Sunday 20 November 2011

My houses...Cath Kidston shop

Because I'm such an infrequent blogger, I've been thinking I need to post some photos on here of all my current projects, partly as a record for me to help me organize my thoughts and give me some motivation to get something done in the very little spare time I have at the moment.  I am very good at beginning new things but not very good at completing anything!  Not one of my houses has a room that I can say is finished, there is definitely a quantity over quality thing going on.

I'll start with the most recent first.  My Triang Spot-On bedroom had me thinking more and more about Cath Kidston's designs, and after spending much time looking at her shop layouts and catalogues I decided on what my much neglected little Sid Cooke shop will have to be.  I began to collect images together on Pinterest for reference.  She uses a lot of vintage repainted furniture in her shop displays, so what better way to re-use some old oddments I had no other use for!  I excitedly purchased some Humbrol gloss enamel paints in bright red, yellow and a lovely vintage pink and began to paint.  A lot of shelves now to fill with flowers and polka-dots.



















































I've been doing a bit of needlepoint, very easy to pick up and put down in spare moments to add a few stitches.  The isn't a Cath Kidston design but I thought it worked out OK, until I took the photo which makes the stitches look so chunky.  I've since bought her 'Stitch' book and found a lot of those designs will translate very well to 1:12 scale if worked on fine enough canvas or linen.























I have a little dilemma...I wonder if I should repaint the very chipped vintage DCMT stove with a new coat of cream enamel, and repaint the old wooden tea-set below?  The stove has been repainted in the past.  If it had it's original paintwork I would definitely not consider it (I do have another one with the original paint intact).  I usually don't like to touch or change vintage pieces, but it's looking a very sorry state right now.  The tea-set was once green but is now discoloured to ugly grungy greeny brown with half of the paint chipped off and missing.  Not sure how old it is or where it originated - I've seen similar ones, usually red, advertised as German.  Both of these were ebay purchases.


5 comments:

Heather said...

what a great idea. Love cath kidston. You'll have so much fun with the colors and designs.

I think the stove looks fine the way it is. Though I'm not seeing it in person.

Becky said...

Hi Heather and thanks for commenting! Yes, the stove has a definite 'shabby' look at the moment, but the paint really has flaked off in quite large chunks here and there. Still not sure whether I should touch it...perhaps I'll see how it looks once the shop is more filled. It is meant to be a vintage one after all (I found one of her shop displays photographed with a similar 1:1 stove).

Norma Bennett said...

Have decided whether or not to repaint the stove? I don't think it matters if you do as it's been repainted before and if there are large flakes coming off it's likely it was done with the wrong type of paint. I'd sand it back and start again. You can always distress it a bit to get the vintage look back.

Love the blue colour of the shop front, very 'Kidston' :)

Norma Bennett said...

PS - forgot to say how lovely the cushion is - I'd never have the patience for mini needlework!

Becky said...

Hello Norma and thanks for your compliment on my cushion! It's a little chunky but OK. I've been doing a lot of mini needlework lately as it's something very portable that can be picked up and put down whenever I get a spare moment. I just finished my first rug for another house I have yet to post about, but overall it has taken me about 9 months.
Still haven't decided what to do with the stove. The blue front looks OK in the photo but in reality actually looks a bit dark so that may need changing (shop front has already been repainted three times!) to make it look right.