Painting the house red

8th December  


Painting old food containers red

A couple of months ago I had what I thought was an excellent idea and in my enthusiasm dashed off to a fantastic independent shop in Marlow called Sara Hughes, follow link here .  I have mentioned the shop before as I seem to have been in furniture painting mode during 2014, if you want to see the wild pops of colour follow this post here and here

So with Christmas in mind in early October, shhhh, I bought a tin of Autentico Red Stripe paint and set to painting anything that didn't move.  My teenage son almost became painted as he is in that need to sleep cannot move phase!

Old food containers were washed and kept until such a time that I had a big enough collection to paint everything in one go.  Some items needed more than one coat, but it was so quick to slap it on, it didn't matter;  that is what is so brilliant about this paint, you do not need any preparation, just brush it onto to a clean grease free surface.

Dark photograph BUT I love the shadows in it

Once I had all these items painted I knew I wanted to paint some pictures on them to make them more Norwegian and Christmassy, but that was as far as I had managed with my brain wave.  I am not a painter and am not creative in that way and needed inspiration. Whilst wondering what to do, I painted some wooden utensils, so I felt I had actually accomplished something...

Christmas utensils ready to be used,
adds a quick splash of colour to the kitchen

But that still left me with all the painted boxes and containers. So out came the Christmas books and boy do I have a lot!  Salvation and inspiration in the end came from a firm favourite and a book that mamma has handed down to me.  Translated the title is Christmas big hobby book.

One of my most favourite Christmas books

This is a book I turn to every year without fail for ideas and inspiration, I would not want to be without it.  The Norwegians are such a crafty lot and I love that!  Without any more searching needed, out came the acrylic paints...

Practicing with acrylic

My hand is heavy and I am not good at being light with the paint, my efforts for me were pretty good and I am overall pleased, of course in reality anything I paint or draw never comes out as I wanted it to, but I have finally learnt to live with it and let it go as it is...

Old food containers transformed for Christmas

A shoe box blinged for Christmas

An old photo frame given a new life

What am I going to do with these I hear you ask, well...

An old gravy granule box
ready to become a biscuit box

A gift-wrapped present  already to be given

A coffee jar turned into a coffee bean store
and a yoghurt pot turned into a maize store,
pop corn for watching Christmas films!

The coffee bean storage sits well in the kitchen

But of course I could not stop there and remembered we had an old dining room chair sitting in the shed, why we still had one from the old furniture set I cannot imagine, but as it had sat out there unused and unloved for the past six or seven years, I decided to bring it out of retirement and give it a new lease of life.  I must say, I'm rather pleased with my Christmas chair.

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday and that I may have given you some Christmas colour and cheer.  Loving all your comments, it really is appreciated, I read them all and reply to each one, thank you so much.

On Christmas countdown, I'm so excited...

♥  Happy Monday to you all ♥