Redecorating, home grown citrus and garden birds

Hi everyone! I’ve been quiet of late as I have been down in the basement painting in my spare bedroom. I wanted to brighten up the boring cream walled room, and do something with some of the dull brown pine furniture. 

We inherited a bed head, a tall chest of drawers and a wardrobe from the previous owners, which with the addition of some of our own wooden furniture meant there was a right mix of different wood colours. I decided to start on the bed head and the chest of drawers as they were the most boring pine pieces. But first, I painted the wall behind the bed in Annie Sloan’s new wall paint in ‘Riad Terracotta’. The reason for the bright colour was because all the accessories in this room are lovely autumnal colours from our last bedroom (as we have gone for a completely different colour scheme in our new bedroom for a change).

I had ordered some lovely brass knobs for the furniture as I loathe the basic pine knobs that were on the chest of drawers. But when they arrived, I discovered something surprising. The current knobs weren’t screwed in, but had been glued in from the outside! Cue my wonderful husband to the rescue, who managed to carefully saw them off, then chisel down any remaining bits down flat, then drill holes for my new knobs. The base of the new knobs was smaller and didn’t cover all the marks from sawing the old ones off, but as I was painting the chest of drawers, it didn’t matter. However I am leaving the pine knobs on the wardrobe for now, as I don’t plan on painting that at the moment, if at all. (It has two drawers under the wardrobe part).

The wall behind the bed painted in Annie Sloan 'Riad Terracotta' wall paint: I have been using her chalk paint the last two years but the wall paint is a new product and it went on over a pale wall in three coats. The dark red wall behind the bed in our room took four coats of regular paint (Leroy Merlin's own brand wall paint, Luxens)! I have bought some new paint for the rest of the walls (light cream) but I am in no rush to paint them yet. 

The bedhead has been painted in Annie Sloan chalk paint in 'Versailles', which is a beige with a khaki hint. It was then covered in her clear wax, then distressed with dark wax in the crevices, then another coat of clear wax for added protection. You do have to spend some time buffing it all up when the wax has dried overnight, but when it has dried and cured after a few weeks, it has a lovely feel to it.

You can see some of the shine on the bedhead below, and the darker bits to imitate dirt over the years. 😀

This is two coats of 'Versailles' on the chest of drawers, but since I took this photo I have also distressed it with dark wax, but there aren't too many nooks and crannies on this chest - they are mostly on the side really. I am waxing it with Annie Sloan clear wax to protect it.

It's a good thing the bedroom is big (long and thin) because there isn't much room to move with all the drawers around, not to mention all the Moho bedding which lives in here during the winter!

The Meyer lemon has done really well this year and I am chuffed to have a harvest (especially in the middle of winter!) that I have watched from beautiful perfumed blossom being pollinated by the large dark blue Carpenter Bees, to forming little fruit, to now. There were 11 lemons - we've had one so far. I had a recipe that put grated lemon zest on top of home made veggie soup when serving and it was really good, especially with the interesting taste of Meyer lemon. They are a cross of mandarin with regular lemon, so less acidic, and just, well, different!

Bertie came through the cat flap to see what I was up to.....

... had a sniff, decided it was boring and wandered off. 😀

The stencils on the outdoor pots (see blue pot behind the lemon) have held up fine so far, after two years outside (though under cover during the first winter). I covered them in exterior grade varnish and they seem good as new. I haven’t even brought the pots under cover this winter as the Bidens is still alive so this may be saving us £$€ this summer, not to mention the work planting up! I’ve got the same geraniums in the covered patio as last winter, a bit tatty but still flowering. My potted bulbs from last year are appearing and the crocuses are starting to flower. Spring is on the way. 😁👍

The garden chairs and table were left here for us too, but the chairs are getting a bit old, and my brother went through the fabric of one when he was sitting on it - I just wish I could have seen that! 😃

Keith took some lovely photos of this Coal Tit which appeared around the bird feeders recently, along with another one, and have stayed around since. About time we had some new birds on the feeders!

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Also this picture of a Great Tit with a sunflower seed in its mouth.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Well, back to the painting and waxing until we get a nice (and hopefully warmer) day, then we'll get out and do something interesting outdoors. Thank goodness January is over though! 👍

 

N.B. In case you don't know, with Annie Sloan's chalk paint, you don't need to sand or prime furniture (or anything else) before painting! It sticks to just about everything, old paint, wood, metal, plastic, fabric and more. It's expensive, but it is so worth the extra expense. Here's the link to her website:  https://www.anniesloan.com/