Globe Makeover

Take an old kid's globe and give it a classy makeover with white spray paint and silver sharpie.

I'm so pleased with this simple makeover. It started life as a charity shop purchase by our daughter for a uni project and it was just about to make it's way back to the charity shop when I thought it might be worth attempting a makeover. 

I did a little looking around on pinterest for some inspiration (even made a globe board & pinned some Star Wars Death Stars just because!) and settled on trying something involving painting it white with some silver accents. This was an "evolve as it went along" project with no pressure because the globe had been on it's way out the door anyway.

To make one you need:
A old kid's globe
White matt spray paint
Silver spray paint
A silver sharpie
A fine black sharpie

Take the globe out of the stand.
Give it a coat of white matt spray paint. I just did this in stages, one side at a time.

Whilst you can still make out the landmasses go over their outline using the black sharpie.

Give it another couple of coats of white spray paint until it's evenly coated.

At this point the bright colours should be all gone but you still should be able to make out the black sharpie lines faintly.
Now go over those landmass outline with your silver sharpie.

Spray the stand silver and reassemble. Do this carefully so you don't scratch your nice new paint job.

I'm loving this classy looking new globe, complete transformation!

The landmasses have become an approximation as some detail gets lost in the thickness of the pen. Some islands may have disappeared on mine, after the first coat of paint some areas were a little hard to make out. I apologise to Greece, Canada, Thailand and the Philippines as I know quite a lot of their little islands are missing on my globe now!

This would work with any colour scheme I think, gold or bronze would look amazing. You could try spraying the whole globe with a metallic paint but I imagine only if you are not bothered about drawing in the land masses, I can't imagine that showing through the paint at all.
I did think about colouring in all the landmasses with the silver, I may still do that one day. Or maybe cover them in paper flowers, or glitter, or sequins....

All the top quality photos in this post were taken by our daughter, you can find her website here
You might also be interested in:

Tiny Yellow Table Makeover

Tray Desk Tidy

Red and White Heart Decoration

Flower Collage Canvas

I'll be linking up this project at some of these lovely link parties

Popular Posts of 2015

Well here we are again, the end of ANOTHER year - wow! Last year I really enjoyed looking back at what had been my most popular posts of the year so though it would be fun to do again.

1) I was quite surprised at this but the most popular post this year was the Adipose Cushion I made for my nephew's birthday. It's such a niche Doctor Who thing, I guess there are a lot of Who fans out there (of course there are - best TV show ever! Except maybe Downton Abbey, it's a tie)

2) I made these little felt heart brooches and key rings back in February. They are easy to make and great for using up little bits and pieces of lace, ribbon and other trimmings that are too good to throw away.

3) This geometric gold DIY art was next popular. I had a few issues with this project and made it much harder for myself than I needed to. However I am happy with the end result and I wake up every morning and look at it (it hangs on the wall directly opposite the bed!)

4) I really enjoyed making this cluster drop necklace. The funny thing was it turned out quite differently from the idea in my head originally - better thankfully! (and it's red, I love red)

5) I made this little crocheted house and turned it into a card for a friend who loves all things craft related. Links to the free pattern are in the post.

6) Next was an idea I had seen on pinterest, I think everyone has seen this, dividing up your drawers to organise your stuff better. Cereal boxes and sample bits of wall paper was all it took. I don't think I could manage without them now, this was definitely one of the most practical things I did this year.

7) Succulents are still really popular house plants and I have a few that are REALLY easy to take cutting from, that's making plants for free - who doesn't like free stuff?

8) Making toys from kids drawings, sounds simple enough right? NO, it's really not! However it was fun and the toys are much loved so worth the effort. Impossible to give a tutorial for as every one would be unique so here I just shared a few tips that I picked up along the way.

9) I keep my make up brushes and mascara in this little gold heart pot, it started it's life full of a popular brand of chocolate spread. 

10) Lastly my absolute favourite project of the whole year, our Wall of Wisdom. Hard to photograph to show it off well, this is a collection of quotes and sayings in our little downstairs toilet. Everyone who visits and uses the facilities comments on how much fun it is. We have quotes from everyone from Shakespeare to Dumbledore. Wise words from Star Wars, Doctor Who and Winnie the Pooh along side traditional expressions and saying.

Happy New Year

Wishing you every good thing for 2016

Tiny Yellow Table Makeover

This is my first foray into the world of painting furniture.

I pin lots of amazing furniture transformations but get a bit overwhelmed with the vast array of paints people use: milk, chalk, latex, oil based, eggshell..... then there is wax and varnish and sealer.... I'm also pinning hints and tips whenever I come across them! I would love to get to grips with it all as I have a few pieces that REALLY need an update.

For now though, I am really happy with this little transformation. 

A friend at work was getting rid of a lot of furniture as they moved house and downsized dramatically. She gave me this little pale yellow table. I guess it's an end table, I'm not sure what else to call it. It's a foot square and happened to be exactly the right size for an awkward little space in our hall.

Perfect height and size but not really the look I was going for. I had the original owners permission - "It's your table now so you can do what you like with it." 

It is not wood, it's a sort of coated MDF material so I thought spray paint would not be inappropriate.

I took off the little scroll bits at the top of the legs, They were just decorative and popped off really easily when I prised then with a screwdriver. 

I then lightly sanded the whole thing and gave it several coats of yellow spray paint.

This one is just an inexpensive multi-purpose gloss paint from B&Q (a massive UK DIY chain) I can't say how many coats as I kind of did it in stages, giving it time to dry then turning it over to do another section. I guess each bit got at least 3 coats in the end.

The finished table is exactly what I was hoping for, bright, modern and a nice splash of colour in a room which is just a white box otherwise.

The plant is a Prayer Plant and it sort of folds itself up once it gets dark which is pretty cool. It likes a shady spot according to the label and this little corner is bright but not in any direct sunlight so hopefully it will be happy here.

We had a simple dark wood framed IKEA mirror from the old house in the hall hanging by the front door.

The mirror was sealed into the frame so I couldn't just take it out to paint. I just covered the mirror over with sheets of scrap paper and decorators tape then gave it several coats of the same spray paint.

Now we just need a new yellow door mat, to paint the old coat stand to match and some art for wall with touches of yellow... why is it sometimes getting a job done creates a load more jobs to do?
For a first furniture makeover I'm really pleased. The yellow is soft but bright and I don't feel like I've wrecked a beautiful antique with a can of spray paint!

You might also be interested in:

Adipose Cushion

Divide and Conquer Drawers

Plastic Tub Planter

Rings and Things Dishes

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look!