Category: Restoration/Upcycling

I bought this table from our local antiques centre, Battlesbridge, as it was a perfect candidate for my next mosaic project.

I bought a few sheets of mosaic tiles from B&Q and I started to play with the shapes and colours to get some ideas of what pattern I could make. I quite liked these Mackintosh-style flowers.

The table doesn’t have a central hole, so the first step was to measure out exactly where this was. I then began placing a red border around the outside of the table and added the four flowers, then I created the circle in the centre and added the leaves.

I was working in my new crafty shed, which made the job so much easier and it was nice to shut the door on the mess.

Once I had mapped out the outlines of the pattern I began to fill in the gaps with smaller pieces using a mixture of glass tiles and broken mirror. The pieces were then glued down and left overnight to set.

The final step was to grout the table. I always prefer the look of slate grey grout and I used one that is frost and water resistant.

This is the finished table, which is now sitting pretty in my garden.

 

I was given this writing bureau to restore, as it had a few scratches and was looking a bit sorry for itself. At first I simply cleaned and polished it to remove the scratches and lined the drawers. It was a perfect addition to the lounge, giving me a writing desk and storage for my wool.

So, having lived with it for a while now I wondered what it would look like painted. I had been reading an Annie Sloane book on painting furniture and also reading about decoupage on furniture, and I thought I would try to mix the two.

Rather than purchase chalk paint I used one of the home made chalk paint recipes that I’ve used previously on my catalogue drawers to paint the outside. I then used wallpaper to cover the drawers (luckily the height of the three drawers was exactly the width of a roll of wallpaper!). I cut the wallpaper into three pieces and glued them into position. To seal the drawers and to protect them from general wear and tear I coated them with two layers of Mod Podge.

I replaced the drawer handles with these antique-looking ones. I was still able to use the existing holes from the original handles.

I painted the inside with an off-white egg shell paint, recovered the leather using a black leatherette and added the wallpaper to the back of the desk.

Well, having (patiently) waited for my shed to be made the delivery day finally arrived! As part of the shed company’s service, they also deliver and construct the shed for you (win win) and it takes less than 30 mins!!? So we timed them…

They laid the floor in less than 10 minutes…

To construct three walls took a further 15 minutes…

And the shed was completed in under 30 minutes. Awesome! Obviously for them to achieve this they had built everything offsite and it was a simple bolt-it-together job. I say simple, but I’m glad they did it and not us…

Then for the fun bit. I painted the inside white, to keep it light and bright, wanting it to resemble an art studio. I really like the extra window at the end, which not only provides additional light but also means I can keep an eye on the chickens!

This was my first attempt at loading up the shed with my crafting bits and bobs. It didn’t flow very well and I felt boxed in. A bit of rearranging will fix this.

But in the meantime, the shed certainly has someone’s approval!

This had been my little garden shed for a few years. At 4′ x 5′ it was the perfect size to fit the existing foundations of the previous shed and big enough/cheap enough to hold all the usual gardening/decorating stuff.

However, due to me regularly taking over the kitchen table to do my craft work (and damaging the table slightly – eek!) plus taking over the limited storage space in our flat with my crafting tools and other paraphernalia, we decided it was time to get a new, slightly larger shed that I could use as a crafting space and for storage. Yay!

We set to work on dismantling the old shed, only to discover that the shed had been holding up the neighbour’s fence!  We removed the collapsing fence panels and thankfully the neighbour’s landlord did eventually repair the fence.

As the new shed was going to be bigger (approx 5′ x 11′) we needed to extend the base. After reviewing our options it seemed that the simplest solution was to use an interlocking plastic shed base system. We calculated how many we needed, ordered a few extra, and they arrived a couple of days later.

The first job was to level the ground using a rake. Its worth taking time over this and walking over the ground to make sure it is compact. Then once this was done we laid weed control fabric on to the soil. We measured and marked out exactly where we wanted the shed to be positioned and then lay down the grid squares before interlocking them together. Using some of the ballast we had removed at the levelling stage we filled the grids to create a solid base. This method was so much easier and quicker to lay than concrete and it does mean it can be easily removed at any time in the future, plus the results were great.

The next step was to order the shed. Having researched many, many shed companies, during the previous weeks, we finally opted for a local business that would build you a bespoke shed exactly as needed. Perfect! We met with the company, discussed our requirements and placed our order. The only downside is the 6-8 week wait…noooooo. I guess that is the price you sometimes pay for using a small family business with a strong reputation. Oh well, for the next couple of months I will just need to be very patient. At least the cats can enjoy the short-cut into next door’s garden lol.

As my collection of crafting bits and bobs increases I keep looking for ways to store them. On one of my many trips to the local antique centre at Battlesbridge I came across this multi-drawer piece of furniture. The drawers are quite long and deep, so they can store plenty of buttons, beads and other paraphernalia. Perfect!

The unit is made from mdf in the style of these vintage catalogue drawers and although I love these original pieces, they often command a very high price, that is well over my budget. This piece was well within budget and also gave me a blank canvas that I could put my own stamp on.

I painted over the main unit using a home-made chalk paint recipe (a mixture of paint, water and plaster of paris), and dabbed over the wet paint with scrunched up kitchen roll to give it some texture.

I then bought a book of scrapbook papers that had some lovely weathered textures and pattern prints that I thought would look great on the drawers.

I decided the shape of the front of the drawer would be too tricky to cut out of the paper, so I turned the drawers around and used the back as it was a simple rectangle. I then chose five of the paper prints from my scrapbook that were complimentary but provided a contrast.

I measured the drawer fronts and cut out 4 or 5 rectangles from each pattern (I had a total of 24 drawers). I then used a small amount of PVA glue to stick them down and brushed over each one with a mix of PVA and water to give them a protective seal.

Having turned the drawers around meant that I no longer had the little cut outs to open the drawers (obvious once I’d closed some of the drawers!) and I would need to add some handles. I’d bought a set of six drawer knobs from a market (many moons ago) that I’d never used, so they got me started. I’d also seen a selection of ceramic drawer knobs in a local shop that I really liked, and bought some of these. Finally, to keep the cost down, I bought some small and medium-sized wooden handles from a local ironmongers that were very cheap, which I decorated and I completed the set by making a few drawer knobs from polymer clay.

I drilled small holes into the centre of each drawer and attached the handles.

This is the finished piece (before and after)!