I read this line in a British magazine... "Our job is to make a piece fit for a purpose. We are rescuing it from the bonfire and putting it back into people's homes where they will stroke, love, use and polish it for years to come"... I read this and thought... EXACTLY. Up-cycling saves wood, metals, furniture and other medias from either being burned or tossed into landfill. Our planet has finite space. The majority of society is all about the newest fad. We can't afford to fill the planet with yesterdays fad. How do you make these pieces new again?
Antique shopping works best when you aren't looking for anything specific. You find something you love and you buy it. It'll work in your home because you love it. If you're like me, and you buy for both home and a store, you can take chances on items that you believe can be loved by others. I'm very much a Victorian woman living in a modern world. I'll take chances on some mid century items because I like the lines. For example I can't pass up a 50's step stool... and we currently have a cabinet that is screaming to be a bar... wait til we get to that piece, you're going to LOVE it... I'll blog it's up-cycle. One of my favorite rehabs we've finished this year was on a pair of folding 50's Cosco chairs. We went to an estate sale a few months ago that was being run by some people we adore and they mentioned that they hadn't gone into the garage attic yet. Of course, I immediately turned to my patient and loving husband with a "Honey???" and he grabbed a ladder... The attic proved to be a gold mine of rust. When he handed me down these two chairs the junk queen in me got giddy. These are the types of items we love to get our hands on because most people would put them top down into their garbage bin for Monday's pick up. Additionally, we'd just finished a project with a vintage typewriter desk and we both knew it was going to be the perfect vignette for our booth when finished.
They were carefully taken apart, sanded and primed. Then we ran out to grab the fabric for the base. This is one of those projects that you have instant gratification with EVERY step you take. The deconstruction to the reconstruction. You can see the pieces slowly come back to life. I love how they look now... they can fit into almost any place... a sun room... a child's dorm... your office... around a bistro table in your breakfast nook. They are comfortable and timeless... and as stated earlier... FOLDING... you can store them in your closet and take them out for guests... :)
Since I mentioned the vignette... I thought I'd do an honorable mention for the vintage typewriter desk. This is the second one we've overhauled. The first I bought because I loved the lines and knew it had potential... the second I bought because I loved the idea of what another person had done and knew that my husband would work with that idea and make it even more fabulous. He did, and it sold the first weekend we put it i the store... So I put the original piece in his work space and said "Next please"... The table has been painted black and a barn wood top attached. It's modern and masculine. Perfect for a corner table in a living room or office. Put books on it like we did here or a globe and a light... We love how the whole look evolved and think that you will too...Of course you can find these pieces at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta. We hope to see you there soon... For now it's time for me to run off and get some more fabric for a large wood throne we are working on. Look for that blog in the future!!!
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