The round table that I posted way back in April is finished YA! Lucinda and Tony came down picked it up and it now resides in their shop The Hume Cottage for sale.
Doesn't it look great in the shop!

Below is the latest finished project. Its a small kitchen table that I have especially got for Lucinda and her shop as she has just sold her one.

Following this I have a job on for and extension table and six chairs for a customer which should take me a couple of weeks. Then it will be onto the curved glass display case which I also posted back in April.

One thing I did notice about this is on closer inspection it looks like a hutch and not a free standing display case, so I'm having second thoughts about fitting the Queen Anne legs and thinking of leaving it as a hutch. It will look great sitting on someones shabby side board or similar, I may even see if I can pick up one for it so I can match the paint style.

I don't have any pics but the Oak dresser which is also nearly finished, I have given it a Milk type finish and then linseed oiled it which has brought out the grain beautifully. Now all I need it some toile in fabric or even printed paper to finish it off.

Job update

Hi again, as promised this is my update on what I have been doing.

Well I started on the the latest jobs I had posted but got a major sidetrack when we realised that for Vicki to her work she needs a proper work area.
So we cleaned out the garage next to the Bear Room and laid some carpet only to discover that there definitely was not enough light and we needed a mayor size window put in.

So here are the before and after shots of the window!

As you can see I had to rebuild the whole wall which took me some time.

Here is a before pic of the dresser I am doing at present, it was upstairs at the time of the fire and saved. As you can see it still has some good smoke and water damage but nothin I cant fix ;)I'm changing the handles and replacing the pine back paneling with Masonite. Masonite! I hear you say, yes but I plan to cover it with french pattern fabric or wallpaper.

This is the one I am milking although the inside will be painted white. When finished it will be going into our kitchen!

Hi all, Just thought I better put something down as I have not been for some time.
Well like everyone else I have been busy and at the moment have the following jobs on.

4x Round tables. One completed but not for sale but the others will be.

A curved glass display cabinet. Restoring and Shabby including fitting Queen Ann legs using a few contrasting colours and a crackle medium.

A Oak dresser. Smoke damaged, restoring and milking. This has such a beautiful grain I did not have the heart to cover it up although I have to seal in any smoke smell. So thought milking would be the best option and then using linseed oil to bring out the grain, then seal it with wax.
This is going into our kitchen and replacing our current pine dresser that will be Shabbied up and sold.

Things are bit slow also because as well as doing these at present I am still working on Vicki's studio including fitting another window.

Oh yeah also I now have to spend some time working on my ute as it failed rego and requires some rust work. sooooooo bit busy. Tring to prioritise things is hard but found by doing a few pieces at once is much more fun.

I will post some more before and after picks of everything latter but may not have one of the oak dresser for some reason although will check the fire pic archive.

Hi all.. this is a bit of test to see if I have fixed the image issue but mainly to show my bedside chest of draws for sale which are are now in Lacinda's shop Hume Cottage.

Doesn't it look geat all dressed up in her shop!

More pics

Vicki decided that she would dress the chest of draws to see how it would look in our house... "No you cant have this one dear ... we have no room" hahaha

Thanks for the nice comments i appreciate them guys!

Also I wanted to add, I again used bees wax as a sealer on this piece .

Can someone tell me how I can load these pictures so they enlarge when you click on them?

Its driving me mad!!

I already have started the next piece, I have sanded down the base of the table and its come up really nice. I plan to paint this all white and shabby, the next couple of tables I do I'm thinking of using a different colour than the normal white used on French Provincial Shabby Chic furniture.

All you Shabby and furniture people out there are probably already aware but did you know that traditional French Provincial furniture is somewhat different to how we know of French Provincial furniture being?

I will post some pics, although all white shabby furniture is rare and most traditional decorative country pieces are either a very shabby coloured piece or are aged raw timber.

To this I have some really good ideas up my sleeve for future projects using colour aging and decoration depending on the piece.

Latest piece

Hi all,

Finally finished the chest of draws ... yeah yeah I know I said a week before but things happen and more things happen then you have to go here then there... then the week has gone.

Here it is!

Tell me what you think?

It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted as I had to use a paint I was not used to.


It was painted in enamel and I prefer to use acrylic, so ended up using a mat white enamel but it didn't do exactly what I wanted but I'm still really happy with it anyway.


Originally the draws were painted black, this created the problem of when I rubbed it back and shabbied it up it would have brought the black through. So I stripped all the black off and started again with an enamel primer before the top coat.




