Somewhere in the middle and a little to the right

Eastern influences

#1 My favourite bench - a broken down antique given a fresh new start

A tale of my favourite pieces. The befores and afters and in-betweens. A friend and colleague gave me some very good advice. Never make or buy anything you wouldn't want for yourself. She didn't say that it would also be painful to part with once the item sold. Sigh!

I'm thrilled that someone loves it as much as I do and it makes room for other projects and yes this is what I want to do as a vocation, as a living ... and I still miss the darn thing that I put so much love and effort into. Yes, some things I'm not ready to let go of and I want to keep and so I will period.

#1 - Miss Jolie was a broken antique bench. Filled with straw, broken springs and rusty nails. New Orleans is a place I pull up in my memories when I work on many old pieces.

Miss Jolie was not so jolly when I first found her

Miss Page - is a solid pine coffee table

upcycled with vintage pics and dictionary paper. My favourite coffee table.

I really love transforming benches - this one is pretty - soft with muted pastels in pinks, cream and turquoise

before picture of the little wooden hall bench - good bones, good size but needed work

Flappers, faded decadence - peacocks, pearls and sequins. That is how Miss Claire was mended and given a by-gone aura.

Claire was sitting in the kitchen - waiting for me to decide how I was going to fix the mirror frame and what colour she would like to be in this era.

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I wanted to capture far away exotic places - and an ordinary wooden box became an ancient relic of sorts

This cute little thing is one of a pair of nightstands - mine. LOL - they were originally a dark Queen Ann style that I've had for over 20 years. Funny thing is they were in my basement for 10 years when we upgraded our bedroom furniture. We had this very grand Edwardian style furniture. We were moving and downsizing and I realized much pretty they would be in a French buttermilk colour with some warm batik print in an ochre yellow. I don't miss the other set at all. I sold every piece of it except for a tallboy which I kept for my son's room.

This was a good find. A vintage Delcraft, solid 1.5 inch thick oak table. Strong enough to serve as a bench.

Acqua-turqoise colour with indigo style stamping of a south-western cross. Such a vibrant colour. One of the brighter pieces that was a labour of love. I refused to calculate the time I spent hand stamping the entire surface. I stuck to the vision and did the hard work.

I don't make a lot of chalkboards but these two are definitely my favourite - gorgeous frames. I really like the little one.

Taking an ordinary potato bin and seeing something exotic and elegant. Inspired by a little glass oriental box and running with that theme produced a wonderful upcycled wooden bin that could be used as an elegant piece instead of "vegetable holder".