My Upcycled Dressing Table

Hello there!  Hope you are safe and well.  I'm sharing another upcycled furniture project today...

This dressing table was part of a bedroom set my parents received as a wedding gift in 1953.  It has definitely seen some service and has been in constant daily use since 1953! I didn't get a before picture, but it had definitely seen better days!  It was dark brown and definitely looking tatty!

I took it apart to work on and made a start on the white paint before under-painting some of the corners with blue, ready for a second (or was it third?) coat.

I decided on the top two drawers being blue... there is a lot of blue going on with these furniture projects at the moment!

And I just sanded the bottom two drawers.  This was a really quick job, as the varnish was over 60 years old and quite brittle (and worn away in places).  

I also sanded the frame of the mirror and the rather fancy posts which hold the mirror in place.

I was quite pleased with the mix of blue, white and old wood (apparently walnut).

You may recall the dog in the above picture, especially if you used to read this blog years ago - Quentin was a guide dog puppy who failed his training on grounds of his dodgy kneecaps!  He has grown into a happy, kind, gentle but still quite excitable family dog although he is much calmer than he used to be!  He photobombed this picture!!

I sanded back some of the white finish so that some blue paint and some of the old wood showed through.

I waxed the two large wooden drawers after sanding, which gave them a lovely smooth finish and will protect them.  I also waxed the paintwork - not sure how necessary that was, but it does give a lovely finish and is likely to protect the finish.

I'm really pleased with this dressing table, which of course has sentimental value (my mum used it daily for several decades before giving it to me) but is also a really well-made and sturdy piece of furniture which will now have a new lease of life - and may well last longer than I will (now there's a cheery thought!).  We really can't wait to move house now.  

We decided against taking this back upstairs to the bedroom - so it's still downstairs for now, surrounded by boxes until moving day!

The Map Cupboard - Upcycled Furniture Project

Hello!  Hope you are keeping safe and well in these really strange times.

The upcycled furniture project I'm showing you today took me a while, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable project and two things I had in abundance were time and maps!

This project is likely our house be known as the map cupboard - but it isn't a cupboard to store maps, rather it is now lined with maps.

Map lined cupboard

It's the British Isles but not as you know it!

This piece of furniture started out life as a wedding present for my parents in 1953 (along with a dressing table and wardrobe).  I remember it from my childhood, as well as mum and dad gifting it to me in 1980 when I got my own first home.  It is still strong and sturdy but it was looking dated as well as battle-scarred, having been in two homes with children, spanning several decades.

Old and very tired

I started by painting the outside white. Neat and clean, but very predictable - and while it was OK, I wasn't over the moon with it.

A bit neater looking, but I couldn't help thinking something was missing

I still had time on my hands, and a handy atlas of the British Isles... so I started tearing and gluing.

Just like being back in nursery school - lots of paper and glue!

We were at the beginning of lockdown, and The Range was the only place for miles around that I could buy PVA and paint. I queued for a long time, feeling so guilty about going out for non-essential shopping that I also bought some frozen chips (fries)! (Because we all know they are essential!).  The PVA felt way more essential than the chips, though...

The PVA meant I could make a start on the maps

I really enjoyed this stage, tearing up the old atlas and placing the pieces of map together

I glued torn pieces of map in place, then glued over the top.  PVA works well as a varnish, but does make the paper under it wrinkle slightly - this does go away as it dries, but always gives me a little bit of anxiety in case it doesn't.  Just remember this if you are trying your own project!

PVA's other weakness is it can become soft if wet, even after drying.  It's not likely to get wet in this cupboard, but just in case, I applied a couple of layers of furniture wax afterwards. This will also make the finish more hard wearing.

A road map of Warrington town centre, my home town

You may recognise some of this

I had to add this tiny scrap of the south east coast when I realised it had a village called California!

The reference to California (above) is for Jane - my best friend from my school days in the 1970s, who now lives in California.  Jane unknowingly inspired me to put these projects onto my resurrected blog, as she was so interested in what I was doing and looking for inspiration for her own furniture projects.  Thank you for the idea for this, Jane!

I still felt the white finish was just a bit boring so painted the drawers pale blue (I used the white paint with some cerulean acrylic paint stirred in).

I like it better with the blue drawers.  I might try sanding some of the white paintwork back a bit more

I like the blue and white contrast

I sanded back some of the wood just inside the cupboard doors and waxed it

Overall, I think it's been a successful project in many ways.  The maps were a lot of fun to put in, and I think I will be happy to have this in my new home!

Upcycling an old Ottoman

This ottoman was the first project I completed during lockdown - the first of my Furlough Furniture projects!

When my sister and I were clearing out my parents' flat, about five years ago, this was in the bedroom, piled high with magazines and books on top and unused bedding inside.  I took one look at it and earmarked it for the skip.  But my sister pointed out it looked sturdy and would make a good project.  I love a good project, but it took five years and being furloughed from work before I found the time!  This ottoman spent a long time, sadly unloved in my garage!

To be fair, you can see why it wasn't loved!

I started by stripping off the old plasticky floral top, and the thin foam underneath it.  The wooden top underneath was also damaged, so I added a new ply piece, donated my by daughter's partner who (luckily for me) had a piece left over from his campervan conversion.  He even cut it to size for me.

I also ripped off all the edging around the main body - quite time consuming, as it was fastened on with what felt like a million partly-rusted nails.

I ordered some new 2" thick foam online, and rooted through my fabric stash, to find some dotty denim and a piece of bright patterned fabric.

I cut the patterned fabric into strips and made a binding from it for the edges.  I soaked it in PVA to stiffen it, dried it on the washing line, and stuck it to the ottoman with my glue gun.

In the meantime, the body of the ottoman got several coats of paint, inside and outside.

After sticking the foam to the new lid, I covered it with the dotty denim, stapling it down.  

Then I covered the stapled bit with a piece of dotty denim I had stiffened with PVA, folded into a neat binding and stuck it in place with a glue gun.

I added two strips of the same bright fabric as a way of lifting the lid open and nailed them in place.

The last bit was finishing the front - I used a small rectangle of the dotty denim in the centre (it helpfully hid a join) topped with a tiny wooden heart from my stash, painted red, with a button sewn onto it (I put a bit of felt at the back to help with this, as the heart only had one hole.  With the heart glue-gunned in place, a little strip of fabric made a tag at the front for opening the ottoman up.

I am really pleased with the finished result and pleased to have (eventually!) saved this still-useful piece of furniture from landfill.  I'm looking forward to using this in my new house!