Swan-like Peacock

Had a piece of MDF lying around leftover after some work on house. Also had a box of tiles salvaged from skip outside local tile warehouse:

Found the design in a mosaic book by Martin Cheek. Splashed out a bit on the millifiori (the little colourful circles that look like they're cut from tiny sticks of rock) which cost £5 on ebay, which was the only money spent on this as I had everything else. A bit disappointed as it looks like a swan rather than a peacock. Contains marble, glass, ceramic and bone china all reclaimed from skip.

Motown Clock

Old clock left in house. I originally set out to use an LP with some Elvis stuff decoupaged on to it. Hands of clock looked to short though on the 33.

So I used a 45 (SP) Stevie Wonder single instead. Unscrewed clock hands and battery mechanism from old clock and slightly widened the centre hole of the 45 to accomodate them. Screwed back with the 45 as the clock face and stuck on some hand markers instead of numbers. Colourful hands from Wilkos brought the cost of clock to 99p.

Formica Mirror

The previous occupier of our home appears to have had a passion for formica. This mirror has been not only glued to the wall, but screwed and reinforced with timber batons. They were obviously weary of burglars with an eye for this sort of thing.

Before....

These tiles all fell off due to two things: firstly I mixed the adhesive with too much water, and secondly formica/melanine is tricky to tile over.

A coat of watered down PVA plus some No More Nails instead of cement based adhesive and it is ready to grout.

After....

Got these tiles/offcuts for free from a skip outside my local tile shop (County Tiles). Two bags of Unibond grout and the No More Nails  cartridge brought the cost to just under £10.

Classic Stamp Decoupaged Coffee Table with Revamped Chair

Old worn out coffee table found in attic of our house, with glass top! Got some old used stamps off ebay for a couple of quid, and invested in a pot of Mod Podge glue.

Some colron wood dye......

Got this chair for £2 in charity shop. Applied same wood dye as on coffee table.

Toyed with the idea of decoupaging below glass (so I could dodge the varnishing), but glass is very tinted.

Gave the whole lot some polyurethane varnish treatment, then went to look for seat cover.

Another layer of varnish (two on wood, five on stamp decoupage), got a seat cover slip and stapled it on to old faux leather seat.

Bog Standard Formica Bedside Cabinet

Found this in back room of new house. It's a standard formica/melanine cabinet circa 1980's.

I would say I hate waste, but it's more that I want nice things but have no money. I do, however, have some leftover primer/undercoat/black paint from my table+chair project.

I would like to give it a Chinese twist.

So I will. The sides are bamboo and dragonfly in acrylic.

The front is Chinese Phoenix and Dragon in acrylic enamel. The character in the centre is "xi" which means happiness.

Needs a faux lacquer finish so I'm cracking open the polyurethance once more.

At a cost of absolutely nothing, there was never any big pressure to make it work.

But it does.

Tired Old Table

This table was given to us from a colleague of my Mam's. Thanks Pat.

Took me ages to sand, but i can't face any more Argos furniture.

The thing I like best is that the table and chairs are not square. I don't want my room full of right angles.

Primed and black satined.

Got an idea from a nice Chinese cabinet we bought from, well, China. Flowers and butterflies in acrylic enamel.

Outlined in gold.

The wind is gentle and sun is radiant, Each moment of life is as precious as gold.

Added some painted gold feet. Who needs IKEA?

The seat coverings cost about £11 for 4, which was most expensive part of this makeover.