Giving the bookcases gingerbread flair: Part 2

Last time I posted about the armoire door that I adapted to work as a sliding door on this bookcase. Just a quick reminder of what this looked like orginally…..

Both bookcases looked like this. Notice how the bottom has been finished with a laminate trim. So I’ve finished adding details and, although I’ve yet to finish painting them with chalk paint sanding and finishing them you can get an idea of what they look like with these images…

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It’s all a bit dusty and messy in there and, as you can see, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Nevertheless it’s starting to take shape; here are some more images where you can see the kitchen island….

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The changes have been made using predominantly recycled pieces of wood from furniture I’ve bought at brocantes and have been broken down for one reason or another. This is partly why it’s taken so long to get to this point. I’ve had to be adaptable and at times I’ve had to go away, leave the project and allow my mind to tick over as to how I can use what I’ve got. As a result there’s been some unusual items thrown into the mix.

I can’t give you a how to – what’s the point, it’s all based on my rag bag of things, but I can give you an idea of what and how I adapted things to turn from one to the other.

The first thing I’ll draw your attention to is the base of the bigger unit. In my post on the sliding door I said how I needed a lip to keep the door in line so it didn’t slip and cause it to be pulled from its top, potentially wrecking the entire cabinet. I made this lip from the base of an armoire that had the majority of its parts used elsewhere, and the wheels of the coasters run on two armoire struts which made up the door frame.

I needed the latter as I wanted the pole for the curtain pole for the door to be as in line with the upper shelves on the unit as possible, so running along the struts gave it height. You can see the lip here…

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This isn’t just the armoire base and struts though, it’s a real Frankenstein monster underneath the chalk paint. I wanted the armoire base because of the curved corner, but I needed more height as a result of the struts so I added the edge of a buffet that’s too big for the area. It still looked unfinished so I glued to 28mm 1/4 rounds together and added them on the top. I’m not going to lie to you I used a lot of acrylic to fill gaps – I think the entire project is about 10% acrylic.

You can see where I added finials to give the cupboard a finishing touch. Well, they don’t only serve that purpose. the mish mash of wood bits didn’t look good on the corners, so they were added to disguise the not so smooth transitions.

When this bookcases was done and before I’d painted it it literally looked like…

Here are a series of photos to show you my using various quarter rounds to give a more finished end; you can see how it changes from horror show to more presentable with acrylic…

When I’ve painted it and sanded it smooth it you’d never know it was such a freak show. Here’s the other end which is on its way to looking presentable – I’ve built this up with my favourite 1/4 rounds of various sizes, one of the beads from my daughters play set (yep, you read that right) and I’m smoothing it and adding form with acrylic. Here it is as I’m building up layers of acrylic – I’m going to add another after this has set to give it more definition. I’ll update you when I’ve finished the painting..

I said in my 1st post that the rail for the door to run on was a real trial and error process. Well in order to fit the rounded end curtain rail I needed an extra piece of wood…

As you can see I’ve added this detailed panel; it was the central panel of one of the now defunct armoires, as I couldn’t place it centrally I used these rose hooks to counteract it being off centre. I already had the hooks. The light switch is going to be replaced for a dolly light switch.

I’ve already written about how the tops of both cabinets are put together from salvaged furniture, however the corner brackets are found on ebay. In my last post I showed you this image…

Due to the curtain pole’s fit I needed this piece of wood to screw it to and these brackets to disguise the ugly. You’ll notice that the slight arch in the original bookcase mean that the brackets don’t fit all the way along so, as there was the metal curtain pole, I added these small, iron knobs.

Because the bookcases are large I’d had the choice of removing them or struggling to find a place to put our fridge as a result of wanting a dining corner and wanting to keep the fireplace. So in the end I decided to have the fridge inside the bookcase itself. So I needed a step for it to rest on. Along came my second armoire base to form this…

This is made up of the armoire base and the original top of the buffet come kitchen island. I’ve added the same finials….

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Again it’s looking a bit scrappy, but you’re able to see how it will be when it’s finished.

