Afternoon folks! Hope you’re all well!!
Thought I’d post a pic of my current work in progress and see if anyone else is working on something similar.
It’s not to sell- just for me! To spruce the place up a bit.
So we have this writing desk. It didn’t cost anything- it was given to us by my husband’s parents about 5 years ago now. They were given it by a relative and they were given it from the relative who actually made it. So a nice little story to it. We think it was made in the 20’s/30’s. And it’s been made by someone who wasn’t always building furniture so it’s got a fair few little ‘quirks’ as I’m calling them!
We do like it’s functionality and the story but style wise it’s not really us. Though absolutely no piece of furniture matches any other piece of furniture in our house so it kind of fits in quite nicely in that sense- which is probably why I’ve just left it for so long. I was getting quite tired of it’s dark colour though. Obviously stained with a mahogany type stain and then varnished I consider it to be quite old fashioned.
So- after talking about it for probably about 5 years now- pretty much since we got it, I’ve taken out the sandpaper- it’s all been sanded back and now I’m onto the painting! I plan on getting some nice interesting handles to replace the ones it currently has and will give the brass work on the inside (hinges and things) a good polish up.
Hopefully it will help brighten up the corner it’s currently sitting in!
Anyone working on something? For yourself or someone else- Or to sell?
I love old furniture- in fact I purposely don’t buy new stuff. So nice to see people do the same and see how they adapt pieces instead of just throwing them out and popping to Ikea! 
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I tend to leave that sort of thing to my father in law as he is much better at it than I am. One of his best makes (as far as I’m concerned anyway) is my work bench.
The draws and top came from 2 desks he rescued from a skip when the local OU offices were being revamped. It comes apart should we ever move but its all carefully colour coded so we can put it back together and if I ever need any new or differently shaped bench pegs I just have to ask and he makes them for me (current one is made from a bit of beech that used to be part of a chair).
Can’t wait to see your finished project.
Sasha
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Really interested to see this thread. We are doing some building work on our cottage and have removed our kitchen as the position of it is going over to the other side of the house- we are going to recycle the cupboards and paint them.
Most of my furniture is old too.
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That’s really cool! We’re proud skip-divers!! Haha it’s definitely a case of one persons rubbish is another’s treasure.
I was at the tip yesterday throwing loads of rubbish out from my parents garage for them- I was throwing something into the scrap metal section and spotted a couple of lovely zinc plant pots in perfect condition- shame I couldn’t lean over and get them! Haha
It’s a good idea to have it so it can change/move around as well! Definitely a useful creation!!
Ah that sounds really good.
I’m all for just using things that are already there and making them look decent again.
We’ve done that before with a kitchen. Took all the doors and drawers off, sanded them all back and gave them a few coats of paint, added some new handles and replaced the counter top with a brand new one. But it cost barely anything. Some of the shelves inside were a bit worse for wear- obviously cupboards where food stuffs had leaked out over time and left the wood all horrible underneath- so we just cut some MDF to size for those and just gave them a quick coat of paint too.
I love doing stuff like that!
There’s a place near me that gets in old furniture- just from people getting rid of stuff and from house clearances and things. In the past we’ve gotten some fab pieces of solid wood furniture at such cheap prices (with a bit of bartering) but now we’ve notice a lot of the house clearances and things now are just containing 70’s/80’s shiny and cheap furniture. Unfortunately not as much of the solid wood variety seems to remain- and if it does it’s not as cheap as it was.
My next project is a nest of wooden tables I have. They’ve got glass tops sitting within the wooden surface so going to spray paint them all in different colours then under the glass add a collage of various photos from our travels. 
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That is very nice, I am looking forward to seeing how the desk has turned out. I have a similar writing desk that I painted and now it sits nicely in my working room. In fact, everything is re-painted in my studio as I had bits and pieces that didn’t really match. I wouldn’t do this to sell, but I enjoy revamping and upcycling furniture for our home.
Here is the writing desc:
Chest of drawers, small bookcase and shelves, all hand painted in the same colour:
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They look great! I’m going for ‘cosy grey’ as it’s called.
I’m up to this point…
I started outside but typically the rain began! So windows are now wide open and my bunny is only ever so slightly covered in paint, haha from her own doing of course- though think she has given up being told off and has gone off for a nap somewhere.
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Im attempting to upcycle some wooden things into jewellery holders for Xmas craft fairs.
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That’s cool! I think stalls at craft fairs need to look interesting and different. This is a good idea.
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Pretty well all of my creations are either made with or on recycled items that I have repurposed.
The only thing that I consistently have to purchase is stained glass and small ceramic tiles. Everything else originates from village coffees mornings where they have a couple of car boot type of items or at car boots and house auctions.
It is true, someone else’s trash can definitely be my treasures!
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I love this thread! Before and afters make me dribble!
I love upcycling things!
This is one of my upcycles, it was a while ago though, chest of drawers for my bedroom.
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That’s nice! The finish on the ‘before’ photo looks similar to what I’m dealing with. I’ve sanded it all down but it’s still taking about 4 coats of paint! Haha
I think it’s great reusing something instead of just throwing it out- I love looking at stuff like this too. Pinterest has helped fuel my interest. Haha
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I bought this dresser in two parts from a second-hand store - gave it a good clean and then painted it yellow!
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Looks fabulous Julia, love the colour.
Aaah that’s a lovely yellow! Looks fab on a dresser!
Thank you Dawn and Susannah. As you can see, I like bright colours! ;o)
They all look wonderful, isn’t it great what a coat of paint can do? I’ll have to try and find a pic of the corner shelf we painted Pavilion grey.
Oh a thread right up my street, as a family we love finding ‘treasure’! We can’t pass a pallet without eyeing up it’s potential. Kitchen doors have been painted as Susanna @curiousseagull and I made a foot stool out of the bottom a writing desk just like yours and lovely wooden robin Christmas tree decorations from the drawers. No sentimental value as it was left in this house we bought.
Yesterday I bought a 1940s Utility stool for my daughters shed, will show you before and after photos. But I have recently upcycled an Ikea stool and a little woodwormed stool into an outside tea cup table
Oh I am all inspired, and what a better place to be creative than a shed with an make do and mend ethos to fit out!
Suzzie x
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I am loving this thread, all your projects look lovely! I forgot to mention that sometimes I like to revamp new furniture as well, we bought some wardrobes from Ikea last year and while we like them, the plastic windows in the middle looked horrible, so I put wallpaper and now they look really nice. We did him and her versions where mine has flowery patterns and my husband’s has vertical lines :
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