Bobbett's Blog No 86, Dirty Jobs...

It's week 86 of the Blog and this week Phil and I have been concentrating on the Studio,

Phil has been concentrating on the exterior and I have been setting about refurbishing my metal workbench.

Tonia's has not been great this week so it's just me again.

So this week I chose to do a really dirty job as the week's weather has been nice and hot it's been a perfect time,

I have owned this workbench for over 20 years, thrown out by a Guildford garage Phil

worked for, we rescued it and brought it back to my original home studio.

It has been well used and I felt I wanted to give it an update, something that would make me smile when I looked at it.

In my eyes, everyday objects should be beautiful.

So over the last few years, the workbench had got a lot of surface rust so first I had to tackle this.

Out came the big tools,

This is how the top looked. It's going to need a lot of work.

So I rubbed down the whole of the bench,

It was so dirty wow I got covered in dust

At least my latest mask came in handy.

I then used black Hammerite paint to cover the bench.

Wow-what a difference From the start of this project, I knew I wanted to make this piece glamourous and I did a project earlier in the year with flowers on a dark background and really loved the look.

So with this idea, I first lined the draw and put a divider in the draw.

Then I added the floral design, this wasn't easy using enamel paints, but I like the finished looked.

First I did an outline

Then I added some detail.

Building up layers to paint.

How glam the old workbench looks now.

I love it here's a close up of the draw.

House of B.O.B update

Phil has been busy in the storage areas making use of the space and also coating the outside with a preservative.

It's clear so nothing to really show,

I have also just been commissioned a light to start in the next couple of weeks so

Having the workshop finished will be a bonus.

I've also got a large dresser top to go above the cabinet which I will be collecting the end of this week, so more paint techniques will be shown in coming blogs.

Phil and I have also been working hard on the House of B.O.B we have been concentrating on the storage area and giving the ceiling a couple of coats of Cuprinol wood stain, I wanted something warm so went for Golden oak.

This is another dirty job, it looks like getting messy is becoming a theme this week.

This is one coat all over.

It was looking patchy so a second was needed, I'm not one for heights but I managed some of it.

Here's the second coat,

We have also made a start on the interior walls Hugo one of our Dogs thought he'd photobomb this week and say hi.

Phil also completed a coat on the exterior preservative this is to keep the studio rot proof for years to come.

This weekend we will be working on more of the studio which we will show you in next week's blog.

Well that's it for this week

Corcyra The Bobbett and Phil, Angel and Rose.