upcycling

A midcentury chair lovingly upholstered in collaboration with Yorkshire Fabric Shop {ad}

You know how it is; you can’t walk away from that bargain piece of furniture in the local charity shop and your inner DIY goddess tells you how good it would look with a little lick of paint or a simple reupholster? Well, that was me when I happened upon this lovely little Parker Knoll midcentury chair fresh out of the 1950s. Its seat pad had been well sat on, its wooden frame was scratched and worn, but it was only £30. I was sold!

Here she is stripped back to her bare bones – thankfully the frame and base springs were in pretty good nick.

My Parker Knoll armchair in its ‘raw’ state!

But that was over four years ago and the chair has been even more sat on and worn down, thanks to a variety of colourful throws and cushions thrown over to cheer it up. That was, until the Yorkshire Fabric Shop got in touch with me to showcase their new ‘Freedom’ collection of upholstery fabrics. It’s a really vibrant range and when they kindly offered me a length of fabric of my choice, knew I needed to grab the opportunity to finally get my little midcentury chair reupholstered!

After much deliberation, I chose this fabric from the Freedom range, as I felt its colours and pattern would fit in well with a few different areas in my home, meaning I could inevitably move the chair around as I wish. (I’m definitely not one for keeping things in the same place for too long – a shuffle around once in a while always makes your home feel fresh!)

Having only ever attempted to re-cover a footstool in the past, I had to accept that my upholstery skills were somewhat restricted to wielding a staple gun, so I enlisted the help of local upholsterer, Nicola Parkes, to ensure my chair would be professionally finished and last the test of time (not to mention my kids’ feet dragged all over it).

I set to work sanding back the wood frame as best I could, then finished it off with a good rubbing of beeswax to bring out the wood’s natural colour and grain (I used IKEA beeswax picked up from the ‘Bargain Corner’ a while back). Nicola then did a sterling job in reupholstering the seat pads with my chosen fabric – it really has given the chair a new lease of life!

I love the fabric’s soft velvety feel and the Ikat-inspired pattern in all my favourite deep blue and rusty hues. It tones with the natural colour of the Parker Knoll’s wood frame so perfectly.

The chair sits very happily in our playroom/snug corner, adding a lively pop of pattern against the muted grey-green walls.

It’s a nice and comfortable spot to sit in when I’m taking a break from working at my desk.

I hope you love it as much as I do. I think it was worth the four year wait!! :)

Do take a look at the wide range of fabric on offer at the Yorkshire Fabric Shop, there’s definitely a design for everyone and for every project. What will you choose to reupholster?

K x

Sustainable home decor ideas

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the current world of ‘fast fashion’ that we live in and its effect on the environment. Clothes and accessories have become cheaper than ever before, both in terms of quality and price, however serious environmental issues such as water pollution, toxic chemical leakage and textile waste have become the inevitable consequence of the instant fashion fix we’re all after.

And it’s not only in the fashion world. The interiors industry looks to be following suit, with unethical furniture manufactured from illegal timber, disposable homeware items and cheaply produced textiles providing us the opportunity to update our homes at a fraction of the price, and therefore, more frequently, too.

We’re all guilty of it. Updating our sofa with a cheap cushion cover picked up at the supermarket or opting for that replica designer chair to save ourselves a few pounds and make an instant, trendy update to our home. It’s very hard not to be tempted by the sheer amount of home accessories on offer on the High Street, in our supermarkets, even the discount stores are replicating designer looks for pennies. The result is a build up of clutter that ends up in our ever growing refuse heap and most of it not biodegradable, either.

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20 Essentials for Building up your Interior Decorating Tool Kit

Whether it’s a spot of minor interior decorating you enjoy, upcycling the odd piece of second hand furniture or really getting stuck into a big room makeover, one thing is certain; you need to have the right tools for the job close at hand. There are plenty of great pieces of kit out there to help you make your interior decorating a success, but there are also everyday objects around the house that can play as important a role in ensuring your decorating project doesn’t become a DIY disaster!

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A 1970s G plan unit brought up to date

When asked, I often describe my interior style preference as Scandi with a bit of vintage mixed in and it’s funny how when you look back at your Pinterest boards, there is inevitably a visual link between your pinned images that defines your style. If you look at my own Pinterest feed, there’s plenty of old mixed with new, clean lines and varied textures, muted walls with pops of monochrome, a hint of the industrial softened with a vase of flowers or soft wool. Definite Scandinavian influences there, but with a lived in, vintage vibe, too.

In particular, I’m drawn to a bit of Danish midcentury style and love old pieces brought back up to date. I have a pair of Ercol carver chairs that are patiently waiting to be transformed with a length of wool fabric, possibly a soft heather grey herringbone weave or navy blue edged with a striking yellow. I can’t decide which, but their time will come…

It follows then, that when a couple of weeks ago one of my lovely neighbours contacted me to say she thought she had a piece of furniture I’d be interested in, I couldn’t resist popping over for a peek (despite the fact that eldest daughter was imminently heading off to her Spring school concert and we were in the middle of a rather rushed tea – you know that situation when stress levels are kind of high?! – however, some things have to give when it comes to potential new decor finds!!)

For those that know me, I’m never one to turn down a preloved piece of furniture that has every potential to be made loveable once again and this piece was no exception, in fact it was perfect! When I arrived at my neighbour’s house, I was delighted to discover the piece of furniture she was looking rid of was an authentic G plan teak sideboard/wall unit dating back to the 1970s. I just had to take it! Needless to say, my other half immediately deemed it ugly and dated, however thanks to my addiction to the aforementioned Pinterest, I had other ideas…

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Weekend Project: A little painted mirror

I don’t know about you, but for me, Spring, with its longer evenings and fresher, brighter days, is making me feel newly energised and motivated to tackle some mini projects around the house that I’ve been meaning to do for ages (you know how it is, they’ve been queued up on that never-ending list I have inside my head, probably not dissimilar to yours!)

One such job I have been planning to do for a while is to repaint an old mirror that a friend donated to me a few weeks ago. She had no place for it in her own home, yet thought it had some potential to be ‘prettified’, and so it arrived on my doorstep one day, ready for its mini makeover!

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Simple Home Updates: Doorknobs & Handles

There are fewer easier ways to breathe new life into existing furnishings and doors than to add a set of brand spanking new doorknobs or handles. Be it a newly painted chest of drawers, a little door on a bathroom cabinet or a tired set of kitchen cupboards, carefully chosen doorknobs and handles will professionally finish off a home makeover project and completely revive and rejuvenate a previously unloved piece of furniture. Here are some inspiring examples of where new doorknobs have been totally transformative, along with some of my favourite finds and where to source them……