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Contents 2014 August/September Issue 89

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August/September 2014 – Issue 89

Cover-89

Features- Meet The Maker, Colour & Mood, Box Chairs, Upcycling Reader’s Project, New Season’s Paint Trends, Galway Garden

Shopping this Issue

Last Of the Summer Wine, Storage, Tried & Tested, Olde Style, Modern & Chic, Galway Garden Get the Look

 

 

Classic Design

The location and site aspect were the first thing that attracted this couple to their beautiful home. The back garden slopes down to a golf course and the Classic Designowners could see beyond the overgrown lawn and unkempt shrubberies – they could both visualise the potential of this space.

When they got the opportunity to return to Galway, Ronan and Liz jumped at the chance to bring up their children in the safe environs of Galway City.

From Dreams to Reality

It all began in 1998 with a dream. A dream of living in the countryside, somewhere peaceful and with scenic views. We had idyllic dreams of walking through fields, keeping hens and ducks, picking berries and making jam. “The good Life”, with the Ennis-Creative-Arts-Centresimple things. As a little girl having lived in the town I had longed to live in the country, so when I met my husband we went in search of a farmhouse that we could renovate bit by bit ourselves. I had just started my Interior Design business, we had no credit history and we were first time buyers, so we only had a small amount of money to play with.

Total Revamp in Loughrea

Total-Revamp

Total Revamp

To our delight we were invited back to see this totally revamped Loughrea home. When the owner bought this house, she followed her heart and her creative ideas and went with her instinct and her own shockingly loud colour style. Her taste and style have changed rather dramatically since our last visit 16 years ago. It is amazing to see the difference in the trends of 1999 and 2014. We dug out a few of the before pictures just to give you a flavour of what the house looked like back then. Pine was all the rage and the owner went with a complete contrast to the pine kitchen units with a blue wall colour and navy splashback tiles. Outrageous orange wallpaper in the hall and chinese slate tiles complemented this look. However outrageous it was I remember thinking at the time – how brave, vibrant and wonderful it looked.

Claddagh Arts Centre

For this feature we have gone into the heart of old Galway – Claddagh. One of Galway’s Claddagh-Arts-Centremost historic areas, ‘The Claddagh’ as it is affectionately known, is full of stories of old Galway families. The Claddagh Arts Centre was the brain child of Cathriona Walsh, who has used her skills and imagination to create a very interesting space filled with unusual stone and antiquities. A keen interest in bog oak is evident and many bespoke bog oak sculptures are abundant inside. In the landscaping outside you will also find unusual stones interfaced with fascinating carvings.

Upcycling – with decoupage

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Upcycle – give your old pieces a new lease of life with Decoupage.

Before

Decoupage is a craft that has been around for Centuries. It was actually back in the 12th Century that the Chinese used the art of cutting out paper to decorate objects. The art then ended up in Europe around the 17th century.

The art of Decoupage is cutting and pasting paper and sticking it to an object. For many years people used napkins for decoupage by cutting out a design on the napkin and then glueing it onto an object or piece of furniture. Then layers and layers of varnish made the napkin look like it was an inlay. It’s a wonderful technique and can look great.

Old pieces - new life

Old pieces – new life

It was only really in recent years with new companies introducing glues to Decoupage, with that the art has taken on a great revival. Since the recession the idea of throwing anything away would bring us all out in a rash so the new phenomenon of revamping our tired old pieces has become quite fashionable.Decoupage is not for antiques- it is not for furniture that is worth a lot of money. Decoupage is taking tired old pieces that perhaps are not worth too much or aren’t really worth restoring and giving them a new look.

Most homes have many pieces lying around that would look beautiful with a little bit of care and attention.Nothing is safe once you start.

Shoes, dressers, chairs, coffee tables, school benches, stools, cd racks, vases, lamps, mirrors, frames, glasses, suitcase and much more have been treated to decoupage. Before you get started you would be advised to take a short day or week end course in the art of decoupage and once you know the technique, there will be no stopping you

Workshops at Ennis Creative Arts Centre take place over one day and you bring the piece of furniture from home. Revamp it over the day and bring home your piece finished by the end of the day.

To decoupage you only need a few small items.

Decoupage glue, a brush, a wet cloth, newspaper to stop glue getting on your floor, scissors, your piece of furniture, varnish and of course the paper to decoupage with.

You can use lots of different papers – for instance you can use newspaper print, maps, prints, posters, magazines, old books, printed out pictures from computers, tissue paper or decoupage paper that you buy. If you plan on printing out pictures make sure you print onto cheap paper and not good glossy photo paper. Just print onto your normal paper. Then get a Hairspray (approx €2) and spray the photo well and leave to dry. The hairspray acts as a lacquer so your photo won’t bleed when you put glue on it.

So that’s it really. Why not check out the next workshop at Ennis Creative Arts Centre and you can bring an old piece of furniture from home.

Http://enniscreativeartscentre.blogspot.com