Mixed feelings! (shaken, not stirred)

Last weekend, after having it around a while the lovely 60s cocktail cabinet was put on eBay.

It was the third project I did and I enjoyed very much the transformation. We spotted it at an auction viewing one week but left it thinking it would be out of our price range and were surprised to find it there at the next viewing. So we left a cheeky bid with the auctioneer and thought no more of it.

Our cheekiness was indeed rewarded and it subsequently became ours. Once it was home it's charm only increased and I knew how I wanted it to look (if not the exact details). Once it was finished, time went on and we never got around to listing it, the Summer Market stall oppotunity came along but it was too big, and a bit delicate I suppose, to lug up there and back if it didn't sell and we had got used to having it around. More and more random  pieces of furniture were appearing in the house and as space is at a premium  it really had to go and go it did on Sunday. The buyer arranged to pick it up today so a quick dust was in order. I'm pleased to say he was a really nice guy who was thoroughly pleased with his new acquisition and said it was perfect for his new house. So everyone was happy, I'm very pleased it sold and I'm glad it went to a good home...but....I was sad to see it go...funny isn't it?

A slow day and cupcakes

 Saturday was the second market day in our series of eight summer markets to help rejuvenate a local area.

The sign was up, the sun came out and we all looking forward to a good day. At the start, footfall was a bit slow to be honest and it didn't get much better! The first market was such a success I think our expectations were inevitably too high, and by the afternoon everyone was looking at each other and shrugging.

The morning rush

 Still, the weather was very pleasant and on a personal note, I did get a lot of very positive reaction from the shoppers, sold the 'Beachy' drawers, which attracted a lot of attention ('till the buyer took them away, I told him he could leave them until later if he wanted!) and sold a tall table in my favourite colour of the moment 'gravel', honestly, it's a lovely colour.
So, can't complain really and I must say it was very enjoyable again and very interesting what people are attracted to, colours, finishes and so on..


The sold table at the back, not great photos I'm afraid.

One stallholder who did sell out was our friend Rosie, who makes cupcakes, I made a sign for her and it was surely this that boosted her sales!

www.watford-cupcakes.co.

Of course I asked for no monetary   

reimbursement for the sign but guess what? ......I was happy to accept a gift of a selection of delicious cupcakes as a gesture of her appreciation!

I look forward to the next market and continue to enjoy the experience......and the cupcakes.........

Beachy drawers!

Here's a nice little makeover. Picked this up at a local second hand shop, 

it had been stripped and  painted in what I think was one of those all in one varnish/stain finishes, so looked a bit rough. The top had been cut down at some time and didn't really fit properly so that had to come off. Now on the back is a stamped crown and GR VI (King George 6th)

and the lock had 1944 embossed on it, so that dates it for us. It is good but very basic construction of timber and plywood, wooden handles. Apparently 'Utility' furniture for the home (a UK Government scheme which was designed to cope with shortages of raw materials and rationing during the war) has a different mark but this looks to be made in a similar way and definitely from WWII, it could well be office furniture, maybe civil service, anyway, quite interesting.

As it needed a new top I played around with ideas and then my brainy wife came up with the idea of using 'planks' of wood in a drift wood style............off to get an old pallet, and spend most of the day breaking it up, those thing are tough! I used a couple of pieces for my sign and most of the rest went on the top.

With a bare wood top we needed a beachy look, so the bodywork was rubbed down and primed, then painted off white followed by blue. I distressed it with a blade and waxed it as we do, varnished the top and that's it!

 

It doesn't look quite as bright as it does in the photos (it must have freaked my camera out!), only has one lock in place and no key (yet) but I am pleased with the way it came out, quite a turn around, it's going to the market on Saturday. I wonder what the folks from 1944 would have made of it's new incarnation?

It's a sign !

Thought I'd better have a sign for my tiny stall next week so here it is!

This is made from two pieces of an old wooden palette fixed together at the back, painted and distressed liberally, 

'Smithy's Furniture Emporium' est. 2011 !

That should get them flocking in...

as Confucious said........

On Saturday, I had a great time at my first market! in my tiny stall, good job I haven't got a cat cos there was no room to sw...you know where I'm going with that!

writing a tag, not rolling a ciggie

The atmosphere was great with nearly everyone being first timers and lots of different stuff on sale. It is an initiative to try and rejuvenate part of the local area so everyone was really positive and up for  a good day, even the rain stayed away! 

