Getting Vintage Furniture Restored

When I was a child I would love to explore my Grandfather's garage. He had a long, 4 car garage. However, it only fit one car, as it was so full of treasures. My Grandfather used to be a window dresser, so he had many weird and wonderful items. On a hook hanging off the roof, he had a set of chairs. They had springs popping through the leather seat and were in rough condition. They were beautiful. I asked him what he was going to do with them, and he replied nothing, but one day I could have them, if i'd like them. When he passed away, my Grandmother sent them to me.

They have sat in my garage ever since. I loved their shape, and knew that one day they would be a beauty, but I had no knowledge of how to fix them. I did try one afternoon, and very enthusiastically started sanding. However, I had no idea what else to do, so there they were left.

Finally, after updating our lounge room, I decided it was time to dust them off, and get them restored. My friend's Brother is an upholsterer, having taken over the family business. I knew he was a bit of a genius, having seen some amazing work he had done. He had even restore antique chairs that had been damage in a fire.

He liked the natural colour of the timber that was showing through from where I had sanded it back, so he decided it would be nice to sand it back and oil the timber. He fixed some broken foot rails and then replaced the seating with a beautiful navy leather and bronze studs.

Just look at that nailhead trim. The blue leather matches my rug perfectly too!I had considered choosing a patterned fabric however I settled for this because a) I didn't want there to be too much clashing fabrics in he room and b) I wanted something classic that wouldn't date

A huge appeal of these chairs for me are the flat arms and curved back. I love the smooth lines they create. 

They are simply beautiful. My next task was to find the perfect table to go between them, and I am considering making mini ottomans for feet to rest on when people sit on them, but am unsure if having them slide under the chairs will overcrowd them.

It was well worth getting these chairs restored. I think, if you are unsure of how to restore an item and if it has too much sentimental value, or monetary value, to rick making a mistake, then it is well worth having them restored.

My hope is that these will become heirloom items, passed down through the generations. In the meantime, I am simply going to gaze lovingly at them, and perhaps pet the arms as I sit in them.

Do you have a beautiful item you would love to see restored?

Repainting our home - The result

Repainting out home was a lot of work. Before we even could lift a paintbrush, we ad to do a heap of prep work. Our house had a lot of cracks in it as a result of loam and clay soil, differences in moisture under our house and the drought. The most significant crack was in our living room, and it was over 1 cm wide in some points.

Our first step was to replace the section of wall, fill it in then smooth it out. We then also had to sand every bit of skirting, wash the walls, paint the roof and undercoat. It took 2 weeks of solid work to finish (truthfully, we are yet to paint all the doors in the house, but that will be done soon).

Once the house was finished I also went out and purchased a new lounge and a new rug. I am gradually buying new pieces to fit in with my new colour scheme.

The improvement is incredible though. We changed the layout to suit our new lounge. The colour has brightened our whole house and made it seem light and airy.

The pop of colour from our feature wall is refreshing, and will feature in little accents in the living room so it can create cohesion between areas. The darker colour in the kitchen is wonderful, and blends in beautifully.

Overall, I am delighted by the results.

It is still a work on progress. As you can see there is a blank spot under these shelves, where a special restoration project (more details later!) will go. I also have some antique chairs being restored that will go in front of one of the windows.

What I love is that I have plenty of room, and even a kids nook. Our lounge is sooo comfortable, and the whole house finally feel like it's mine.

Repainting your home - Using a colour consultant

In my earlier post I shared how I used Pinterest to refine my vision for what I wanted when I repainted my home.

Despite this, I was still unsure. I was not totally convinced that the colour scheme I wanted would work. I also discovered that Benjamin Moore Paints are not available in Australia. However, Dulux do have the colour codes on file.

Repainting the interior of my home was going to be a big job, so I needed to be certain that I would make the right choice. I started exploring the possibility of employing a colour consultant to help me make a decision.

