Patchwork upholstery

Cath Kidston vintage find in the Brighton shop

Cath Kidston has been giving me ideas...again! I think i want to cover my little arm chair in a patchwork like this. I think it looks amazing.

I had better get sewing.

More upholstery - drop seats

The summer holidays feel like they have stretched on for eons because I didn't enrol in Upholstery summer school early enough to get a spot this year. But, before I finished up the last term, I began stripping and upholstering the first of four vintage drop seats for a neighbour.  

Old, dusty, brown covers = yuck.

The stripping process was fairly grim, the frame was crammed full of tacks (which are fine) and staples (which AREN'T!)

The frames were in pretty bad shape, so i had a lot of filling to do. 

Strapping (aka webbing) the base. 

All ready for the new school year and a bit of rubberised hair! 

It has been fun learning how to upholster two different types of chairs at the same time. Expect an update soon!

The green lounge - Part 2

Quite some time ago now, I wrote a post on the imminent purchase and delivery of a Green Lounge / Sofa / Settee / whatever you want to call it. I promised to post some photos when it arrived, but I very naughtily forgot all about it untill I recently came across the post again! So here it is – my big comfy green lounge!

It has made life so much cosier.

My perfect bedside table*

A few weeks ago, I took a trip out to my favourite antique fair, Sunbury, in search of a new (by new, I mean old, but new to me) piece of furniture I could use as a bedside table, and some of those pretty antique mirrors with the bevelled edges I love so much. And I was very successful, walking a kilometre back to the car with a potential bedside table and two heavy mirrors wedged under each arm. When I finally got my breath back and my arms no longer felt like they had been stretched, Gumby-esque, so my fingers could brush the ground as I walked, I started the car and bundled everything home.

The bedside table was a bit of a mess really. And it wasn’t the best quality, nor the best value really, costing me £40, but there was something about it that I just really liked. Its shape, its shelves, its sweet little cupboard space, it was everything I had in mind for the perfect bedside table. It was a bit warped, and one of its legs had seen better days, with a metal bit jammed into the rotten wood to make the unit stand straight. It was dirty and its paint was chipped and yellow. It also only had one knob that I suspect was from the 70’s – retro, but not in a good way – and rather incongruous. Despite all this though, I just knew – this was the bedside table for me.

Once home, my husband went over it with the electric sander to even out its imperfections and help me prep for the paint job I was about it give it.

I used some left over bits of paint from other projects around the house, all Farrow and Ball, to give it a new look. Gone was the dirty, yellow, chipped exterior, now a beautiful antique white, James White, in an eggshell finish. The inside of the cupboard, once red, having been coated with what I can only guess was red oxide paint, although I can’t think why, is now a beautiful pale, dirty pink, very much like its name, Calamine. I then painted over the once black inside of the doors with Lamp Room Grey.

The single incongruous knob has been replaced with two pretty mismatching glazed ceramic knobs from Anthropologie - one a pink flower with aged bronze fittings, and the other, a yellow drop knob, again with aged bronze fittings. Both match the colour scheme perfectly, and complement each other enormously (even if I do say so myself!).

Disappointingly, I didn’t get a photo of the bedside table before I started work on it – I always seem to realise I have forgotten this towards the end of my renovation. But I have got some in progress shots as well as one of the ‘original’ knob that I think I might clean up and try and find a home for elsewhere.

Finally, here is the bedside table, in situ, next to the rescued and newly upholstered bed. I can honestly say that after I pick my favourite pyjamas (always Peter Alexander) from one of the shelves, place my beloved iPhone on to charge on the shelf next to my bedtime reading, smooth on some Rose L’Occitaine hand cream from the cupboard, deposit my watch on the surface and finally take a sip of my water before I settle in for sleep, I close my eyes smiling.

*perfect to me anyway.

Fireplace restoration

I have been wanting to share my reclaimed, rescued and restored fireplace and mantle piece for a while now.

I found it in a reclamation yard in North London (the one I saw on Kristy's Homemade Home in fact). It was a sad looking thing. it had been painted white at some stage and was all rusty with some of the ugliest tiles i have ever seen. I obviously showed far to much excitement upon finding it because the owner wouldn't budge when I tried to argue the price down from £50, which frankly I thought was a bargain considering some of the ones I had seen sold on eBay for 14 times as much.