The armoire which had the detailed side panel used on the large bookcase had an additional top bar along with the side casings which is used on the sliding door. I cut this and put it on the bottom of the smaller bookcase and added it to the other side of the bottom of the armoire on the step. As it was the right hand of the armoire base and I needed it for the left hand corner of the cupboard I put it upside down, then I added some left over edging from the buffet.

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You can see that this is again a mish mash of various salvaged pieces. Added to that I’ve put together an end section for little spice jars and bottles. I’m not going to go through it step by step, unless you want me to, but here are some images of the various stages…

It’s looking all higgeldy piggeldy, then it gets smoothed over with acrylic and the first coat of paint goes on…

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Again, it’s not finished and this is chalk paint so it looks uneven, but I’m rather pleased with how it looks. More out of the ordinary things are used; some smaller curtain finials, the 1/4 rounds, and some little wooden craft dollies of all things!

My husband is the main cook – he’s very excited about his spice rack!

So this is where we are so far. We have the wall and the floor to do next, as well as finishing the ceiling. If you want me to go through how to make the spice rack let me know. In the meantime stay well!

20 Inspiring Breakfast Nook Ideas

Over the last week both my daughters have been home, we thought my little one had chicken pox and cancelled their time in the centre récré. It was a false alarm, but it meant we spent time together as a family so little decorating work has been done.

So I’m returning to some inspirational dreaming to get me back in the mood for some heavy lifting this week. Here are some breakfast nook areas that I’m inspired by this week. Tell me our favourite.

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25 Inspiring Country Kitchen Details

I’m still working away in the room that will be the kitchen. It’s tiring and each stage seems to be taking four times as long as I’d hoped. So I need some inspiration…..and here it is….

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28 Inspiring Boulangeries Including Ladurée

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I’ve spoken about wanting to include a mirrored door as part of my kitchen plans. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to do it, but if I manage to recycle the old, arched mirrored door I want to give it a French bakery look. I found these images that inspired me…

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..but amongst these were images of the Ladurée bakery. I thought I’d go into a little more detail about this inspiring brand.

Ladurée is a French luxury bakery and sweet house created in 1862; 15,000 of their double-decker macarons are sold every day. In fact it was this macaron which enabled Ladurée’s rise to fame. In 1930 the grandson of Ladurée, Pierre Desfontaines, had the original idea of the double-decker, sticking two macaron shells together with a creamy ganache as filling.

The first bakery was founded on the Rue Royale, Paris in 1862 by Louis-Ernest Ladurée a miller who, in typical French style, was also a prolific writer and produced works in almost every literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works, more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets.

He was an outspoken supporter of social reform. Despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day.

In fact, during the Paris Commune uprising of 1871, the bakery was burnt down. It was this time that the visuals of the brand formed. When the shop was rebuilt Jules Chéret incorporated in the interior decoration the chubby cherubs dressed as pastry cooks. They were painted by him on the ceiling, and are now part of the company’s emblem. The interior of the premises were painted in the same celadon colour as the façade.

Desfontaines also opened a tearoom at the pastry shop. Ladies were not admitted to cafés, which were the exclusive domain of men (again, how French) so this was enormously liberating for women as well as an inevitable commercial success.

You can see why the beautiful Belle Époque style decor would inspire me. Simply delightful!

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Oh, and a little more inspiration…the interior of this unknown bakery…

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12 Inspiring Tapis des Carrés

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When you are doing up an old house you have to make do and mend. Not only to get that vintage look but, unless you’re a millionaire, because it’s an expensive process. We’ve been lucky so far in that there have been no unforeseen costs – well apart from our boiler that is. We’ve just got our quote for that. 7,000€. It could be worse, but that’s a big dent in the finances this year.

As a result we make do with what we’ve got.

Having had the electrics nearly completed in the will be kitchen, we need the flooring done to be able to connect them to the kitchen island and move further forward. Yet the flooring will be expensive…😬.

