the chest of drawers

I needed a practical piece of furniture in the office to storage my arts and crafts and loads of school material I have.

There are many reasons to which I choose to buy a second hand chest of drawers and put a lot of work on giving it a new life and personalized look.

* Because it is better for the environment than buying a new one.
* Because I could make it in a way it fits the office's look better (and it does).
* Because it is cheaper (although I do not put the working hours on that budget sheet). But I already had most of the materials at home and my wonderful sister-in-law lended me the sand paper machine.
* Because I needed something to do now that I am home battling cancer. (I really need to keep myself busy, can't help it, it's part of who I am, to be constantly doing things).
* and last but not least, because I enjoy it!

So to go from this:

To this...

You must plan carefully your work steps and environment. For instance you need a dust free inclosed space to paint and let the object dry, otherwise dust and other things will glue themselves to the painted surface and it will not look god in the end... You also need to make an inventory of the material you need. Look at the material and tools you already have at home first and then buy only what you need in the quantity you need. See if you can borrow or hire the tools you need if they are not the kind of tools you need to use frequently. Take your time, do not rush the work. I am going through heavy chemotherapy so it took me two months to finish this project, because I only worked on it when I had the energy and the will to work on it. I never felt it was a burden, each minute I spend on this project I did it with joy, and that gave me so much more than just buying a new one.
Finally don't be afraid/shy to ask for advice and help from someone that knows how to do the job.
Good luck!

the crochet box

One of my latest projects was to decorate a wooden box I found while cleaning the storage and bike room outside. The box was not being used there and I needed it inside but I really wanted to make it beautiful and test to use a crochet napkin in my arts and crafts.

It was simple, quick and enjoyable! So here's the pictures of the work I did and the results.

And the final result... During my chemo treatments I use the box for my clothes during the days I sleep in the downstairs bedroom because I can't take the stairs for a few days after treatment. Hopefully I will be able to use the box to storage other things or even for plant pots when I'm done with the treatments.

a new bench

While I am at home in between treatments I keep myself occupied in different ways. I feel the need to always have a creative project, if not on doing, at least byt planing it on my mind.

I had a rather boring piece of furniture from a known Swedish company that I used to sit on or when I needed to reach high up. The good thing is that it's finish was plain wood so I didn't need to do that much of a base work on it. But preparation is the key to a good result so I coated it white and was keen on taping it before the the big splash of color.

   

I wanted to play with print techniques, crocheting and the contrast between gold and ultramarine blue. As usual I prepared all the materials and surroundings to avoid any unnecessary accidents and get paint all over my house. 

Then I just had fun with it and did not plan too much the creative part of the work. 

 It took me a few days from the first base coat until the final polish coat was dry but now I am quite happy with the results. The rather boring bench is now a unique piece of joyful deep blue tones and gold, decorated with a crochet pattern and it is multifunctional. It is stil a bench, a helper on reaching for stuff that is way out of my 161 cm reach and a side bed piece on the gest room.

upgrading jeans

Both me an my daughter were sick at home today. She recently found a pair of jeans (good quality jeans by the way) that her brother has outgrown and were on their way to charity. She said they fit her and she wanted to have them. Great, but I wanted her to feel like they are hers and not just something more she inherited from her brother.

Our good friend Pinterest helped us find something she likes and that I could work with. And... voilá! One hour later and a few threads and handicraft and my daughter has a pair of jeans just the way she wished. Now the jeans are hers and in a few months when she outgrows them maybe they can still serve one more child in our family. Maybe a younger cousin, Susana? ;-)

quality time with dolls

When I was a child my aunt Manela worked at a textile factory with the those days computing program that cut the fabrics in an effective way. From time to time she brought me a bag of fabric waste, tiny pieces of all kinds of fabric that were big enough for me to play with and make clothes for my dolls.

One of the larger fabric stores close by sells random small bits of fabric by the bag. So you can't chose and it reminds me of the bags my aunt used to bring me that enlightened my childhood.

I bough a couple of those to play with my kids. We have made different kinds of stuff for them. Today I just took a couple of hours with my daughter and we made clothes for some of her dolls. Quality time together with my daughter and her dolls. I must confess that I did not check any instructions or ideas on the web. Today wasn't about perfection, it was about time spent together with no screens around us. We had a lot of fun making up the clothes and solving the practical problems we got along the way. Here's the results, a new fashion season for dolls :-) 

a trip to Curia

Curia is a village resort known for its fine water which had been said to have medicinal properties.
Back in the day many Portuguese, and foreigners, took vacations there to relieve themselves from various illnesses and to breathe the pure air of the countryside. I guess you could call it the 1900's equivalent to a spa-vacation, or a retreat in a back then luxurious country side scenery. Pompous hotels were built in the village that was and still is easily accessed by the country's main roads and served by a train station.

A couple of weeks ago I finally surrendered to it's charms and took the kids there for a visit. To be honest I followed my cousin and her husband. We all loved it. We visited a park that is open to the general public for a small fee. The huge park was part of an old hotel and it many facilities. There's a café and you can rent paddle boats to take a quiet tour on the artificial lake (we had a race of course, ahahahah).

You can visit part of the hotel and take part of the expositions, the permanent and the temporary ones.   The building is quite impressive and I loved the mixture of Art Nouveau and Deco in the building and the surroundings. Being abandoned for many years but still in good shape you can almost get a "Shinning" experience when you wonder around, the quiet piano almost played on itself when we passed by, the old bathrooms and heavy doors contrasting to the beauty of fine details on the stairs and chandeliers enhanced the Shinning-feeling. I loved it! Totally recommend a visit.

I know there are many options for those who want to stay and enjoy the place for a few or more days and do not want to check in at the still working neighboring grandiose hotel. Me, I just have the luxury of having Curia just over half an hour from my nest in Aveiro.

Here are some of mine impressions from Curia, hope you enjoy :-)

a dream of a project

I really appreciate having unique things, especially when I can be involved in their creation. This one has a special place in my heart. This has been my Summers heart project.

Last Easter I was wondering around my grandparents (mothers parents) annexes with my aunt when we found the casted iron pieces of my childhood bed. That bead had been my bed until way in my teens and before that it had been my fathers single bed and even before that it had been his grandfathers bed. So as far as I know this casted iron bed is at least has old as my grand-grandfather Chico (from Portalegre, Portugal) born 1907. This bed is probable at least 100 years old.

When I was a child I the bed got a coat of white paint all over, I guess it was fashionable that way then. Still today there are few people from my parents generation that appreciate the original beauty of this dreamy piece of furniture. I knew I had to get this family clenod back and give it a new use restoring its glory.

This is how it looked like when we found it.

It looked abandoned, had lots of rust and the detailed flower arrangement was all blurry due to the white coat of paint it got on the 1980's. Such a shame... So my uncle helped med with the welding and the treatment it required before painting. He also followed med to a "big Swedish furniture company" to by a large bed structure (my husband is quite tall) with but no head piece attached to it and the madrases. Me being a controller freak that methodically tackles a task like putting a bed together and my uncle that is the most impulsive person I know and kept asking for a hammer putting that bed structure together could have been a really funny sketch material. 

The bed structure served well already during Easter. Still it lacked the head piece. That was the fun part of the project. So I took it to my grandparents (fathers parents) basement and carefully painted it with several coats of metal paint with quality brushes. I prepared the basement carefully so no dust or anything else got stuck on the paint during the long drying process. 

Here's the final results: 

I hope this family clenod can be loved by many more generations. Next time I will try to find worthy bedside tables, I'm hoping I get to paint them myself so they match the bed perfectly and had another uniqueness to the room. After that, maybe the lamp?