Bobbett's blog No 88, British Seashore inspired print and upcycling.

This week it's felt like a really slow start, motivation has been a bit lacking very unlike me.

I put some of it down to the weather. It's been miserable, but hey I have got my mojo back and have had a very busy last couple of days.

I've landed a light commission, which I've started to order bits for and finalise the design. I have started to tackle the monster oak dresser top that we picked up a couple of weeks ago.

The House of B.O.B has had the floor varnished and I've also started a new print design hence the title.

I have wanted to build up my print designs for a while and the main inspiration has been for a back piece for my jewellery cabinet.

My jewellery is based on mainly sea-inspired pieces, such as the collection Wrasse,

Sea urchin and brain coral design.

So I felt the wallpaper needed to reflect my inspiration, I wanted to keep it British so I have used British seaweed, corals, fish and creatures,the inspiration for the layout and boldness came from this board I created and the designs.

First I started by marking out the background

Then I started to add some sea creatures

I really like it but I feel it needs more, I love the idea of lots going on and a dark background with bright colourful creatures.

I started to add more in.

then did a test to see how it looked like as a repeating pattern.

I need to do a lot of work on it, but it's growing on me.

I have started to add some colour and by next week I will reveal the end fishy design.

Upcycling project

I also started to update the oak dresser top I purchased a couple of weeks ago,

It's huge and solid just what I wanted to go above my workbench I upcycled a few blogs ago.

The dresser top will house lots of the materials I use for projects I'm working on.

But what colour should I paint it? I decided to use Bramwell chalk paint again by Rust-oleum this time with dark wax and gold aged effect to compliment the dark workbench.

I started by rubbing the oak down.

Turnip the German Spitz is checking out my work, the little monkey 🙈.

So much dirt came off it, I find you get a better finish if you sand the piece down first then remove the dust

Look at the dirt yuk!

Then I started to paint the piece.

This is just the first coat I will be decoupaging in-between the shelves, first I needed to finish the paintwork, I gave the paint a slight sand between coats, then I aged some of the highlighted areas and finished with the dark wax and gold highlights

Now it was time to look at the wallpapers

I have collected a few samples and wasn't sure what one to use.

In next week's blog, you can find out which one I decided to go with.

House of B.O.B update,

So this week I've started to varnish the floor, it was quite easy, I've gone for Albany Yacht varnish in clear from Brewers.

Here it is.

Wow, it looks stunning but it needs another coat 😭 and 16 hrs drying time between them.

Well that's it for this week

I've got my mojo back and will have lots more updates on the projects I'm working on next week.

Bye, for now, Corcyra The Bobbett. Angel, from Angel and Rose interiors.