A filing cabinet to fit in...

What's the story?
When I recently redecorated I decided that my once teenage girl bedroom needed to become an calm and sophisticated space more suited to an adult. So the first thing I did was to get rid of the garish hot pink painted woodchip wallpaper. Next went the awkward built in wardrobe and paint stained carpet (remains of being a G.C.S.E art student with limited space). Wall paper stripped the wall was painted in a neutral cream colour. With a new lighter carpet and freshly painted walls I decided to go with a fresh nautical theme. This meant either something had to be done with the fuscia filing cabinet, it was a re spray job or a visit to the charity shop.



I could quite face the prospect of having the find alternative storage for its contents and so when I spotted this all purpose spray paint at my local range shop it went straight in the basket.



So I emptied the filing cabinet onto the bed and hauled it out to the garden. I gave it a wash down, dried it and was armed ready with the masking tape when I realised with a little persuasion the plastic handles would pop off. My spray job isn't perfect by any means as I could have done with another can for an even coverage, however it's slightly patchy nature adds to the rustic feel of the nautical theme.



The handles did go back on with equal persuasion as it took to get them off, but I don't have a clear photo with the handles back on.



Rather pleased with this, doesn't stand out quite so much now.

Rescue, restoration and a jolly good bargain!

I had a mirror from my university days but it was rather ragged and didn't have a frame. I had considered building a frame for it and mosaic the frame in blue and mirrored tiles, however noticing a few faults in the mirror itself I was still deliberating whether or not it was worth the time, money and effort. A few weeks later I was walking back past a local high street shop which closed down when I noticed a poster in the window selling off the old shop mirrors.

I knocked on the door to enquire and was told by the builder they had a dozen of full size mirrors with solid frames for £10 each. I couldn't resist it, it already had a frame and would make my mosaic challenge that little bit easier for a start. Only there may have been a hitch, I had recently traded in my car and now owned a Mini Cooper, getting the mirror home could be a challenge. With a little help from a couple of the builders (the mirror was very heavy) we managed to squeeze the mirror into the back of my car. Once home we hauled it upstairs to my room, space being somewhat of an issue.


I now had somewhere to put the lights I brought when I first started decorating.

I grew rather attached to the mirror as it was with the lights round and thought it would be too much mosaiced, not to mention the fact mosaic would only add to the weight.

Around about the same time as getting the mirror I received an e-mail from hobbycraft advertising a new product they would be stocking.


I decided instead to just touch up the existing paint. And the primitive colour seemed to match the colour perfectly.
Following the instructions on the back of the pot I started to wash down the frame before painting. When I started doing this I found the paint came off and so I spent the rest of the morning scrubbing down to the original white base below.


Once washed down I decided to go for a lighter, fresh colour to match the nautical theme of my room.


Waiting for a dry day to do second coat (it could be a while), will add a finished picture then.

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