unforgiving and if you're like me and have never owned a paint brush, you can't correct the drips. You'd do better using ye olde paint brush method. Tested and true. I know a lot of people use spray paint but it just did not work for me this time. Here is how it looks after a coat of "Baltic White", not pretty at all..

I then went out and bought a can of good old white paint and some paint brushes and voila! I lived to tell the tale :o). My white bedside table for my guestroom:

Ready to serve hot chocolate before bed and a scented candle to light and enjoy.

What I'm really happy about is that it cost me less than RM15 for the sandpaper, primer and paint, even with all the mistake!

Would you like to come over and stay a while?

Twigs & Feathers

Kitchen Sneak Peek

Hi! I'm currently working on my kitchen decor. And I love playing around with what to display on my shelves. And my fire-breathing-dragon-English-teacher would cringe if she knew, after all her hard work, I now start sentences with "And". But hey, I'm no longer in school, so there. ha!

Hmm.. my wet kitchen is still being built so I have not decided on anything yet but I know I'm having fun with all the possibilities. Would you like to have a sneak peek?

I bought the trivets on the shelves and the matching potholder and oven mitt even BEFORE we bought the house :o) And those tiny spice jars, I decorated them myself. Click here if you would like to see how I did it.

And how could I forget about my cupcakes collection. I bought some of the tins from a sweet friend of mine here.

Aren't cupcakes all the craze at the moment? I love them! Yummy!

How are these for a start? What do you think?

Twigs & Feathers