Irish Liquidators and a Question!

Some months ago I paid a visit to Irish Liquidators. It claims to be Ireland's most interesting store and I suspect they could be right. Their slogan is "Rugs to Rhinos"! It has everything including the kitchen sink!

They buy from pretty much anyone. From stores closing down to the guy walking in off the street who wants to get rid of something. It's a 'luck of the draw' kind of place but I usually find something to take home with me. Last time I was there I took away this vintage badminton racket in a frame which you should just be able to make out in this picture. 

Mr. Auburn was a badminton player in his youth! Thought it was okay for €5 and could be nice hung on the wall at some point!? It actually has nice subtle colours to it, creams and mint green.


This little footstool however I hemmed and hawed over as long as I was there. It was €25 which I thought was a little steep as it had a wonky leg. But I have been looking for one to go with the leather chair in our sitting room for ages. In the end I took it home for €20. Its legs are a really good match with the chair and it is the perfect height.

On the way home in the car I had great plans to get some nice fabric and reupholster it and use some nice trim. Since its been home though, I'm not so sure. Or maybe I got lazy. The fabric kinda matches doesn't it? (Please ignore the weird blue colour the wallpaper goes in photos, it really is eau de nil, same as the lamp and the cushion!?).

Is it just too tatty to just clean it, tidy up the trim and leave as is or does it need a redo?? Be honest. What would you do?

 

Egg Box Three Ways!!

You know Mr. Auburn bought this lovely egg box back here and I said I would do something with it.

 Well I did.....like three times!

 

 

For a long while, it sat on our worktop just holding eggs perfectly well in its original pale wood state, then it got Annie Sloaned.

 

Cue Makeover #1.

In my wisdom I thought the ASCP duck egg wasn't a million miles from eau de nil, right? WRONG! It is 2 million. Also it was looking a little too pristine for our house.

 

 Makeover #2.

Perhaps if I tone it down by white washing over the duck egg, and distress the edges a little with some sand paper that will make it work in my kitchen.

(Sorry forgot to take picture at this stage, I was starting to get a little fed up by now!!)

It looked okay but still not right.

 

Who am I kidding, 99% of stuff in this house is off white or cream. Duck egg has to go!

 

Makeover #3

Repaint the whole thing in Original white and make it look old...

 

Once it was repainted in off white I decided to use some AS Craqueleur on it for some 'age'.

 

 

 This was my first time to use it but it was really simple and I love the effect it gives. First paint on the base coat in small strokes and leave to dry.  Then paint on the glaze and quickly dry with the hairdryer to make it crack! Thin coat = small crackles on small box.

 

Then the scary bit - dark wax. I was panicking a lot doing this thinking I had ruined it again at one point but actually you don't have to be scared. I just kept working it in and used a little clear wax on areas I thought were looking a little too mucky.

 

 

Loving Craqueleur!!

 

 

Third time's charm... dirty crackled off white fits right in I think!

Reloved Drawer Thingy!

I bought this in TK Max ages & ages ago because I really loved it and loved the price tag.

 

 

I brought it home and after disappointingly trying it in every room in the house, I conceded it that even though I loved it, the house didn't!

 

 This however was pre my Annie Sloan campaign!!

 

 

I gave it two coats of Original, 'a warm slightly creamy off white'....

 

 

...and distressed it quite a bit along the edges and to show off the lovely carved detail.

 

 

I decoupaged the insets of the little drawers with some Laura Ashley wallpaper I bought for about €6, eau de nil of course.

 

 

Now I've uttered the three magic little French words you know it's going to work don't you!

 

 

 

 The whole thing got a couple of coats of wax and suddenly, the dining room said she'd gladly have the new and improved drawer thingy...

 

 

 

My First Ikea Hack!!

At least I think it's an Ikea hack!?

Does decorating it and using it for its intended purpose constitute a hack?

 Anyway I think I made it look nice and match the kitchen-dining-sitting room decor.  

At 5ft 2ins I NEED a step in the house for when my 6 ft 4ins husband is not around. I have long since wanted a good looking one.

Taking this baby out in company to retrieve something from a kitchen cupboard is a little embarrassing! So this was the original step stool purchased from Ikea for €12.

I had a tester pot of dining room paint in, you guessed it Eau de Nil by Laura Ashley, which I used to paint the legs.

I know you're thinking.. emulsion on wood? ..but don't freak out, I Googled it first and nobody said anything terrible happened. Anyway, I haven't finished yet.

 It gave the legs two coats.

Then I stained the steps in Bondex Matt Mahogany to match the kitchen counters and the sitting room furniture.

The Bondex I already had as we have always intended to stain our stairs, at some point!

I thought the stain would take better to the bare wood than it did. It got three coats, four probably would have looked better but it took like 12 hours to dry and it was mineral based and I got fed up.

So I put all the pieces together, got some back to front, took it apart, read the instructions and put it together again!

Then I gave it two coats of Annie Sloan Soft Wax in clear to protect the emulsion. I also waxed the stained parts and then gave in to the fourth stain coat (because of the annoying little spots of resistance you might have noticed) and wouldn't you know, the stain took like a dream and dried in double quick time. Thanks Annie!

 So there you have it, my super handy handsome step stool which cost just €12 as everything else I had squirrelled away!!

Meet Elenor!

I first found her on eBay looking for a good home. The minute I saw her I knew she was going to be mine. The sale was one week away but I was willing to pay for vintage Laura Ashley. Eau de Nil is slowly disappearing from their product range and it features extensively at the Auburns!

Thankfully she was mine for a nice price considering there was a lot of interest. After an arduous trip across the water from England (which almost saw her return as the courier could not find me), she had arrived!!!

Inside were lots of components all carefully packaged.

 First things first, she needed a bath. Ever tried to bathe a chandelier?? 

 It's not as easy as you might think, with a toothbrush! 

Farewell perfectly good matching lampshade.

 You have served us well and will see out your days atop this lampbase (but perhaps not on this table as it looks a little small for you!).

Next Mr. Auburn had to wire her up...

 ...which involved everybody being in this position for an arm breaking length of time. 

 He then mended the ceiling rose and we were ready to put her back together.

 

 

Getting all the droplets and crystals in their respective places was confusing and time consuming... and fiddly!! 

It didn't help that I couldn't reach now she was up and Mr. Auburn had to take over with his giant man hands!

 Before long she was pretty as a picture. (I'm leaving out the bit about the two missing droplets which took two weeks to replace, for everyones sake!!)

I am disappointed about the ugly Ikea bulbs which are super energy saving and will last like FOREVER!! 

What I didn't realise was that they have a super ugly white entire bottom half with Ikea stamped all over!!

Anyway Elenor is still a thing of enormous beauty! 

I hope you'll agree she fits right in in our sitting room.