Reclaimed dining room table

We're on the home stretch now with the renovation of our new home (18 months and counting), and whilst the kitchen has stalled within sight of the finishing line, the floors were all fitted last week. This involved all the furniture being loaded into the barn for the best part of a week and me being wedged into my workshop for days at a time whilst the floors dried….my clever husband took a business trip to Brussels while all this was going on…. coincidence? I think not…….

Anyway, we needed to replace our dining room table and chairs because the large round set we had just didn't fit any more. I wanted something unique and came up with the idea of taking an old door and mounting it on a table base.

This is the finished article with some beautiful chairs from Maison Hartley that I've been eyeing up for quite some time. I also used an old bench we've had for some time and refinished it and the table base…read on for details…

You can still see the old keyhole and the lovely rustic finish….

Gorgeous!

We went to the reclaim yard to find the lovely old door and did a LOT of sanding and stripping….

We also bought an old table and removed the top (I'll use it for something else before long, of course)….

A coat of ASCP French Linen was followed by diluted PVA glue and a coat of Autentico Velvet paint in Bath Stone and blasted with a hot hairdryer…. then my favourite waxes: Autentico clear and taupe (I like the taupe because it has a lovely texture and doesn't look so patchy and 'grubby' as some of the darker waxes).

Also, I like to apply waxes with a sponge and buff off with a piece of old sheepskin fleece - I just find it works really well…

and the whole process gives a lovely chippy, crackly finish….

So, to save you scrolling back to the top, here is the finished article

I couldn't be more pleased with it and I have to give masses of credit to my lovely husband who not only puts up with my crazy ideas but helps me to make them come true!

Let me know what you think x

Furbabies....

I think it's time to share what goes on around here while I'm slaving in my workshop (yeah, right!),

Symi the cat is a little camera shy here...

But here he is in all his furry glory....

and once again...

He is adored by Raffy the cat....

who has to cuddle him all the time...

even when there's not really room for two...

he doesn't give up....

just scooches in tighter...

Eventually he gets too hot but has to stay in contact...

You may have noticed there isn't one photo where their eyes are open (or they're even awake), but they manage to find all the best places to sleep surrounded by toile, vintage linens and French furniture- what a hard life ;)

Shabby Chest of Drawers Makeover

I picked up this very pretty little serpentine chest of drawers at auction recently, but it was rather the worse for wear. Have a look at the next photo …..

(apologies for the photos, the sun was shining in - a rare occurrence!)

However, the bare bones were lovely and it was basically sound.

I love the serpentine shape to the front and the cabriole legs. These are the type of features which lift a piece out of the ordinary...

I used a combination of ASCP French Linen covered with Old White and then distressed and waxed for a lovely shabby finish.

I was lucky that I had the original handles which look so pretty.

I'm very tempted to keep this but it has to go to Afterglow of Olney next time I restock!

Cinderella sewing box makeover...

Hi again! I posted this little gem on Facebook a while ago but didn't get round to writing a post about it. So here it is...

This little sewing box was in perfectly good order but soooo dull. I gave it a couple of coats of Autentico Velvet paint in Bath Stone (my latest favourite).....

and using an Autentico stencil (no, I am not sponsored by them!) I created a relief pattern in plaster of paris on the front panels.

These stencils are meant to be used with the Autentico medium but I didn't have any, so plaster of paris it had to be.

Here's a closeup so you can see the kind of effect it creates plus some of the crackle effect I also added.....

On the inside I decoupaged some lovely paper covered in angels bearing hearts.....

I called her Cinderella for obvious reasons ..... just call me the Furniture Fairy Godmother!

See you soon!

Suitcase to pet bed makeover

I've been collecting vintage suitcases and trunks for some time and  this one kept going to the back of the queue. It was very badly damaged, the top was hanging off and the handle had fallen off too. It was no good for anything, what was I thinking when I bought it??

Well, sometimes I have to keep looking at a project for a while and then inspiration strikes. If I took off the top, added some sturdy legs, re-attached the handle, lined it with comfy fleece and added a removable, washable pad inside it would make a really cute pet bed, right?

