ACROSS THE MILES

As you would have notice there has been no updates on my blog page for quite some time.  I took some time out to travel back to my home town Edinburgh, Scotland to surprise my nana who is 80 years old and bring her back to Australia for a holiday to meet my three kids one of which she had never met.

It was the first holiday I had been with just my mum so it was nice for the two of us to spend some time together and create memories.  I had not seen my brother in just over 4 1/2 years and I was certainly glad to see him again!  Funny how the older you get people become more important in your life and I realised that when I saw my brother how much I actually miss him and how so alike we actually are.

Edinburgh is full of history so of course I was admiring the architecture, culture and of course the shops!  Out of  the two weeks there is only one thing that really stood out to me and that was people in poverty.  A few times we went into Edinburgh and I noticed the same girl on the same corner every time begging for money.  What actually made me look at her was her face she was very pretty but she was extremely sad and looked tired definately a face I would always remember.  Few weeks later on my facebook page my mum's cousin's husband had been taking some photo's in and around Edinburgh and I could not believe it he took a photo of the same young girl who I saw. I wanted to share it with you as it is a face I will never forget.  So thank you John for capturing this photo.

COFFEE TABLES - WHAT'S YOUR STYLE???

I have many requests daily for coffee tables suitable for indoor or outdoor use.  I thought I would just list all the different styles of coffee tables that I have been refurbished.

What is your favourite style???

BABY BLUE DISPLAY CABINET

I love to refurbish larger pieces of furniture rather than smaller ones.  I was lucky enough to purchase two glass and timber display cabinets but I was sick and tired of doing them white so time to add a splash of colour.

I decided to do my first display cabinet an ash blue colour on the outside and white inside I just loved the colour and after advertising it the cabinet sold in one day.

Now that I have fell in love with this blue colour I was determined the next one would be blue also but with a latte colour inside this turned out amazing.  Without needing to advertise....this one sold instantly.

BARLEY TWIST HALL STAND TO BE REFURBISHED

I was given this lovely barley twist hall stand by a new client of mine who wanted the colour toned down a little.

This hall stand is made of solid jarrah and has about three coats of paint which was all different colours.  The client wanted the hall stand to be white in colour and I recommended bringing the timber and blue colour through the white.  The hooks on the hall stand were a black brass colour so I recommended that they be just black to give it a more rustic twist

This is how it turned out......

Before

After

REFURBISHING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

Most days I have people come to my home to view my furniture I have refurbished. They style that I do suits a shabby chic, vintage, beachy or french country style home.

Over the years people have become to like second hand furniture rather than go spend thousands in a furniture store.  I love to hand pick all my furniture myself often finding unique and antique pieces which means when I refurbish the furniture my clients get one off pieces that no one else will have.

If you have furniture in your home and you would love to give it a new lease of life to suit your current decor style you can contact me and I can give you a quotation.

QUEEN ANNE TELEPHONE TABLE

I was lucky enough to come across this gorgeous Queen Anne telephone table but it did need a revamp to suit today's decor.

I painted it a vivid white colour and lightly distressed it to go in with the shabby chic look.  The fabric was dated so I went for a modern pin stripe to give it an elegant twist.  This item was listed for sale and sold within four hours for $90

SASSY RED GARDEN BENCH

This bench was in need of a little attention

The timber was weathered, dull and it was quite wobbly but with a little TLC it turned out amazing and sold within 1 day

I forgot to take a before shot so you have to just see the finished product

ANTIQUE REPRODUCTION HALL OR DISPLAY STAND

I came across this gorgeous Antique reproduction hall or display stand and it was the carving detail that encourage me to buy it

It had some minor damage during moving house that's why the owner decided to sell it but I knew with a new look it would be amazing.....so here it is

BEFORE

AFTER



JUICY LIME BUFFET - OH SO FRESH

I was lucky enough to come across this gorgeous solid timber teak buffet which had heaps of character and lots of drawers but did not look pretty timber.

It was ready in the garage to be white but someone had caught their eye on it so it was sold but they did not want it white.  I was asked to do what I think was best as it would be staged in a florist shop .  This immediately gave me inspiration for the colour. 

Off I went to Bunnings to choose my colour and there it was "JUICY LIME".  I just loved it when I was finished was quite hard to sell it in the end.  Spray painted the handles black to give it a more rustic and industrial look.

