Begin again ... 2020 Furniture Projects

In my quest to look at the positives of this year I thought I would begin with furniture projects. I enjoy updating and renewing furniture - in the past I have made new covers for sofas, reupholstered chairs and other small projects. This year I have completed a number of projects primarily for my daughter - taking battered pieces of furniture adding a lick of paint and some new fabric.

The first two projects were small storage stools:

I didn't think to take a before photograph!

The brass handles were covered in layers of paint which I managed to remove back to the brass

Next up (before the UK lockdown) I picked up a rather old tatty footstool from a charity shop, This was a big transformation for such a small piece of furniture as it required stripping completely and re-webbing!

This project was for me!

 Next up:

This very brown cupboard belonged to my parents and had been in my garage for over two years waiting for someone to need it!!  Finally it has a new home looking very different:

It now resides in the hall of my daughter's new house.

The final furniture project (with photographs) is a blanket box, as I stripped it back ready to start it became clear that I wasn't the first to recover the top!

The changes were quite dramatic -

I've also refurbished my dining room table  - removing all of the old varnish and then waxing it; stripped and painted the door and drawer fronts in my kitchen and redecorated the kitchen; and decorated the downstairs cloakroom!

On reflection I seem to have completed a few projects ... and that's not all!  I'll be back soon to tell you all about my gardening adventure!

Stay Safe.

Upcycled Chair ...

I've been working on a project for a few weeks which does not involve paper or card ... it does however involve paint, wax and fabric.  My mum gave me a wicker chair - the low kind for use in the bedroom (I think!).  I brought it home to see what I could do with it, I only wish I had taken a photograph of it before I started the transformation.  It had been paint a deep navy blue and the seat was covered in a gold coloured satin-like fabric.  This is what it looks like now:

The fabric was designed and created by my son - it was made through a photographic printing process know as cyanotype.  It started as pieces of fabric approximately A3 in size - he created 20 different designs which were stitched together to create a hanging as part of an art installation.  I was a little surprised when he said it was OK for me to use the fabric for this project!

I am pleased with the result as it is an interesting mix of old style and modern - I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with it now it's finished.