The face features a pretty wreath detail that I found charming and thought would complement some of the vintage tiles I had already started collecting for it. Its shape was also ideal, being fairly narrow and not to tall to work well with the lower ceiling heights in the loft.

The restoration involved getting it dipped (in an acid bath!). I was going to attempt this stage on my own with some NitroMors, but thought the better of it. The dipping removed the layers of paint and rust, taking it back to its original cast iron finish. When we got it back it had to go back outside for a little while before the builders could fit it. This meant it started to oxidise again and came out in rust spots again. My husband, bless him, sanded all of these spots off for me again. The oxidisation largely stopped once it was bought inside, hence I haven't been rushed to make a decision on what type of varnish, paint, sealant I want to use. Suggestions again are more than welcome. I was thinking of painting it white initially, but I have gone off that idea now.

The original chimney breasts - from the fireplaces downstairs, worked as a natural looking protrusion to bolt the mantle on. Because of a mistake the builders made in placing a RSJ, it couldn't sit as far back as I hoped, but the builders made a casing out of wood, that eventually will be painted over to look like a continuation of the fireplace. This also meant that a sweet little recess could be created where the fire would have been. I have used this area to showcase little French oils, books and other knick knacks.

I purchased each of the tiles from Portobello road. Each is unique with the bulk from 1800's England. There is a Japanese one or two in the mix too. I think my favourite is the yellow tile, it reminds me of a lemon tart. Yum.

Upholstery Update: The end is in sight!

Yes, that's right, I am almost there! I have finally reached calico on both sides. The front has been tightened  and i just need to tighten the back before i finish with the fabric. Ah, but before that, i also need to sew about 10 metres worth of double piping and pattern match and sew up both fabric panels. It is actually fairly nerve wracking as i don't have enough fabric to make any mistakes. It is sure to keep me busy this weekend.

The green lounge

We have bought a GREEN lounge! Yes you heard it right, a GREEN lounge, and I'm not talking about it's eco friendly credentials either. It was only after we left the store that I started thinking... I haven't seen many green lounges around. 

 

Why is that?

Have I made a mistake?

 

I started to worry that my Mad Men fuelled obsession with all things retro had compelled me to turn our Edwardian, classically styled lounge room into a 50's den. That would kind of be ok, I guess, but the lounge itself isn't really 50's shaped. It was purchased purely with the aim of providing us with somewhere comfortable, cosy, and warm to sit. Its a big lounge. I want depth. I'm not interested in shallow sofas. If your seat doesn't meet the backs of my knees, or even better, the backs of my calves, I'm not interested. I feel strongly about this. You would too if you have been sitting on a park bench covered in leather trying to masquerade as a lounge for the last 4 London winters. No, I really didn't care about the look of the thing, but I did care about the colour, a contradiction? Maybe, but that's the way it was. I think I felt if the lounge was the right colour, it didn't really matter what it looked like, it would 'go'. So it needed to 'go' with  -

• A medium shade of brown leather - its nice and soft looking (very deceptive),
• Dark wooden furniture (bookshelf, chest of drawers, side tables, coffee table, old-fashioned-oval-framed-mirror, etc),
• And mid brown, wooden, parquet floor.

Basically, a lot of brown.

 

The naturalist in me, immediately thought of trees - GREEN! Green will go great. My husband agreed, coming up with grass and tree trunks - "Grass and tree's always look good don't they?" Yes, I agreed wholeheartedly, but at the same time wondered why he had thought of grass and not the leaves for the green component?

 

Green and brown... I started to wonder about green and brown. Weren't there a lot of brown and green kitchens in the 70s? You know the sort I mean? I keep getting flashes of the Brady Bunch. This could be bad. 

The colour wasn't the only decision, there was the grade of fabric, and the fabric type itself. Decisions my mum would take weeks over, with swatches all over the house, I was left to make in 20 minutes before rushing to my upholstery class (No, I'm not going to be upholstering myself a lounge anytime in the foreseeable future, I am still working on a bed frame, and the next project is a small armchair - baby steps, baby steps). And then there were the various shades of green, from zesty limes to dark, foresty shades. Ours is somewhere in the middle, closer to zest than forest.

