British Invasion

 

It's a British invasion.  Everywhere you look there is a Union Jack on flags, wall art , and furniture.  Now, most of you big city girls are thinking, "Has she been hiding under a cotton bale?"  No, I have seen the photographs across the blogosphere, but here in this little town in South Carolina, we have been stuck in France.  Bowing to the decorator gods that dictate which culture we will invade and conquer, I decided to create a Union Jack corner in my booth.  The stand-out here is one of my beautiful old doors I use - basically to hold up the walls!  There are six of them in assorted sizes that have traveled from one antique mall to another.  My husband swears he will not take them down and move them again so I will just have to LEAVE them!?!  I think not!  I'll hire someone.

But I digress (as I usually do).  Back to the Union Jacks.

 Here are the culprits that started me down this path.  This is round red table and telephone chair I bought back in April on my Low Country crawl at the Squirrel's Nest In Summerville, SC.  I do not know why, but time I saw it I thought Britain.  It was probably the colonial red paint with traces of the previous coat of white peeking through.  Yes, it is tilting, but easily fixed with a leg joint glue job.

 I grabbed some Union Jack images from Karen over at the Graphics Fairy.  One a full page and the other a nine-image page.  They stayed like this in my living room (er, project room!) for weeks while I moved the images back and forth trying to decide.

 I went shopping around the house to collect other furniture and items to Brit-ify.  I found a octagonal wooden bowl, a wooden tray partially painted red, and one of those half-round tables that tuck nicely into small spaces.  












First up was the telephone chair - you may have the correct name for it, but in our family it's called the telephone chair because my grandmother had one like this by her telephone table!


I used Rust-Oleum Colonial Red spray paint for these pieces - the color matched the red table perfectly.

I still have not set up my patio for summer so I am painting on my trusty bins.  The half- round table came next.  Since both of these pieces had a matte dark finish, I just washed down with ammonia water to clean off any polish or dirt.  Then I lightly sprayed at an angle so the crevices and turns were not painted.



I could have fully given them two coats, then sanded, but decided against it.  These pieces will probably be used and then repainted  again.  Plus, I was lazy that day.  I really wanted to go swim in the pool. 

I next painted the bowl and the tray.  I did sand off the edges and otherwise abuse them for that distressed look. 

Mod Podged Again!

You knew I had to bring out the Mod Podge - I have bottles of it in three rooms so it is always at hand.  I like the matte finish.  This is what those 40% off Hobby Lobby coupons are for! (NO, I have not been to H.L. this week.)  I Mod Podged the image directly onto the piece.  Everyone has their own way of doing this, but I lay the image face side down on waxed paper, use a foam brush to apply a thin coat covering the entire image, and then place it gently onto the surface.  Then place a piece of waxed paper over the image and with a paper towel firmly rub over the whole image starting in the center and working outward.  Gently lift the waxed paper off.  All wrinkles and bubbles should be gone.  Wait until the image is fully dry before applying a topcoat of Mod Podge over the image making sure to seal the edges.  I let this dry overnight and then seal with a satin varnish over the entire piece - not just the image. 

 Blah -  blah-  blah-   Mod Podge-   chair.


I thought the pattern of the nine-image paper resembled a woven seat so I used the sheet whole - just trimmed the white from around the edges.




 




 I had to work in the kitchen because it was pouring buckets outside.  Here are the round table, the chair, and further down the half-round table.

You can see the chipped red paint with the white showing.

Don't you wish you had country blue and white vinyl flooring in your kitchen?  1980's flashbacks are not for the weak-hearted!

The tray ended up being very scuffed (excuse me, distressed). I took sand paper to the Union Jack and sanded some of the paper and color from the image.

I forgot to take a photo of the bowl - looked about the same as the tray.

The sun came out yesterday.  Here they are.  Yes, they do have some extra friends - I will tell you about them later.  After taking several pictures from different angles, I realized that ninety-three degree heat and high humidity was not good for them,  so-o-o-o-o........

....here they all sit in the shade awaiting price tags and their turn at being loaded into the truck.


My neighbor thought I was setting up for a yard sale and came over to look!  She should know better than that!  What kind of yard sale has everything the same color - even I am not that obsessive. 

Yellow Fellow is still hanging around mooning over Miss Star Dust leaving.  I had to shove his little butt over to make room for Jack - Union Jack, that is.


Well, it certainly makes a bold statement in this booth.  After two weeks of working on this stuff, I hope someone else likes it as well as I do!


If not, that's what 20% Off signs are for!













Two quick notes:

1)My long-time friend who has helped clean the house and yard, refinish furniture, and haul heavy things for me had a mild stroke this week.  I would appreciate a blessing or prayer being sent toward Calvin as he recovers.

2)I have decided not to attend the Peach Tree 23 (44 miles of yard sales) tomorrow.  I fully intend to stick to my vow to stay junk sober for another week.  You would not believe the things I found under my bed!  Well, some of you would.


Thank you for becoming British for awhile.  I loved the Union Jack and the red, but think I will have to go back to France!


Leave a comment and invite me over to your place for a visit.


See y'all!

 

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