I got a quote to have the floor tiled and the work alone was 4-5000€. Even pre boiler quote that just wasn’t possible post COVID. So we were considering laying a wooden floor ourselves. This is slightly more practical to diy than the tiles, which can be tricky to lay on a well used floor without the possibility of future cracking.

Even with that as a future plan money is a problem now. Leaving us with the expensive electrics almost completed and the majority of the bill paid for, but the need to finish the flooring around the wiring laid in the floor to be finished. As we’re using solid, freestanding furniture we have the options of laying the rest of the floor later, as long as we have the tiling around the central isle and the sink finished first. The latter would be needed so we could get it plumbed in without it being disturbed in the future.

A while ago I bought these tiles as I was going to use them for a splash back and worktop respectively.

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I remembered the tiles and wondered if there was a way I could just tile these areas and then lay the wood around them at a later date. What would this look like? I started searching for some ideas. Here’s what I came up with. Some of them is just where wood meets tiles and some are a specific design called a tapis des carrés – or tile rugs. Let me know what you think…

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Staircase Removal in the Freestanding Vintage Kitchen

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This is the picture of the staircase – we needed to have a sink against that wall as we had planned to have the oven in the chimney breast. It was hard work, it took hefting a mallet over four days, but it’s gone.

Day One

The advice I received from pops when it came to the staircase removal was to take off the boarding underneath and have a look how the stairs are secured to the wall – making sure I had mask, gloves and protective eyewear as it was going to be dirty. It was, as I hammered into the underneath a scene from Raider of the Lost Arch faced me. Cobwebs and dirt showered down.

With the boarding removed I was left with this…

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You can see the iron clips that pin the staircase to the wall. I’m hoping I can retrieve them and use them for an iron fireback that I want to position behind the stove. We’ll see how eroded they are. But even if they’re not suitable at least I have something to take to the diy store as an example of what I need.

Day Two

Taking pops advice I started from the bottom. With a large, flat headed screwdriver, a hammer, a mallet and a heavy duty chisel I worked away at the back boards first. It was really heavy going. I did about two hours of work and this is where I stopped.

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Day 3

Although I worked for about five hours I only got this much further. The stairs had felt rickety, but they were actually very secure. I’ve been putting the wood aside for use as rustic shelving in the pantry we plan on having.

Day 4

Final day and it’s all gone. There’s my husband in the corner of the picture. I was on the last step and had dislodged the side of the staircase unexpectedly. I was frightened it would fall and break the wall lights which are behind the bin bags which I placed there to protect them from paint.

As I was hanging onto it to stop it falling I had been crying out for hubby’s help – we’d talked about him coming down for this bit – but he couldn’t hear me through the thick, stone walls. I kept twisting it back and forward and eventually got it loose and away from the light fittings. The final step gave way and it was onto the back, side panel.

The opened up area looks a lot bigger than I imagined. Now I just need to fill the gap with beams. Not today though – I’m having a glass of wine with dinner and relaxing on the sofa.

Sauce Bottle Labels – Free Printout

You may have noticed these bottles when I gave you an update on our kitchen here.

I designed the bottle labels with the help of the Canva app. Living in France means that we can’t easily get our hands on a lot of Indian or Chinese cooking ingredients, so when we go to the UK we always bring lots back. Pouring them into these large bottles means that we save on space, so I wanted them to look good.

You can learn how to apply the labels by clicking here, I use waterslide decals to apply them. If you want to give them a go you can download the printout below.

Sauce labelsDownload

Marian Herb Labels – Free Print Out

Have you ever heard of Mary gardens? For centuries, almost since the begining of the Church itself and especially the Middle Ages, flowers and plants have been named for and dedicated to Mary. In particular herbs have been used to represent her.  Soothing and healing herbs ones for her perfect love and mercy, bitter or sour herbs her sorrows and sweet smelling herbs her spiritual sweetness.

When we know what they represents herbs can add a spiritual dimension to our Catholic kitchens; providing an opportunity to reflect on her nature and experiences. Just like outside you can honour Our Blessed Mother in the kitchen, perhaps on the windowsill, with a mini Mary garden of small potted herbs and a Marian statue.