There are many independant colour consultants who can help you with not only colour schemes, but also interior design. After doing some research I decided to contact a Dulux Colour Consultant. I chose to go through Dulux as not only do they have access to the Benjamin Moore colours, they also had a great money back offer, where you received $1 off every Litre of paint purchased 9 Up to $100).

I went to the Dulux Website and sent off an enquiry. Shortly after I was contacted by my assigned consultant and I made a booking. I was very excited when the day arrived for my consult. I ensured that I had my Pinterest board open and ready so I could share my vision.

My Consultant, Cherie, was brilliant. We started with a quick tour of my home so that she could get an idea of the layout, existing colours and permanent features. For example, I havea narrow hallway that receives no natural light other than the light that comes through some 'coke bottle' glass near the front door. We have the afore mentioned cream Kitchen Cabinets, cream blinds and a tile feature in the Kitchen that has a few shades of different colours.

After our tour we sat down and talked about what I wanted. I showed her the pictures of what I liked, including the BM colour I loved. Cherie straight away started pulling out colours from her folder and talked me through them. She suggested a Dulux colour that was similar to the Rever Pewter, but was a little lighter. She then was able to take the A4 sized colour swatch and put it next to my cabinets in the Kitchen to show how the colour worked, as well as on the walls. After some discussion and swapping around we had a great base colour chosen.

We then chose a colour for a feature wall, and a deeper grey colour for the Kitchen. Cherie also had some ideas I wouldn't have thought of, such as painting above my Kitchen Cabinets a darker grey, while keeping the bulkhead between them the same colour of the lounge room. It was an idea I never would have thought of, yet it makes a huge difference in having the colour flow from each area.

After choosing all the colours they were written down, with detailed notes about where each colour went. I was also given some links to some great homeware and furniture stores to help me further along me redecorating path.

After the consult I felt confident that the colours I had chosen were going to be perfect for our home.

Repainting your home - Using Pinterest to gather colour preferences.

I love Pinterest. I think most people do. It is a treasure trove of brilliant ideas, drool worthy pictures and to die for recipes.

Many people use Pinterest to discover lots of great new recipes, plan upcoming parties and wistfully pin craft ideas that they would like to one day recreate (ability, time and materials allowing). I certainly do all of the above, however I have also found it to be a wonderful way to 'brainstorm' design ideas for your home. I want to share with you all how I used Pinterest to develop a clearer plan for redecorating a repainting my home.

 Step 1 - Start Pinning!

I have been wanting to redecorate and repaint my home for a while now, however I had limited time and money to do so. In order to satisfy some of those urges, I started pinning rooms that I liked. There didn't need to be any particular requirement, I simply had to like it.

Step 2 - Look for a pattern

After you have a good collection of pins, go to your board and have a look. See if a pattern has emerged. Do you keep pinning shades of a colour? Is there an accent colour that stands out? Is there a particular pin that you keep being drawn to?

After some time, I found a pattern emerging in my pins. I was drawn to warm grey tones.I even found that I kept pinning a specific Benjamin Moore colour called 'Revere Pewter'.

I especially loved everything about the living room of bloggers Young House Love.

Step 3 - Narrow it down

My dilemma though, was that I was unsure how the grey would work with the cream cabinets in my kitchen. My kitchen/living/dining are essentially open plan, so it needed to flow. I started looking for colour schemes that showed grey with cream tones instead of white.

Now, I had a plan. I was pretty sure that the grey tone would work for my home. It seemed to look good with cream as well. I now had a much clearer idea of what I wanted and what direction I was heading in.

For some, this may be enough. Armed with a colour scheme in mind you might head off to your local paint supplier and be on your way.

For me, I wanted some further clarification. Pinterest had certainly helped me develop a vision for what I wanted, however I was not 100% confident it would work.

In my next installment of this series I will share how I booked a colour consultant to come to my home and help my further clarify my option for repainting my home.

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