New To The Shop This Week

As always we have a wide variety of new treats to tempt you with this week :)

 

Fabulous, HUGE, retro wooden wall plaque, huge size, I can see certain Kiwis loving this one

1950s wicker box purse, ideal for the beach

We're big on vintage desk items at the moment, how fab is this rare triple in/out tray?

Gorgeous and rustic wooden wine box, see below the inside

Fantastic 50s wooden serving tray, love the toothpick holders in the middle!

Great for kids VBs age, old cane rocking horse

60s Samsonite mock croc suitcase or large briefcase

And for all you green bakelite fans, there's some newies in the kitchen too.

How cool is this green bakelite thermos, complete with original cork stopper and screw-on lid

And a huge bakelite citrus juicer, yum!!

Great compact size on this antique solid silky oak dressing table

Hard to do it justice in a photo but I have to say I'm proud of this one, my latest major project :)

We have quite a few new hats too- do you love the orange feather on this one, or do you love it!

Calling all 50s girls, you'll never go wrong with a black velvet beaded cocktail hat like this.



Of course there's lots more than this...you'll just have to come on in for a personal look!

How-To...Do Shabby Furniture

There are lots of ways to create the shabby look. These are ideal projects for the beginner, as mistakes are fairly easy to hide and imperfections are part of the look. This is one of the furniture projects I've been working on this past week, and is typical of the kind of shabby look that my projects end up with.

What you have to work with and the look you're aiming for can make a vast difference to the final outcome.


We're not talking 'take any new-ish piece paint it white and sand off the corners' here. Nuh-uh! I want some seriously old crusty stuff that I can really get my teeth (or sander) into and give it an industrial upcycled look, rather than a slave-to-the-trend-of-everything-white look.

I want anything in our shop to look like it's come from a 1940s garden shed, not a Rachel Ashwell book!

This 1930s or 40s kitchen chair is ideal for a shabby project; not too big, not too difficult, and not a problem if I were to muck it all up as it won't be an expensive item.

First, go hard with a coarse sand. Always sand along the grain of the wood and don't bash the edges, you'll fix them later so don't worry if you can't get in to every corner. I didn't bother with any cleaning first as it will be done later.

Better already, and thanks to the badly peeling paint, it didn't take long.

Take a screwdriver and clean out all the crusty stuff along the grooves. This chair had been under an old house for years so it was pretty bad.

Next, sand along the joins and edges by hand. Boring, but vital!

Sanding again, this time with a fine grade paper. You might notice my finishing sander here...no, I'm not pedantic, this is a lightweight sander which is great if you're a small girly like me as it's much easier to handle than a full-size model, so I use it for nearly everything.

Once the sanding is all done, wipe the chair over with a damp cloth. You may also need to brush dust away with an old hairbrush or similar if there are any little grooves for it to get stuck in.

Once the chair is completely dry, I run my bare hand all over to make sure I haven't missed any rough bits.

Give a coat or two of estapol, paying particular attention to the edges, joins and grooves. This gives a nice smooth finish, seals the timber and lifts the colour.

The finished product.

A Day in My Life...a.k.a. Painting is Getting Boring Now!

If you've ever fancied yourself as a vintage seller, I'm going to show you some nitty-gritty detail of whats involved.

As you know we're having all the stock taken to the shop on Monday, so I'm finishing up lots of furniture projects this week.

I'm the kind of person who needs challenges and variety; being that I sell everything from clothing and hats to small collectables, sewing patterns and large furniture, I certainly get plenty of both.

For the last few weeks though I've mostly been working on the furniture- read on and you'll soon see why painting is getting boring now! This is a rundown of what I did today.

 

First up, I gave this 50s wire plant stand a second coat of white paint. I used a spray can so it was very quick.

 

This cast iron garden chair, one of a pair, also had a second coat.

I've chosen to give this Art Nouveau style hall table the shabby chic treatment. It's taken an enormous amount of work but it's almost done now.

I used different textures, colours and finishes to give it a more aged look.

 

A cute little cane childs chair got a coat of satin-finish varnish.

Two cushion covers from a pair of barstools get soaked in black dye.

Two naughty dresses that didn't come clean the first time around get re-soaked. I always hand wash every vintage garment separately in clean buckets.

I scrubbed down and touched up this fab retro footstool. Such a nice old guy I bought this from. He let me go over to his house, go through all his stuff, and pick out everything I wanted. IT WAS GREAT.

For a vintage seller there is nothing better than that!

Did some more work on the second two of this set of four dinette chairs. (I love the word dinette!). Above is one of the completed ones. I'm still painting and sanding the second 2 chair backs. We have 6 complete dinettes in stock, but this one will be first on the shop floor.

 

These chairs are quite different to most I have seen. The legs and back support bars are plastic-coated, but the horizontal bar (i.e. the bit that the seat is placed on) is metal. I stripped it down to almost bare metal and  mixed the creamy colour up myself to get it to match. I'm very pleased with the result.

Of the 4 chairs, two have faded significantly and two haven't. This is one of the faded ones. I also mixed the pinky red colour myself as it matches well with the less faded seats. The seat backs were originally a bright red...which I tried but it was too strong a colour for the laminate.

How beautiful is this kitchen dresser! Luckily it doesn't need major work or painting, just a lot of cleaning....so I gave it another half an hours' worth this afternoon.

I love this old burnt cane wall shelf. It got a final coat of gloss varnish, which I think brings out the colour beautifully.

This is a beautiful 1950s full size dressing screen, and will form the basis of our change room. (How do I know it is 50s? by the hinges). The white frame is being painted gold to tie in with some other shop fittings we have been keeping specially for the shop. Above is the first coat I applied yesterday.

Unfortunately this lovely brocade fabric is completely nailed into the frame, which makes the painting a chore as I'm not willing to pull the whole screen apart.

Especially when you are using the paint of satan. Don't be fooled by the beautiful colours; this is the worst, wierdest, fastest-drying paint I have ever used!

I thinned the paint down and applied a second coat. It still looks lumpy, but I'll sand it tomorrow and see what gives. We'll see.

But the day is not over yet, mes chers! It's 11pm as I write this so it's dress-steaming time.

So, do you still fancy yourself a vintage seller??