I am pleased to say I sold everything except the dressing table so it was a very good debut for Smithy's, one little old lady even wanted to buy my radio!  (I didn't sell it to her)

There was a lot of interest in my furniture which was encouaging and some very complimentary things were said about it.

Had a good deal of support from my son, who even delivered a table to a nice young lady  (I wonder if that had anything to do with it) who lived close by, and of course my wife, they both enjoyed it as much as me I suspect.  

 A small but significant triumph then and, as Confucious said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."................I make him right.

 

So all in all very pleased, now I've got two weeks to get more ready to sell, (bought this chest of drawers today)













and started work on this table,










I don't know what the previous owners used it for but it may have had something to do with bashing something on it with a hammer repeatedly!

we can only wonder.................

Summer Market excitement!

I am very excited about the forthcoming local Summer Market, in which I have my first stall. It runs for eight Saturdays through our (so called) summer. It will be very interesting to see peoples reaction to the furniture as I have only previously sold on eBay, which I don't think is the ideal medium to sell these things, however deciding on a price for each item I think will be tricky as of course on eBay it finds it's own level. So I have been busy painting and am looking forward to the first day which is this Saturday. The pitch is only 2m square so there won't be that much room, any tips would be appreciated!









I've been a bit rubbish on the photo front recently, but here are a few things I've been working on,

 This dressing table that has a mirror to go on top, this photo doesn't do it justice, the top is veneer but I managed to sand it back then varnish it, it's very similar to the first chest I painted and I've seen a few like this around so they must have been very popular (common).

This retro chest of drawers, that I sprayed to give a nice finish, I am pleased with the way it turned out..

This is a modern coffee table, so all I did was paint the legs then distress glaze and wax, works well.








There is also this funny little chest which is home made (not by me) and I couldn't decide what to do with it, so in the end I just went 'rustic', not really sure about the end product maybe I should put some sort of stencil on it or something.......it's only small but I'll tell you one thing it is a lot heavier than it looks!








I've done a couple of other things and some small mirrors and painted signs, so we'll have to see how this week goes and take it from there, will I need more pieces for the next one? only time will tell, I'm looking forward to it!

Here are some more photos of the retro chest......

and here is a slightly better picture of the dressing table, with the mirror attached, I think it makes a big difference.

"card" table......

I'd like to share my most recently completed project,

This has been a bit of a marathon due to some  unforseen discoveries, more of which to follow, surfice to say it is now finished and I am pretty pleased, (pleased that it's finished and with the end result). The cards on the top are decoupage, and the inside of the drawer is dark green,

I scanned the playing cards spread out on the scanner in five lots on to thick lining paper then cut them out and stuck them to the table with paste.

The paintwork is matt emulsion with a wax finish and the top has been varnished.

Now, I don't want to go on and on, but this table has been a voyage of discovery (pain in the proverbial). We bought it at auction (heavily painted) but it looked pretty nice and didn't inspect it too carefully but when we picked it up realised most of it was made of the dreaded MDF!  

 

 I've got nothing against MDF in the right place but that place is not in a table that I want to distress to expose the wood.

 Okay, the legs and the trim were pine so that's not so bad I can still distress it. Started to strip it and found a strange pattern coming through..........

very odd, the whole thing was covered in this weird paper which was an absolute pig 

(no dissrepect to pigs) to get off! 

 

 So eventually all stripped I decided to stain the timber bits darker for when it showed through the distressing, all back on track.

After priming and the customary age contemplating what colour to paint it, decided on the green and away we go, looking good. Took some sand paper to it to expose that wood and........oh dear, where I sanded it, it went yellow! Not a nice creamy yellow that you could just about get away with but a nasty acid yellow. What next! this would never do, so decided not to distress it after all. 

When it was all painted and waxed I got on with the paper sticking and all was well, except, this little table had one last suprise for me. The acrylic varnish I used to seal the top made the colours smudge on the paper.......aghhhhhhhhhh! I blotted it where I could and although it's not as perfect as I would of wanted it, it's not too bad really and it will have to do because I am beyond the point of no return with this one..............and breathe.

I do have one more card to stick on it though............................

thanks for reading!