I have another 24 hours to ruminate over this before my 'change-your-mind-period is up. If anyone reads this - tell me what you think. Reassurance will be most welcome!

Upholstery update!

Here is my bed head!

It took me almost exactly a year to finish, although I did miss a term and I did spend most of my class time talking. Hopefully that will be cured as I have enrolled in a different class this semester (the wonders of part time work) so hopefully I wont be as tired as I was getting there after work at the end of the week.

I used all the traditional methods including using horsehair to build it up. I was pretty proud of my stitching, I created a very firm edge by keeping the string very tight and the horse hair nicely packed in. All this said, it wasn't the best stage for me in terms of allergies! Nothing sets off my nose and eyes like Hessian and horse hair.

I finished the bed head by using double-piping, which I made myself. It was fairly easy, the only trouble was when the sewing machine kept running over the cord inside the material (enter the dreaded unstitcher thingamajig) but otherwise I think it has come up a treat and I am pretty pleased considering it is the first piece I have ever upholstered. I posted the completed piece on my Facebook and was very flattered by the response it received - thanks guys!

I have already started on the foot board which should *hopefully* go much quicker. I am already much more confident which takes away a lot of the time wasted hesitating, asking 'is this right?'. Maybe we will be in the bed by the end of the year?! It has taken a bit longer than my initial 3 day estimate to be sure.

I am really looking forward to starting on this small armchair I found when we were clearing out the loft. I have already stripped it in preparation. Will need to get thinking about fabric soon.

Here are some pictures from along the way.

Bed upholstery update

It's been ages since i posted on here and i wanted to give an update on the french antique bed i have been working hard to revamp. One summer school and a full semester later, it has gone from looking like the posting below to this ---->

The first picture shows the back of the headboard and the fabric i am using to recover the bed. Its by Joel Dewberry and i LOVE it. 

I have painted the frame using Farrow and Ball's James White in eggshell. Its a lovely in between matte and gloss paint, and has a lovely vintage feel. 

The second picture shows the front of the headboard. I have kept the original horsehair, but i have made a new hessian cover for it. Once i have finished nailing this in, i need to sew around the edges to give a nice firm edge. This is time consuming, but will be well worth the effort. 

Hopefully, i will have a headboard to stand behind our bed whilst i get cracking on the footboard!

Upholstery = time consuming, but fun and rewarding!

Crafty cuts

Well i have gone into craft over drive recently! My fiancee and I have decided to do a loft conversion in our flat and i am going to decorate. So i have been bidding furiously on eBay trying to snag some bargains, and boy have i found some. 

But whats so crafty about this i hear you ask? 

Well, its what i am going to do with these purchases. Inspired by The Make Lounge, i am going to learn to sew properly and do an upholstery course! And transform the following into fabulous French furnishings.

The first bed you can see is a Vintage French Demi Corbeille upholstered bed. And its gorgeous. I picked it up on eBay for only £175 which i think is a bargain seeing as there are places selling them for close to £2000. Obviously theirs are restored, which is what i am going to do to mine for a fraction of the prices. So how am i going to learn to upholster?

Well a friend of mine told me about this website called Floodlight that searches for courses and learning in your area. Lucky for me i have found what looks like a great course right in my borough, and seeing as i am going to learn how to upholster, i

 thought why not look at another course too 

- and so i have also decided on Interior Design which i think will be really cool and i even get a level 1 qualification afterward. Both courses are available i

n the evenings and only run over approx 10 weeks, so i think it is very do-able. 

Another piece i managed to salvage for only £7 (I was sooooo pleased with this as i had been looking at others that went for £80!) is this lovely old fashioned floor lamp, that i am going to give the Cath Kidston / Laura Ashley treatment and redo in white and some lovely prints on the shade. 

I am also hopping to nab a gorgeous fireplace, but I'm not putting it in here until its definitely mine cause i don't want anyone else nabbing it for themselves!! 

Keep checking in, cause over the next few months I will post pictures showing my progress and the finished products.

p xo