Lacindas humecottage crystal door handles look fantastic and tie in nice with the Queen Anne legs and pink girly draw liners.


This one is for sale at $120

These are my next projects a nice solid round table.

Then my biggest challenge yet 6 ornate French Chateau style chairs.

Chest of draws

Hi all,

My next project is this small chest of draws with queen anne legs.

It looks original and is solid.

This one requires quiet a bit of work although I plan to have it done in one week. The main reason for long time is because I have to order new (porcelain) handles for it.

It should look quiet nice when finished and could be used or placed anywhere. I actually thought it would look great sitting in the lounge and being used as a table between two chairs or lamp table.

The colour will be in a semi gloss or mat finish enamel white and although not yet sure of the final finish I am thinking distressed or shabby again.

I was going to do this one full gloss white without the distressing although after closer inspection of the piece decided it would look far better this way.

Thanks for all your encouragement and lovely comments on my work I do appreciate it.

If someone is after a dresser and missed out on the last one I will be doing a bigger one next!!

So if your interested let me know as I can do it to order etc.

Its finished!

Hi all, Its finished!





I finished off the pine dresser today! After locating some new latches for the doors and draw liners that I have also installed in the bottom shelves I took some pics this afternoon and I'm happy with it.






I ended up giving it three coats of paint in total which included two coats of flat white and one in a home made cream colour that I made up. I distressed it and rubbed it all back giving some age look then finally a coat of beeees wax.





Lastly I fitted some draw liners and placed them on the shelves as well as in the draws, then scented with Rose Water.

What do you think? We want to sell it as we have way too many of them so if you or if you know anyone that is after one let us know. I also can send high res pics to anyone interested.

If your interested it is for sale at $120.

Next piece is already started, its a small chest of draws fitted with slim draws that I plan to fit crystal or porcelain handles to.

SOLD!

I found some of Vicki's past creations that she has done.

Although this looks like one of those lamps you would buy in old shop Vicki actual made this from scratch.

It was used in our shop for a long time in the window and was lit at night.

Then one day just before the fire Vicki brought it home, which was very lucky as it would have ruined by the smoke and soot.

We had many inquires to buy it while it was in the shop and to have them made up although Vicki never had the then to do them at the time.

This little fellow below is one of Vicki's many bear creations, some of them were from patterns by other people although most of them were totally Vicki originals. I will find some more pics or take some more pics of things we have around the house and post them latter.

Hi all,

This is my next project, its a lightweight pine dresser which Vicki has had for some time.

I plan to Shabby it although I'm not sure of the details yet as I usually decide these as I am going alone.

What I'm going to do with it when it its finished I don't know. We have no space for it in the house and I have a solid English Oak dresser that I am going to white wash lined up for the kitchen.

Me and Shabbily Restored

Hi all... This is my first ever Blog thingy so be gentle.

After much encouragement and persuasion by the love of my life, my beautiful wife Vicki (Shabbily Romantic)I have finally have a Blog to talk about and share the furniture I make and restore.

Vicki also loves the Shabby Chic/French Provincial style and has come up with many creations over the past years. Vicki has created some lovely dolls, bears and general crafts that would rival any one's.

I will find some pictures later and post them because I know she wont post them on her blog because she wont think they were good enough.

Vicki taught me some of her craft when we were first together years ago and I even ended up in the local paper after designing and making my own Golly Wogs.

At the same time I discovered that I really enjoyed making and restoring furniture.

The first major piece I did was an old workshop table. My Mum was throwing it out and I saw that it still may have some life in it yet.

After removing a bodgy plywood top I found it had a beautiful old hard wood top with lots of character holes and dents in it.

I restored it "Shabby" leaving the top in a raw colour and painted the bottom half pale green using a little crackle paint.

It now resides in our lounge room.

The latest restoration I have completed is a old curved top dresser that survived the fire at our Cafe we had.

1st I had to wash all the soot I could off it, dry it out and then sand it all back before painting.

The problem with this piece is the smell I have found that anything porous absorbed the burnt smell in the fire.

The only solution is to paint it and seal it in which meant several coats of an off white acrylic and a good coat even throughout all the inside. I also added some pale yellow highlights.

2nd is the fun bit of distressing the paint by sanding back where I want to see the wear. Not so much on this one as you can see slightly in the pic.

Lastly is installing the scented draw liners and giving it a coat of wax to seal it good and protect it.

Next post: The latest projects.