Bedside Tables by Deb Salmon-Brown

Hi everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my first blog post. I hope this will be the first of many, as I suck at video lives! Our "Aussie" Brand Ambassadors and Content Creators make it look easy, but trust me, it's not!

We have just finished major renovations and extension to our home, and I wanted to create some new bedsides for the master bedroom. There is quite a lot of coffered wall paneling in the bedroom, so I wanted something bright and light for the bedsides. I had also bought 2x beautiful lamps with bright pink patterning on the base from Black Mango, that I had to consider. I knew Aussie's Apple Blossom Poster Print would compliment the colours in the lamp beautifully, while creating a fun, bright, playful, summery energy to the room.

Now I know that's not a traditional vibe most people like to create for a bedroom, but we live on the Sunshine Coast by the water, and I love colour, so I was never going to have something plain! Plus I've never had a "girly" room before, so figured it was time ;)

Materials:

• Selleys Sugar Soap
• Bucket of clean water & clean rags
• Selleys Rapid Set Spakfilla
• UniPro Flexible Filling Blade
• 120 grit sandpaper & 240 grit sandpaper
• white undercoat (I like to use British Paints 4 in 1 prep)
• paint brushes
• small paint roller with short nap
• Scotch Blue Painters tape
• British Paints Ceiling Flat Interior Bright White Paint (as I always sand and use an undercoat, I can pretty much use any brand and any type of paint [I don't like chalk paint])
• 2x Aussie Decor Transfers Apple Blossom Poster Print - A2 size
• Aussie Decor Transfers Blue Decoupage Applicator Tool
• Large scissors and small, pointy nosed scissors
• Selley's PVA glue (also known as white glue or woodworker's glue)
• Satin top coat - I use Cabot's Floor Poly (CFP). It has a slightly longer working time than the straight Cabot's Poly. 
• Foam Sponge and shallow dish
• Aussie Decor Transfers Kaleidoscope Furniture Stencil
• disposable plate
• silver acrylic paint
• soft, nylon bristle large round brush (I used the Elisa Viola stubby round brush which was perfect for the job)

Method:

1. First, I cut up the two Apple Blossoms Poster Print over a few nights while watching TV. I am always looking for things to occupy my hands in the evening and this was a perfect job! 
2.    
3. After giving the bedsides a good clean with Selleys Sugar Soap and a wipe down with water, I taped up my edges and surfaces I didn't want to get paint on, and filled in the old handle holes with Selleys Rapid Set Spakfilla using a UniPro Flexible Filling Blade. I find I can get the filler completely flush with just a swipe of the filling blade, and then there's no need for sanding once dry, nor wastage of filler.
4. 
5. I didn't like the dark wood stain that was on the drawers originally, but I knew I wanted some woodgrain to remain, to keep some warmth in the drawers, and make them a little softer than if I had painted the entire bedside in clinical white. The Apple Blossom Poster Print has some branches on it and I wanted to replicate that "wood" look. So I gently hand sanded the face of the top and bottom drawers, as well as the centre section of the top, using 120 grit sandpaper. I made sure I sanded lightly in some areas and more heavily in others, trying to get a worn wood look. I then smoothed off the sanded areas by going over them with a 240 grit paper, and painted the sections of the bedsides that were to be white with one coat of British Paints 4in1 Prep and four coats of British Paints Ceiling Flat Interior Bright White Paint (because white sucks and needs lots of coats!)
6. 
7. Next step was to play with the pieces of the Apple Blossom Poster Print by layering and experimenting with position. I used the Scotch Blue Painters tape to hold all the pieces in place.  (Thank you Wendy from The Elwen Cottage for constantly reminding us about our third hand. See, we do listen!) 
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9. I then started gluing all the pieces in place with Selley's PVA glue, taking care to start from the bottom of the layers so I wouldn't lose the design layout!
10. 
11. I used the Aussie Decor Transfers Blue Decoupage Applicator Tool to push, press, crease and smooth the poster print cutouts over ridges, around curves and into crevices. I love that tool! Everyone should have one! I used my Scotch Blue Painters tape to hold pieces in place while the glue dried, especially the thin bits that were going over edges or sitting on a non flat surface.   
12. 
13. After leaving everything to dry overnight, I came back the next day ready to add some faded "lace" by using the Aussie Decor Transfers Kaleidoscope Furniture Stencil, and some silver artist acrylic paint. I used Sue's (Sue Chic) technique of "swirling" the silver paint on the stencil for a very soft, faded look. See the dob of paint on the plate? I used about 4 of those sized dobs for each bedside.
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15. I again left everything to dry overnight and came back the following morning to topcoat everything with Cabot's Floor Poly (CFP). Applying with a sponge, I gently dabbed over the decoupage and the stencil work. Once I had a thin coat on those areas, I came back and gave them a more solid swipe of topcoat.
16. Final job was to drill knob holes and attach new knobs.
17. I love how they turned out and I love that I decided to go bright and pretty!