Old white shabby chic set of tables

I found this set through gumtree it's made of solid dark oak extremely hard wearing. 

I've had a customer waiting quite a while for a set just like this and thankfully she loved them.  I painted it old white and sanded the edges to give it a worn look.

The design of the spindle legs really stand out now.  It's transformed into a light airy set of tables perfect for a modern home.

Unique hand painted nest of tables

I painted the nest of tables pictured below with Laura Ashley Eau de Nil and old white for the legs.  A customer requested this colour and Ive fallen in love with it. 

This is obviously the end result, let's rewind. 

Very basic mahogany nest of tables, it's an extremely sturdy set.  I honestly believe I'm turning into Del Boy another customer who bought this set of tables below

Well, she traded the Mahoney nest of tables as cash payment.  This saved me time having to source the product, win win situation.  

This finished product is a beautiful unique set of tables that's personally tailored to my customers needs.  It's a nice feeling to know you've created a feature piece that no one else owns.

Painting Mexican pine nest of tables

Mexican pine can be prone to wood worm holes, the wood had been treated the holes are part of the furniture.  My problem is, when painted the holes are going to stand out.

I used wall filler to cover the holes, then sanded the wall filler back down to the wood, giving a smooth surface but now no holes.

We are now ready to paint.  I've selected grey and white then finished off with dark wax.  I wanted the nest of tables to have an aged look. 

A nice tip for you using dark wax for the first time, wax furniture with clear wax then apply a small amount of dark wax on a clean brush and gently stroke over the areas you want darker.  Rub the dark wax off with a cloth and repeat where necessary.  If you've put too much on use the clear wax, it works as an eraser! 

Vintage telephone table chair

I found this 1970s phone table chair in a local charity shop and fell in love with it.  

I kept it myself for a while as it matched beautifully with my hall.  Months past and I eventually decided to part with it.  A few coats of white paint later and this glamourous little chair was born.

I sold it within a few hours it got loads of great feed back from people.  I'm over the moon on how stunning it turned out.

Im on Facebook Claire's shabby chic furniture, you can view my other pieces of work.

Retro black & pink drawers

I was asked to source drawers for a beauty salon, the colour choice was black with pink drawers.  

Once I found the perfect sized drawers I decided exterior paint would again be best, as it would be cleaned down more often than home furniture, I've used non-metallic black paint, I also waxed it with dark wax to deepen the black tone. 

The handles where changed to beautiful glass cut knobs, to give it a glamourous look. 

I forgot to take a finished photo which I know isn't the smartest thing to do when blogging, but trust me the black & pink drawers turned out gorgeous, the contrasting colours really made it standout.  

Transforming a basic carver chair into a decorative feature chair

As a request, I was asked to paint a decorative chair.  Once I saw this carver chair I knew it would be perfect, trouble being I'd have to recover the seat which I had no idea how to do.

Many you tube tutorials later, I bought my fabric and armed with my new staple gun I got to work.

With this being a decorative chair I imagined it would be prone to knocks and bumps, not forgetting dusty which would mean being cleaned regularly, so I decided to use primer as my base to protect the wood and an exterior metallic black paint to water proof it.  This meant no need for wax. 

If your thinking of using metallic paint be very careful as it's very unforgiving it will show brush strokes and dries very quickly, my advise use a good paint brush, be gentle and concentrate on small areas at a time.