MORE UPCYCLED CHAIRS

I have a connection with chairs. So I got myself a few more second-hand chairs and decided to transform them.

The first one is one that has Orla Kiely's trademark on it. I love Orla Kiely's stuff from dresses to accessories to shoes. So now that I have my own Orla chair to sit on, I must wear my orla outfit, shoes and brooch and sit on it.

This was the original chair

For the next chair, I painted and distressed the wood with chalk paint and made a sugan seat

Finally, I created another one with BEANO - my favourite comic book

Due to the good response to the photos I put up on social media, for the next month, I'll be busy holding workshops on furniture upcycling!

Upcycling Exhibition

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.

                                                                                                                            Pablo Picasso

And Picasso was absolutely right. We hold the emotions and then release them again into beautiful works of art. Such is the variety of upcycled objects on display at the Upcycling Exhibition held at the Killaloe-Ballina Family Resource Centre today.

Upcycling is "the process of converting old products into new products of better quality or for better environmental value." '

It is amazing to see furniture and household objects being transformed into works of creativity. 

Not unlike Cinderella going to the ball in a coach made from a pumpkin and drawn by mice turned horses.

I invited my friends who came mainly from Limerick. They formed quite an international crowd: Scot, Hungarian,Brit,Polish and of course the Irish too.

Throughout the weeks, I went round hunting for interesting stuff whenever we visited other cities and towns. These are pre-loved objects that I prefer to refer to as posh junk.

                                                                  A stool from IKEA

                                                             Chair and table from Kilkenny

                                                   Bird house stand from Ennis

                                         Wooden clogs from Garrykennedy (Hachi my dog chewed them)

And turned them into Gorgeous stuff!  After all, one person's trash is another's treasure, right?

                                                            With Nathalie

Of tables and planters

My friend Doris told me about this group that gets together fortnightly for....ya, you've guessed it....serious upcycling activities! I say it is serious because all of us put our hearts into our projects and if that is not serious, then what is?

Two other friends were supposed to go with me and I could do with some company on that long drive, but last minute plans prevented them from doing so. Michael had lovingly vacuumed my car and cleaned my little table with sugar soap.  I found a table at a shop in Kilkenny when I was there last month.

So I had a wonderful time at the club where I sanded and painted the table with Rustoleum Clotted Cream chalk paint. Since the surface was pretty large, I used a roller for the paint. Once it was done, I found that the roller worked far better then the brush. The paint certainly looked more even. The downside was, more paint was used.

After that I decided to stencil the top. I love the 'Champagne feel' because it reminded me of halcyon days in France.

I later distressed the sides and legs of the table by using a piece of sandpaper to reveal the original wood.

Having completed the table, I went on to decoupage a metal planter which I bought from Garden world in Limerick. Usually I'd use a primer and a compatible paint before doing the decoupage. In this case the planter is in a bright chirpy yellow and so I decided to leave it as it is. Now I think I'd go back and buy the green and pink planters too. The colours are gorgeous!

I've put the planter in my 'summer corner' next to the bear that I made sometime ago and another chair that I upcycled recently. 

Now all I have to do is to wait for the sun to shine brightly again....

Creative Upcycling

I was bitten by the Upcycling bug for the last few weeks and so Michael and I went hunting for furniture. We were in Kilkenny and we chanced upon a number of lovely pieces. There was a rocking chair that was simply fabulous but alas, it was too big to fit into the boot. So we went away with smaller pieces.

                                                    Before: A step stool from IKEA

                                                 After: A total makeover

Before: a dinner chair that has seen better days

After: A brand new look, with handpainted roses and a seat covered with Cath Kidston's Provence Rose Large Cotton fabric

A plain dinner chair given a total change with calligraphy ink

Still restless, I decided to turn some cans into colourful planters to remind me that summer is approaching soon!