A thing of beauty
Everyone knows that I do like a bit of upcycling. In fact recently, we upcycled our very old and very grotty Ikea table. I mention that it's an Ikea one so that you all know that I didn't destroy a fantastic, retro piece of furniture with glue and paint. It was already a grotty looking thing that had started yellowing pretty badly, so we had nothing to lose by upcycling in a slightly experimental way.
When we cleared out my in-laws house we kept some of their old maps - I had a vague notion of doing something crafty with them. What we hadn't noticed when Barbara and Nick were alive was that everytime we had moved house (and we have moved house a lot) they had bought an Ordnance Survey map of that area. The husband and I were both really touched by this, so the maps felt even more special and we thought we might want some of them 'out' to look at. Queue perfect marriage of table that needs a tidy up and maps of special places we have been.
So, we have established that I like a bit of DIY upcycling but I should make it clear that I do know my limitations! Another treasure we found when clearing out the in-laws house was a little chair from the attic. It was wobbly and so filthy, we couldn't tell what colour it was until we had hoovered off the first layer of dust. I don't know how long it had been in the attic and I wish I had had the chance to ask about it's history. Anyway, despite the neglected condition of the chair, it had a cute little shape and I could see there was potential. A year and a half later it was still sitting in the garage waiting for someone to take notice of it. Then, one day, I was walking home from the station when Narborough Upholstery drove past in their van and I decided to contact them.
I do like to support a local business when I can, so I'm just going to rave on about how brilliant they were at Narborough Upholstery for a bit. Having never done anything so fancy as having something re-upholstered before, I was a bit nervous and didn't know if it was a stupid idea to give this wobbly little chair a make-over. But nothing was too much trouble for Simon. He showed us a range of fabrics (all in the same price bracket - no attempts to up-sell us something really expensive) and spoke to use about how durable each one was. The wobble wasn't a problem and I was able to send them any specific fabric for the buttons if I wanted something really bespoke. In the end, I opted for textured teal velvet with four different coloured buttons. The picture below doesn't show how sad the chair was before it was made over. It also doesn't show just how much I love the finished result. It is the most beautiful chair - I think the in-laws would have approved.
When we cleared out my in-laws house we kept some of their old maps - I had a vague notion of doing something crafty with them. What we hadn't noticed when Barbara and Nick were alive was that everytime we had moved house (and we have moved house a lot) they had bought an Ordnance Survey map of that area. The husband and I were both really touched by this, so the maps felt even more special and we thought we might want some of them 'out' to look at. Queue perfect marriage of table that needs a tidy up and maps of special places we have been.
I painted the under side with some Rustoleum Chalk Paint which I got from B&Q. It is the same shade as the two end chairs, which were also from Ikea and had seen better days. Each painted area was finished with Frenchic finishing coat which I had bought ages ago from a local shop called Bluebell (which does the best cakes in Downham Market IMO - and you know I eat a lot of cake!). The top is decoupaged with the maps plus a few leaflets and postcards, there are also a couple of old pound notes on there. We used Modpodge to stick everything on and the 'hard finish' Modpodge to finish off. It has a nice durable finish and seems to have coped with everything we have thrown at it so far!
It is not a completely perfect finish. It has a few lumps and bumps but as a family table, we don't mind. If I did it again, I might get the kids to do a few more pictures (you can see their house drawings to show where we live now). I stamped a list of our favourite places which I also really like. Overall, I'm really pleased with it and it makes for good reading after a meal.
So, we have established that I like a bit of DIY upcycling but I should make it clear that I do know my limitations! Another treasure we found when clearing out the in-laws house was a little chair from the attic. It was wobbly and so filthy, we couldn't tell what colour it was until we had hoovered off the first layer of dust. I don't know how long it had been in the attic and I wish I had had the chance to ask about it's history. Anyway, despite the neglected condition of the chair, it had a cute little shape and I could see there was potential. A year and a half later it was still sitting in the garage waiting for someone to take notice of it. Then, one day, I was walking home from the station when Narborough Upholstery drove past in their van and I decided to contact them.
I do like to support a local business when I can, so I'm just going to rave on about how brilliant they were at Narborough Upholstery for a bit. Having never done anything so fancy as having something re-upholstered before, I was a bit nervous and didn't know if it was a stupid idea to give this wobbly little chair a make-over. But nothing was too much trouble for Simon. He showed us a range of fabrics (all in the same price bracket - no attempts to up-sell us something really expensive) and spoke to use about how durable each one was. The wobble wasn't a problem and I was able to send them any specific fabric for the buttons if I wanted something really bespoke. In the end, I opted for textured teal velvet with four different coloured buttons. The picture below doesn't show how sad the chair was before it was made over. It also doesn't show just how much I love the finished result. It is the most beautiful chair - I think the in-laws would have approved.
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