Furniture should be beautiful, functional and fit elegantly into a space within a home, office or any type of environment.
I love re-purposing furniture, various pieces within my home have had at least two different lives. This particular one was originally half a sideboard, it had a dark wooden top contrasting with the gloss white doors. The two sections were fitted into a window alcove, remaining in that role for a number of years until being split to create two separate pieces of furniture. The other half is fitted into another, smaller alcove in the dining room.
For some, this next statement may be controversial, but I love IKEA. I would build furniture completely from scratch or commission a hand made piece, but time and budget constraints have prevented this. Also, IKEA produces so many well designed interior fittings (I love drawers) and you can buy shelves, drawers, doors, hinges, drawer runners, almost anything separately. You’ve probably guessed this was originally from IKEA.
Testing to see whether the unit sits well in the space. My husband wasn’t too sure but he got used to it, especially as it’s a great place to keep fish food next to the patio door, handy for our pond.
The hole in the side originally allowed cables to travel through the sideboard (in it’s old life) so we could have a lamp where there wasn’t a socket.
Working in my garage, cladding the original cabinet. The wood is from an old book case and wasn’t quite wide enough, so extra was cut and added.
The feet/legs are integrated into the sides, a small arch, keeps the design simple.
The outside painted, I love this colour! It has a satin finish, but might at some point go completely matt, we will have to see. The doors were then veneered in oak.
Always having a mobile phone available to capture a potentially useful image is awesome.
I love technology.
This photograph was taken at Welbeck, near Worksop, Nottinghamshire. I think a few people will recognise this particular row of trees.
This is a really effective pyrography tool, it has variable heat settings and gets hot enough so you can work quickly. Although, I can only work with it for set periods of time as the handle can become uncomfortably warm. However, I always have another project on the go, so do that until I’m ready to come back to it.
I often have a helper when I’m working, well, at least she thinks she’s helping!
Steady Progression
Completed Furniture
I love that it is unique. I enjoy mixing natural wood and paint finishes. Each wood has a characteristic colour and grain pattern, oak has to be my favourite. I love it’s natural warmth.
How do we Style a Sideboard?
I often over think the arrangement of items on any surface, I’m looking at this now and thinking that the items could be spaced better. My first step was knowing that I wanted a lamp, because this was a dark corner at night. Having decided which lamp base would live here, I needed to find a lampshade. I couldn’t pick one! So I hand painted a plain one with acrylic inks to fit into the scheme.
I love the little monkey, the flower garland around his neck was yellow ochre when I bought it, but is now mostly shades of blue. I often repaint items if the colours don’t feel quite right.
I really like wooden boxes, I have to make a real effort not to buy more if I don’t have a place ready. This one is a lovely little writing box.
Oh, and we all need a lovely crystal decanter, don’t we?
I think a development of this concept would be to see whether a design could be replicated using a lazer cutter. The potential for batches of designs being created is rather exciting.
Please have a look around my website, to see the rest of my work. If you are interested in collaborating with me or you are an interior designer thinking of using my products? Please get in touch.
If you would like to stock any of my products in your retail premises, please contact me to discuss wholesale prices.
Or just have a look around my shop.