I was luck enough to see it in the shop and it looks fab!!!!!

BEFORE



AFTER

UPDATE

I have been extremely lazy doing my blog page but I have been doing alot of furniture since Christmas.

I have been so busy since the Christmas that I just cannot keep up some days.  I have met some wonderful people who have come to view or buy my furniture and the comments I have received have all been positive so I am doing something right :)

I am getting out approximately 15-18 pieces of furniture a week.  If you are looking for something special please let me know as I sometimes do not advertise items it sells before I finish it sometimes with people passing by.

I would love to see comments on my items I have already listed and also some suggestions colour and style you may like to see me do on my next project.

Stay tuned for new photos of before and after pictures

CHUNKY QUEEN BED RE-VAMP

I love doing furniture that is very large so when I got this queen bed I just loved the carved detail and how chunky it was.

This bed cost the previous owner over $2000 and it had been specially imported too so I knew once I finished it I was going to love it.

BEFORE

AFTER

UGLY DUCKLING TURNS INTO A SWAN - GARDEN BENCH

This was the most horrible and broken bench I think I have ever come across but believe it or not we were able to salvage this from being on the rubbish heap.

We are a throw away society but the challenge was to bring this bench back to  its natural beauty.  It is a shame I did not take a before shot of this as you would not  believe the state it was actually in. 

Seat slats were broken in half and the back rest some pieces of timber were either broken or missing but Scott managed to fix it up.

I throughly enjoyed distressing this bench and it looked wonderful when finished.  I advertised at night and it was collected the following morning at 9.00am so our hard work paid off.

ELEGANT, UNUSAL AND QUIRKY CHAIR

I found this gorgeous little timber chair all on it's own I just loved the style and shape but it was just a little too boring for my liking so I left it sat in the garage until I knew what to do.

Scott was working in the garage one night and this is the gorgeous master piece he created and it sold with my 1950's desk which was also for sale.

QUEEN BED TODAY.....DAY BED TOMORROW

Scott and I always come up with quirky ideas.  I sourced the bed and yes Scott made it with my input of course lol

We advertised it the next day for $200 and it sold just shows what you can do with an old bed

MASSIVE 4 SEATER COD CHAIR

I always love large pieces of furniture or ones that look so horrible that no one would look twice at buying it and this was one of those pieces.

This is what they call a COD chair or bench considering it is so long.  It had a little bit of white ant damage on the legs but we sprayed this and cut some of the legs to ensure it was all gone.  Scott made the chair more structually sound by adding more timber to the frame.  I painted the chair white in colour and lightly distressed it to fit in with a rural or rustic setting.

This item sold within 1 day of advertising it and yes it has gone to a lovely rural property in the hills.

BEFORE

AFTER

DRESSER OR HALL STAND WITH JARRAH TOP *WHAT A STUNNER*

I love furniture that gives you a challenge to make something that is just horrible or very un-loved in to something that is stunning and gives your home the WOW factor.

This was an old vanity dresser which was used in an old country home which had a sink in it and when I got it the sink was broken, the top was water damaged badly and there was no taps.

After giving the unit a good clean Scott and I decided to give this one a great make over.  With his carpentry skills and my painting skills we knew this would turn out great.

BEFORE

We had an old jarrah timber coffee table in the garage which I was going to do something with one day but we decided to use the table top for this piece of furniture.

I painted the stand white and lightly shabby chic'kd it and this is how it turned out.

AFTER

It sold within 2 days of advertising and is now in a home down south of WA.





REAL DEAL - RETRO BUFFET

I was given this real deal retro buffet which I must admit the colour was pretty horrid and painted so terrible as well.

I decided not to strip back buffet instead use thoses colours to my advantage.  As you can see from the photo's the stainless steel finishing has been painted so I had to soak them in thinners to get the paint off and bring back the original shine.  I definately wanted to use the old hardware as there was really nothing wrong with it.

I sprayed the cabinet white and light shabby chic'kd it bringing through the pinky and green colour and I was pretty chuffed as to how it turned out.

Putting the orginal hardware back on again just gave it a little bit of bling!

This item was advertised and sold the same day and is displayed in a Fremantle home.