It was this in mind I created these Marian Herb lables for waterslide decals. Like the measurements chart, they’re super easy to do – follow the link for instructions.

You can get a print out of the labels themselves below, but there is also a part of the prayer for the blessing of herb gardens for the feast of the Assumption which I’ve also made into labels for the back. Here’s the prayer itself (of course it s only a small extract which I’ve highlighted in bold);

Our help is in the name of the Lord; 
Who hath made heaven and earth. 
A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem. 

O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to Thee. 
The words of the wicked have prevailed over us; and Thou wilt pardon our transgressions. 
Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen and taken to Thee: he shall dwell in Thy courts. 
We shall be filled with the good things of Thy house: holy is Thy temple, wonderful in justice. 

Hear us O God, our Savior, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off. 
Thou who preparest the mountains by Thy strength, being girded with power: who troublest the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves. 
The Gentiles shall be troubled, and they that dwell in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at Thy signs: Thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful. 

Thou hast visited the earth, and hast plentifully watered it: Thou hast in many ways enriched it. 
The river of God is filled with water, Thou hast prepared their food: for so is its preparation. 
Fill up plentifully the stream thereof, multiply its fruits: it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. 

Thou shalt bless the crown of the year with Thy goodness: and Thy fields shall be filled with plenty. 
The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy.
The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea, they shall sing a hymn. 

For the Lord will give goodness; 
And our earth shall yield her fruit. 
Thou waterest the hills from Thy upper rooms. 
The earth shall be filled with the fruit of Thy works; 
Bring forth grass for cattle. 
And herb for the service of men; 
That Thou mayst bring bread out of the earth; 
And that wine may cheer the heart of man
That he may make the face cheerful with oil; 
And that bread may strengthen man’s heart. 
He sent His word and healed them; 
And delivered them from their destruction. 

Almighty, eternal God: by Thy word Thou hast created heaven, earth, and the sea, all things visible and invisible, out of nothing; Thou hast ordained that the earth bring forth plants and trees for the use of men and animals; Thou hast decreed that each germinate according to its natureand bring forth fruit in due time, and Thou hast decreed that these plants should serve not only as food but as medicine in time of sickness. We humbly pray with heart and tongue that Thou wouldst bless these various herbs and plants and in Thy mercy grant a new blessing upon those powers that Thou hast caused to be inherent in these plants. May they, therefore, be a protection against all sickness and tribulation when we use them for man and beast in Thy name whose glorious Assumption we celebrate this day. 

O God, who on this day didst raise the root of Jesse, the mother of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to the heights of heaven, we humbly pray Thee, that by her intercession and under her protection the fruit of her womb, Thy Son, might be given to us mortal men, that by the power of Thy Son and the protection of His glorious Mother we may be disposed to our eternal salvation by these temporal gifts.

O God, who didst command the children of Israel that they should bring the sheaves of new fruits to the priest to be blessed and that they should rejoice before the Lord, graciously hear our prayers and pour forth the fullness of Thy blessing upon these fruits and herbs which we gratefully present this day before Thy altar.

Grant that, wherever they may be placed, they may be a potent means against sickness and pestilence, against the poison of serpents and the sting of poisonous animals, as also against the deceits, snares, and machinations of the devil. Grant that we may be worthy to be received with our sheaves of good works into heaven through the merits of the most Blessed Virgin.

God bless!

Marian Herb jar labelsDownload

Marian Herb labels prayerDownload

Update On The Upcycled, Freestanding, Vintage Kitchen

This is taking a lot longer than I thought it would and, as a result, is a little frustrating. However this is mainly because at present the kitchen to be hasn’t any light in it, so as this is winter and the light fades early it inevitably cuts down on the time I have to work in there.

Added to that I’ve changed the colour scheme. I’ve kept the yellow, obviously, but instead of lavender I’ve added a pale, duck egg blue as well as the teal for the baguette bin.