Well, often the things that seem the simplest are the most complicated and take the longest to turn around - and this was no exception! But it's finished now and even the fur babies have given it their approval...

When the snow clears it's off to Afterglow of Olney, February has already been a busy month and there are gaps in my display!

from Rule Britannia to Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite......

I love being British and I'm very patriotic however, 

this Union flag screen I picked up really wasn't doing it for me...

so, after many coats of paint to remove the strong colours, 

I printed, traced and hand painted a French phrase on it instead...

and here's the result:

"life is a flower of which love is the honey"

(roughly translated in my rusty French!)

Do you like it? I think it would work in either a 

modern or a shabby, French style interior and it's 

now on sale at Afterglow of Olney

Back from Black - Fabulous Beam Restoration

If you're a regular reader, you might remember that nearly a year ago we moved into a 

converted old barn and dairy.

One of the things we loved were the exposed beams in every room. 

What we didn't love was the treacly brown stain that 

had been applied to them...

This made them very oppressive and hid a lot of their characteristic features...

As you can see, this didn't bother some members of staff (Raffy the cat) but it really kept niggling at me. Originally, beams weren't dark (unless they got sooty), they were limed to keep away parasites so they were actually quite pale. But sandblasting or stripping them was out of the question because of the mess and time.... and then (cue angelic chorus) I found an advert for Renaissance Beams, a company who take any colour beam and restore it to its former glory...

In just two days the lovely Penny and her husband Ian (who were both delightful) came to us and returned every beam in the house to a beautiful light oak colour (I asked them to match the 

colour to a C17th French chest I own). 

Suddenly all the grain, wormholes and carpenters marks sprang back into life and 

every room looked lighter.

I knew I'd got it right when a friend saw them and immediately said  "they look like C16th beams!"

I'm afraid my photos don't do justice to the finished article, being taken in artificial light etc 

but I think you can see the difference...

So, a massive thank you to Renaissance Beams for achieving this wonderful transformation! If you want help with your beams you can contact Penny and Ian via www.renaissance-beams.co.uk where you will also find some fabulous 'before and after' shots of previous projects.

New stock off to Afterglow of Olney...

Things are going really well at my pitch in Afterglow of Olney. 

Di, who owns and runs the store is wonderful at bringing together an eclectic group of local designers and makers to produce a great mixture of handmade, vintage and upcycled goodies. 

And here is my next consignment which goes off to the shop tomorrow...

First, a pretty and very unusual sewing box/side table with useful drawers, pretty detailed legs and compartments on either side for your knitting/embroidery/remote controls etc...

Next, a French styled doll's house ready for a new owner...

 and a lovely rocking horse for some lucky youngster... 

for the kitchen, a pretty, solid wood crate with a grain sack motif...

and with Christmas on the horizon, a lovely, very large, metal angel ornament. This one's huge but I have some smaller ones too!

Finally, a pretty doll's cot with angel decoupage and covers made from vintage linens... 

here's a little close up of the design and the covers....

I know it looks like I'd started on the Christmas cheer a little early but honestly I was sober, just leaning in at an angle! See you soon!

Hello Turkey and China!

Just been checking the stats on my blog and noticed a large number of people from Turkey and China visiting lately!

Welcome! And thank you for stopping by ...

Raffy and Symi the furbabies, and me too of course, love it when you drop in....

We'd love to hear your comments on I Love My Home...

come again soon!

Fireplace transformation....

When we moved into our new home last Christmas one of the things that sold it to us was the fireplace - or rather the potential that I could see in it. I really didn't like it the way it was. 

As we've moved into an old dairy and barn, it obviously didn't have a fireplace originally, but the last owners had put in something using modern brick, quarry tiles and a shiny varnished beam - nice....You can also see the vibrant floral wallpaper (which had to go pretty quickly)

After some negotiation with MLH, we now have this...

and I loooove it! In a couple of months a company are coming to take all the beams back to their original light oak colour so that will be the final touch to my beautiful fireplace makeover!