Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Add a touch of lace

I'd love to show you the dreadful state this basket was in before I tackled it but I don't seem to be able to upload all my photos. Needless to say, it was bad. And dropping old paint flakes everytime I looked at it. But it still had my heart so I kept it and continued to vacuum up little pieces of pale pink paint flakes.
Then I decided that it would be useful for DD1's wash basket so I gave it a good soak and scrub. And soak and scrub. And soak and scrub.
You get the picture.
I managed to clean out all the soil in the base (it must have been a plant holder in it's previous life - I wouldn't know, though, because I picked it up off the side of the road a couple of years ago) and scrapped heaps of paint flakes off but it still seemed to keep coming.
Now I am not a long term painter because I haven't the patience for all the preparation. I sort of trust that a good thick coat should keep all the old stuff together for as long as I need it to stay there. But this baby was a bit ridiculous.
Not knowing what to do, I set her out in the sunshine to dry, then came up with the brilliant idea of banging her on the verandah railings.
Brilliant!!
What a great way to get rid of flacky paint. I tell you, you should try it one day! Really makes the paint fly.

Only I would advise you to stop before the basket begins to fall apart. Yes that would be a good idea.
Well I finally stopped and had a breather, thought about tying the base back on with fishing wire but that would mean trudging down a million stairs to the garage and I didn't want to. So the base will have to stay partly unattached.
It should be fine so long as no kids try to use it to carry their siblings around.
Fortunately my darlings are all too big for that now. So on to the painting. White paint of course and possibly two coats. So far all the old bits are holding together nicely thankyou.
The lining is made from scraps I already owned, possibly oppy finds. I made beautiful lined openings for the handles. Pity one was on the inside but I am not starting again. No way. I'll just add a touch of lace to the edge and everyone will think it is fantastic.
And after all, it really doesn't matter because it is only a dirty wash basket after all.
PS For more colour in your life you might consider heading over to Ange's Ramblings to join her vintage sheet swap which will probably take place around July. Plenty of time to scour the op shops for that extra sheet or pillowslip!

3 comments:

  1. Oh nice to find another dog admirier! Yes they always cheer you up because they are always happy to see you!
    I love the basket idea, I love repurposing op shop finds or hard ribbish finds. Some imagination and some material and it looks great! Welldone!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks wonderful. I bet that pot is really smiling at your love and care!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Очень эффектно получилось!! Удачи!!

    ReplyDelete

Thankyou for your kind thoughts. I appreciate and read everyone even though at times I may not be well enough to reply. Thankyou.