Additionally the amount of coats I’ve had to put on the wood has lengthened the time. As it was a dark colour, even though I’d used a spray primer coat, it’s taken several coats to cover it sufficiently. I thought that spray primer would save time, but it never goes on thick enough and just seems to give me a cough. I just swapped to a normal primer and it’s seems to be going a lot quicker.

Nevertheless a glimpse of what the kitchen will be like is there. I’m hoping that if you’re in a position, like us, were funds are limited it will give you ideas about how to get the kitchen you want with minimal outlay. I’ve outlined costs of the furniture throughout to give you an idea of how much this would be as a project.

The bookcases were in situ prior to the start, so I can’t put a price on them. However it’s a good example of using what you have in an inventive way. I’ll post some picture later with close up shots of them, but there are a few to give you an idea in this post.

They have taken a long time too, because I wanted to cover the wallpaper on the back of each case. I used some polyfiller to give a rough, textured appearance to the rear. You can see I’ve painted the casing the soft, buttery yellow and left the shelves in the wood. These needed staining and a few coats of clear varnish each side to bring them back up to scratch. There have also been coats of varnish on the cupboards themselves, which I want to add more to to make it extra durable.

It might seem a little crazy, but I’ve moved some of our kitchen items in here already. Firstly so I could work out where everything would go and if there was enough cupboard space and secondly as our current kitchen that were using in another part of the house is too small for all our stuff, so it’s handy.

Here are some close ups of the shelves. I love these old, vintage, French images that I’ve put in new frames….

You can see all the storage jars which I’ve separated out into three seperate sections….

I love the black and white Virgin Mary picture.

I think the combination of wood and paint gives it a more sophisticated edge than the paint alone would have.

The sideboard you can see here in its original state….

We bought this in France for our huge living room in the house we initially rented. It was less than 30€, I think because it was so huge and old not many people would have bought it. It is really solidly built, with not a piece of flimsy board anywhere on it. The drawers and everything seem to be solid oak. I love the way the yellow paint shows up the intricate wood detail.

The dresser top you can see we brought with us from the uk. It is also a second hand buy, solid wood throughout and well made. It cost me £60.00 originally, so so far for the furniture alone we’re talking about 120,00€ maximum wth exchange rate and, as like the bookcases, we already had these items I haven’t actually spent any money on them beside the paint since we’ve moved. Heaven knows how much solid, freestanding kitchen units would cost in reality (but take a look here to get an idea).

As I was painting it I suddenly thought of the rose handles I had and gave them a try. I love the result, but you can’t see them very clearly in the pictures. I’ll put a better set on later, when we’re a little further along with the project.

I’ve yet to add some window film I already have, you can see it here. It’s Laura Ashley’s Josette pattern and features roses.

When I realised how well it would go together I also remembered that Laura Ashley did a wall tile in the same design, so I’ve got some for the splash back (about £150.00 for 3m squared). Here’s they are..

We plan on having the sideboard house the sink with brass taps. It will mean cutting a hole in the top and we’ve already reduced the height of the sideboard by cutting off the bottom of each legs.

To make it waterproof we’re going to put tiles on the top. I originally chose these Laura Ashley ones in grey as I thought they would reflect the stone chimney breast well. However they are huge, and are not really adaptable to a work top. That’s the problem of buying on the Internet I guess.

We’re going to use them in the entry way you can see just between the bookcases. I think I’m going to go for some kind mosaic tiles for the worktop, we’ll see.

We’ll need some money to have the plumber come to sort out the plumbing for the sink and also the electrics, so I have to concentrate on other areas in the meantime.

My attention has therefore turning to the kitchen island, which was an old sideboard and somebody had already turned into an island. Here it is before….

I’ve managed to find some wood mouldings (about 25€) which I’ve applied to make it more in line with the sideboard and I’ve painted it yellow and stained the top dark too. Inside, as with the inside of the side board, is the light, duck egg blue colour.

