Friday 25 January 2013

Furniture from friends and the Friday flea market...

I've had a lovely week. I brought a new piece of furniture in from the garage to work on. A friend gave me this. It's an Edwardian dressing table. Don't I have nice friends?

  

It fits quite nicely between the pile of flooring and the pushed back dining table. This isn't really a 'before' shot as I've already removed the mirror section and refinished the top. I had to replace the drawer bases as they were badly warped making the drawers impossible to pull out. I also decided to lose the two wing mirrors as they are very clunky and make the whole thing absurdly wide. 



This shot shows the difference between the old wood finish at the top and the refinished part looking glossy and rich. The rest of the wood is being painted in milk paint and it's not going to plan so far, but I'm hoping to finish it all next week. 


Freddy is casting a critical eye over my work...he likes the smell of the milk paint! I'll come back and show you when it's done...
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Dee  from Dee Dee's vintage retro delights and I share a love of these vintage big eyed animal ornaments and I said I would post a picture of mine which I inflict upon my daughter although she'd rather have Disney tat on her shelves. Dee has an entire mouse orchestra of these that I'm envious of!


I love these guys! They've all been collected from boot sales and charity shops.Against my daughters will. Aw come on! How can you not like them?

I squeezed in a trip to the flea market this morning and found this:

Isn't that lovely? (It's wet because I washed it)

And the other side?


It's a crate lid! My crate fetish refuses to go away! Sadly the rest of the crate was missing but I got this for £1 and I'll turn it into a rustic sign. I think I like the top view best and the sides will be like a little frame...

I think we're in for a further dumping of snow tonight and then a downpour to wash it all away. Not a moment too soon. The snow has turned to ice on all the footpaths here and I've been risking life and limb on the school run. Hooray for rain! x

12 comments:

  1. My Gran had that little grey mouse holding cheese, I'd forgotten all about it until just then. She used to say "keep out my cupboards, there's a mouse in there!". They are the most wonderful collection, thank you for reminding me :)
    Kate

    Just Pirouette and Carry On...

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  2. I can't wait to see that finished dressing table, I think it is going to be beautiful.

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  3. Gosh that's a great freebie. How nice of your friend to give you that. Bet it will look even more lovely with a makeover.

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  4. love the dressing table, and the crate lid - but what a tease ... what is that painted carved shelf in the top right hand corner out of sight! And what is the stuff to the right of the elephants ear? ♥

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    1. Aah, the dining room is utterly skanky and needs new floor, skirting and a new table before I can reveal all! I've just bought our fourth dining table in four years... things tend to evolve here! And the big pine dresser needs painting too. But when it's all gorgeous, where will I paint my furniture?
      To the right of the elephants ear I think is lumpy plaster where I pulled something off the wall and it needs to be covered with wooden beading...x (I should learn to crop photos!)

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  5. What a lovely dressing table, lucky you having such a generous friend! Looking forward to seeing the end result. I'm hoping to find crate or two myself once the boot sales start, I really like what you've done with your, thanks for showing us your projects. Roll on spring.

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  6. That dressing table's going to look magnificent, I know it, see, even the cat agrees. xxx

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  7. The dressing table is gorgeous. Will you be able to re-use the side mirrors? They are such a nice shape, it would be a shame not to do something with them. Cute kitty, they love to get in somewhere new and stake it out, don't they?
    Is there a Crate Buyers Anonymous? I think you should consider it... Just saying! xxxx

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    1. I thought I might just take the mirrors to a charity shop for someone else to re-use. I can't fit any more on my walls unless I carry on with my wall of mirrors right up the staircase. Then people might think I'm vain! Sometimes less is more. Unless we're talking about crates... x

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  8. Gah, I wish I had friends who gave me Edwardian furniture!
    x

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