Transforming our little home

hello Again
still not been crafting but been busy busy busy!
Well the spring cleaning turned into a major re-decorating of the lounge and hallway of our flat and although it is beginning to look even more awesome than I had expected, the stress levels have been through the roof!!! It's hard doing things in such a tiny space. I am sure that HM Queen never notices when one of her Buckingham palace rooms are being decorated LOL

but here in our little palace our tiny flat in St Annes it's been so hard to move and live while its all been going on. There was literally nowhere to put stuff to clear the room to work. Thankful my son Matthew came to the rescue and showed me he has taken on the family trade!!! ( when his dad was alive and well we had a decorating / cleaning business) he came and decorated the lounge with me and did a fabulous job of the wallpaper hanging I don't think a professional could have done any better! my son worked his socks off for me, I am so proud of him.

He had to promise my Grandson Ethan that he would just be working hard decorating for Nanna and would NOT go and enjoy himself at the seaside or see the Blackpool tower!!!

The wallpaper you see in the background is by Graham and Brown named HESTON, photos just don't do it justice as it has a white background with a pearly overall pattern and glitter, it looks fabulous IRL! it matches the feature wall which is named Sarra it has a while background with black leaves and lots of glitter too but its very tasteful not too girly / blingy! see behind the fire picture!

The room all of a sudden looks very modern, it had been quite traditional so we needed to change a few things to keep up with this new look...Originally the colour scheme was going to be black & white with green (the chairs were green) but we ended up using a lot of grey and silver. It was one of those unplanned surprises that has worked well and we love it. 

The fireplace which sports an electric coal effect fire was originally mahogany wood with brass fittings, it stood out like a sore thumb from another era LOL so it had to be painted. I wish I had taken the "before" pictures but didn't so here's an old view of the fire snipped from another photo yes it was very traditional!

And...here below is what we have done with it, we haven't put the coals back yet as I am toying with the idea of white stones instead. I used rustoleum silver metalic paint over the brass coal grate and surround, I am very pleased with how it turned out

I want to find a nice mantel clock for that centre spot but There's no rush, maybe when the car boot sales start up again in the spring I will find one to makeover!

Talking of car boot sales, about 6 years ago we found this picture

for just £10 at a local car booty, we both loved the actual scene for different reasons...the church in the background reminds Kev of the place he grew up and he remembers his childhood. And the child on the fence watching the shepherd round up the sheep is a lovely image for me of Jesus the good shepherd and me alongside Him, it brings such a peaceful sense of security for me. we both loved the frame in shiny gold but it no longer fitted in with our room (please excuse the masking tape as I had started to prepare it for painting)

I painted it with the grey chalk paint which I had used on the fire surround then I added black satinwood to the inner and outer edges, then I used silver rub n buff on top of the black shabby style so some of the black could still be seen and giving the moulding more depth. the actual picture looks dull on the photo but that's just the camera on a different day!

We have never had a brand new carpet fitted in any of our homes before so with intensive saving we went out to get a nice green carpet, I couldn't find anything I wanted until I sent Kev into a shop alone He found a silvery grey carpet which he liked, he did a bit of dealing with the manager and got a good discount so he talked me into it and we had it fitted, what a luxury it feels underfoot I am so glad he changed my mind from the green I had wanted. 

I have lots more to show you but I will post again soon 

I am exhausted so need to put my feet up LOL