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.