FO: The little desk that refused to give up hope

Once upon a time, there was a sad little desk tucked away in a junk furniture shop.

The little desk was desperate to be pretty and loved, so it was overjoyed to be offered the chance of a new home.

The little desk was sanded down in the summer sunshine in the garden, and enjoyed the feel of its first fresh coat of paint.

But the weather changed, and the garden was no longer a safe place for the little desk, and neither was the garage. It took up its place in the hallway, but felt sad at being only half finished and poorly used. It looked on forlornly as its screws and fittings were misplaced, its wax overcoat was stashed in the coat cupboard and its beautiful paper dress was left in a roll on a bedroom floor.

But, eventually, time was found and the little desk was coaxed out for its final makeover. The fittings were found and screws were replaced. The paper dress was made bespoke, and the wax overcoat completed the look.

Just as the little desk was almost ready for its photoshoot, a small ogre came and pushed the little desk right over! The poor little desk feared that all was lost, but it was soon picked up and its wounds tended to, before being invited to take its rightful place.

It was still feeling a little grey…

…but it soon realised that this was home, and gradually it bloomed…

…into a beautiful thing.

Baskets were found to fill its shelves and give it purpose once more.

And the little desk lived happily ever after.

The end.

Paint: Autentico Vintage Chalk Paint, Pigeon Grey and Antique Turquoise

Wax: Autentico Furniture Wax, Clear

Paper: Opera Wallpaper, Retro Leaf Teal/Green (glued with Mod Podge Matte)

Handles and Fittings: Original

Baskets: IKEA

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Sneaky peek

Pumpkin and Pickle have been packed off to their grandparents for the week. I took them up and stayed a couple of nights, and just look what greeted me on the side table in my room.

My grandmother’s bowl of cotton reels.

So, aside from rehearsals in the evenings – I should really tell you about those some time – Mr Jack and I have the best part of a week of child-free time to ourselves. Bliss! Well, if bliss involves wading through piles of paperwork and attempting to reclaim the house from under piles of unopened post, children’s drawings (many many many of them!), and general stuff. I’m sure it must be breeding.

But! On the plus-side, it has given me the opportunity to return to my little desk that I started painting way waaaaay back in the summer, and still haven’t finished.

So here’s a little sneaky peek at what I’m working on, and hopefully I’ll have some finished pictures to show you by the end of the week.

Do you have a project that you’ve been desperate to finish but just unable to find the time to dedicate to working on it?

Speaking of which, I’ve finally tracked down and purchased another ball of yarn for my cardigan, so I may have another finished object to show you before long!

Something a little different

Despite this being not-a-knitting-blog, I seem to have largely posted about knitting up until now. Partly becase blogging has encouraged me to keep knitting, and partly because I’ve not been doing any other crafting recently. The knitting is still coming along well; the second front panel is about halfway done, despite having had to frog a large amount. I’m looking forward to getting on to the sleeves, whilst also being slightly nervous at how they will fit with the body, given my interpretation of the slightly sparse pattern instructions.

In the meantime, I’ve been rather distracted by other things. We are having some building work done on the house, (which incidentally is taking a LOT longer than we were told) and so my brain space has been taken up with floorplans and measurements, builders total lack of schedules and plumbers mistakes. And then the slightly more creative side of choosing bathroom fittings and tiles, paint colours and flooring. I love the idea of interior design, but somehow when it comes down to making decisions, I suddenly seem to draw a blank. Whatever did people do before Google images and Pinterest!?

Now we are nearing the end of the works (please, please, please!) thoughts turn to the slightly less permanent fixtures and furnishings, and so to a new creative project.

I have scoured the local charity shops and found a small bureau which I plan to clean up and paint to go in our new hallway, inspired by this lovely piece I found through Pinterest, from Etsy.

I’ve never really done anything like this, so it’ll be a bit of an experiment, but I’m looking forward to getting started on it. I’ve ordered some Autentico Chalk Paint through a local stockist and hope that it’ll be relatively straightforward to turn it from this into something more beautiful.