How to create a chalk paint navy and copper metallic bed for under £50

Having my usual morning Twitter design browse this morning and nearly choked on my Frosties when I clicked the link to the Telegraph’s interior design page and saw the bed above. I ADORE copper and have been using it in schemes for years, so the recent explosion in its use throughout the design world hasn’t surprised me. Great minds think alike, obv
With emerging economic powers like China using all the world’s resources, copper prices have rocketed but even so £5117 is eye wateringly high for the admittedly amazing bed showcased, by Cantori at Heal’s.
Not got £5k but fancy a cool metallic sleep station? No problem, just follow the Moregeous lead and upcycle for under £50! Here’s one we just finished below in a very cool, industrial apartment which I call Project Rivet and was commissioned in Autumn 2012 to redesign & refurbish for corporate let:

In Project Rivet, there were several pieces of furniture bought over a decade ago which were all a bit Millenium, like the chrome tubular bed below.

Very expensive complete with a superb memory mattress, however a little passé and certainly wouldn’t fit with our new deep blue, cream and copper scheme. But I HATE throwing things away or not getting the best value from something. So, as well as painting the maple veneer of the bed in deep chalk paint Aubusson blue, I transformed the chrome sections by spraying them deep antiqued copper. I did consider making it bright gloss copper like the Telegraph bed but had already upcycled the spectacular bedroom pendants in that metallic shade and wanted to mix up different metal finishes, shades and styles.

Make sure you get a good scratch key on any metal work by lightly sanding with wire wool, and essential to protect the room in & floor on which you’re spraying with dust sheets. Far better to spray outside on a non-windy day but this wasn’t an option for this second floor apartment. There’s me busy painting

The below is the stage at which the chalk paint is on, but before waxing and polishing. The chrome tubes had three light coats of copper spray.

So you see, you don’t have to break the bank to get the look: find an old metal frame bed on eBay, PreLoved or in a local chazza shop, get some metal spray from B&Q and create your own copper dreamland!
The side tables are from Ikea and yup, I sprayed the criss cross metal sections of those too, in bright copper spray. If it doesn’t move, I spray it….. keeps Mr M on his toes

Moregeous Manchester Masterclass – A Chalk Paint & Upholstery Extravaganza!

Delighted to announce I’ll be working with local interior experts Zoe Rigby from Agapanthus Interiors and Andrea Austin from Plush Upholstery on a fab Manchester Masterclass on Saturday 13th April.

The three of us will be whipping up plenty of upcycling, painting and upholstery action, using products from one of my favourite paint suppliers, the fabulous British company Annie Sloan.

But this isn’t just any boring old demonstration day, oh no. 12 lucky people will be getting stuck in, working at their own pace with expert tuition on their very own chair which you can take away with you at the end of the day!

So that’s the chairs, paint, fabrics, love, time and EVEN cake all provided by us, all for £125. Where else would you get a unique and bespoke new chair, acquire new skills and make new interiors contacts for that special price eh?

Our first day will be at The Northern in Didsbury, starting at 10.30 through to 4.30, book now for a super special interior design day.

See you there x

HBH Eastbourne: A spot of child friendly designing & upcycling with Annie Sloan

It was really important for us to create spaces where Jacob could play safely after his first 18 months playing mostly with holes and hammers! In the kitchen there was now ample safe floor area and also a special hidden cupboard making use of some corner kitchen space which was only accessible from the dining room side. Jacob could click this open to get to his toys and books simplyby pushing it so there was no need for a handle.

Stacey had bough a lovely rocking chair from a vintage shop in Eastbourne a few months earlier but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it to make it more to her style. She wanted to use it for reading to Jacob and also for nursing when the new baby arrived…. how could I not use it as a central part of the design?!

As the wallpaper was so bold and colourful, I wanted to keep to much more muted hues for upcycling both the rocking chair and an old plywood /faux leather box I’d found at a second hand emporium in Hastings. Stacey and Ben had a country oak and cream dining table and there was some vintage styled kitchen ware in boxes upstairs, so I decided on a a stylishly distressed feel to both items.

Using both the shades Versailles and French Linen from the Annie Sloan chalk paint range, I set to work!

There’s no need to sand, prepare or prime items before using this amazing paint so after giving the rocking chair a clean down, I gave it a coat of French Linen. Once that was dry (about 20mins in the Eastbourne sun) I gave most of it a second coat in French Linen, but the seat and vertical spindles a coat of Versailles, the pale green. Once that was dry, I gave it all a coat of soft wax and let that dry too. I wanted a distressed look so gently and softly sanded the areas which over time would naturally get the most use, e.g., the arm and seat edges, the back rest and parts of the seat. If you use two colours, when you gently sand, both colours can be visible.

Then I waxed it again and repolished with a dry cloth. This chalk paint sands wonderfully with no flakiness and once it’s polished has the most beautiful sheen and patina, plus the wax acts as a protective coat. I just LOVE it

With the toy box there was slightly less to do in one respect, as it wasn’t so fiddly, but more do do in another as it also needed re-covering. The box was pretty ugly when i brough it in, with mahogany stained ply and a faux black leather top, PM Nick just shook his head when he saw it

Two coats of Versailles and some dark wax later it was looking far better but still needed some work. Perfect for a Jubilee year and to give a British touch to a french painted box, this funky First Class postage stamp fabric was spot on. Even handier that the delightful Glyn our expert upholsterer was still on site to help with the fabric fitting, bless him, the result being one bespoke toy box which looked cool enough for the new living room!

Not everything which is child friendly has to be made from plastic and bought from new, with a bit of imagination we created a cupboard out of nothing and enhanced two slightly shabby items which had lots of potential

Falling in love with chalk paint on HBH

‘Florence’

Whatever you’re an ‘expert’ in, there’s definitely always something new and exciting to learn, find and enjoy. During filming Half Built House, one of our clever researchers Lauren found a paint designed to be used to create an aged patina on furniture, mirror or any timber just hanging around waiting to be up cycled and made to look gorgeous. Created and manufactured by artist Annie Sloan, we discovered that this specially designed chalk paint could be painted directly onto other paint, varnish, timber etc without the need for stripping, sanding or priming – hello my new best friend! With so little time to turn our building sites on #HBH into beautiful rooms, this sounded too good to be true….. it wasn’t!!!

‘Versailles’ over ‘Old White’

I’ve posted here three little photographic snippets – tasters of the furniture I rescued so you can see there are different types of effects dependent on what you do with it, how you apply it and how you finish it off, but I can’t tell you how easy it is to use. A complete delight. Water-based, fast drying, very durable and polished to a sumptuous sheen. Lushtastic. I used the soft wax and the dark wax, plus had a go at the metallic sizing.

‘Versailles’ over ‘French Linen’

I used her book ‘Creating The French Look’ as a guide but just got stuck in and experimented really. If you want to turn a boring old chest into a French style boudoir box, revamp a tired bedside table into a sexy glistening work of art or transform a pine kitchen table into a Provencale gourmet’s delight, have a go – you will fall in love too

Watch Half Built House on Channel 5, Tuesdays at 8pm on 24th and 31st August

Or HERE

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in all 30 shades can be found here.