I’ve added the iron towel ring, the rose hooks, and the dark oak curtain rail as well as the paint and varnish job. In total these other fixtures were about 50€. Also the handles for the drawers, which I think reflect the iron towel ring really well, are original Art Nouveau ones that I’ve salvaged from elsewhere. I’m yet to complete it with curtains on the open side of the island.

However one thing I have added are these draw organisers with waterslide decals that designate what each compartment is for. Here’s a sneak peak….

but I’ll do a complete post on that later.

The island, at 450€, was my worst buy. I was taken in by the fact that it was already done up as an island. But, you know what? I could have bought the cupboard for about 30€ like the sideboard, which is basically what’s it is and the same size, and I did the same amount of work anyway. Annoying really, but again you live and learn.

However, having said that as every other pierce of furniture in there so far has been something we already had so far we’ve spent 500€ on the kitchen, which is pretty much the island as we had the sideboard etc. Even if we’d bought the sideboard and dresser it would have been about 600€. I think the maximum I’ve spent on paint was about 150€, and I’m over estimating that.

Again, where would you get a solid, free standing vintage kitchen for that amount?

I’m about to start painting the ceiling and hopefully we’ll at least have the lights in soon. In the meantime if you want to see more of my kitchen plans you can look at this post here.

How to Measurements Kitchen Sign – Free Download

I’m really pleased with how this turned out; it was super simple to do and didn’t cost a lot at all. At the bottom of the post you can’t print out the chart for free, but this is how I did it.

Print out the image below on waterslide paper

Be sure to order either inkjet or laser paper, according to your printer, and that the type in question is clear. I used this one here. I’ve a more in-depth tutorial here, but suffice to say you print it out as normal (no need for a reverse image) so the ink goes on the glossy side of the paper. Leave it to dry for half an hour so you don’t smudge the ink.

Spray varnish the decal

I can’t stress this enough, but do it at least four times, making sure it’s fully dry in between. This will make it so much easier to dry. It really is the difference between using something that’s like cling film and something which feels like a laminate sheet pre the machine.

Clean the glass you want to put the image on

Remove the glass from the frame and clean it, making sure it’s dry. I used an old frame which had another image in. It was an old, old french photo which had just been glued on some backing and put in the frame; no mount and the corners where turning. I’d bought a new frame for the photo and put the original aside. So when I thought of this project I dug it out; it’s natural wear complements the image I was creating.

I kept the backing of the frame under the glass whilst I worked so I could see what I was doing more easily, but it wasn’t connected for ease of movement.

Put the decal in water

As the image is A4 in size I couldn’t use a bowl, so I just used this roasting tin to submerge the decal in water. As you can see it rolls up at first and then gradually unrolls. It takes seconds and when you see that it’s time to take it out.

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Place the decal on the glass

Put it where you want it to go on the glass, with the decal backing still attached. It’s easier to position like this and leaving the decal in the water that long is going’s to make the backing’s removal easy.

Slide the paper

As you’ve given the paper enough time, separating it from underneath the decal should be relatively easy. Gently holding one end, slide the paper out, readjusting it slightly when necessary. However you can tear it if you readjust too much, so it’s better to get it in place as much as possible before hand.

Smooth it out

With your finger smooth out the decal from the inside to the outside to get rid of any excess water and bubbles. It helps if after you’ve done this once you hold the glass up to the light and do it again to get the best result.

Dry off the excess water

Start by using a dry cloth and lightly patting it, then prop it up somewhere safe so it dries completely.

Glue it to the frame

Using a clear, preferably water proof, glue around the rim but try not to use too much as you don’t want it smearing when you add the glass. Make sure the glass is facing the right way – yes, I did that 😳, 😆. Slot the glass in and put any clips in place to add an extra layer of security. Lay it face down to let the glue dry.

Display it!

Here’s the finished image….

As you can see it just has numerous conversions that I need when I’m baking as well as some vintage looking illustrations.

Kitchen Measurements Conversion ChartDownload

You might not want to use this, but with this method and some inspiration I’m sure you can come up with something you’d like to do.