A Glamorous Makeover

Last week we had a fun furniture makeover. It was fun as it didn't take as long as the bigger chairs with great result.

It had very ugly and sad upholstery, and ugly brown smeared paint that was also scratched and in a sad state.

After peeling the upholstery off which always take more effort than you would think and I always hurt a few fingers in the process, I sanded the feet. As we usually have less modern pieces I always have to sand by hand, so I was happy I could do this one with the machine which was done is a jiff compared to other chairs :)

Already looking better :)

Our inspiration was this amazing embroidery piece, in gorgeous colors in a bit of a art deco style.

Here is the back side so you can really appreciate the amount of work this piece was.

Mum had the idea to make a patchwork for the back. We cut dozens of solid colored upholstery fabrics in the color palette of the embroidery.

I arranged the colors on the able and sewed them row by row, mum was doing some exercise while she brought me the rows one by one, it took a while, always longer than planned. And another exercise was all the ironing in between :)

 But already looking so fun and cheerful!

And the result!
The embroidery was exactly enough, by cutting out the center and then turning the sides we did not have any left overs, it was just meant to be :)

The seat and top of the arms and back are done in black to match the black paint I did on the feet, plus to let the colors of the embroidery and patchwork pop. It had to be sewed before stapling it, and I did a top stitch for extra security and a better finishing, it all worked out nicely and we are so happy with the results!

Doesn't make these colors you smile :)?

Available at StarHomeStudio among other one of a kind furniture pieces and home decor.

Newly Listed: Pink Swan Necklace

Pink Swan Necklace, Sea Urchin Sterling Silver Necklace One of a kind by StaroftheEast
Seashell art coastal wall art pink beach decor nautical prints ocean by TheGinghamOwl
Pink Purple Wall Art, Seascape Photograph, Dreamy Beach Photography, Whimsical Pastel Wall Decor by BreeMadden
Nature photography, pink cosmos flower photo, floral wall art, pastel, garden flowers, cottage chic by SusannahTucker

Get the Look Vol.5

A little different Get the Look this time. The inspiration is my own picture and I decided to look up all the props I used :)
The shelves are from our shop, this is made out of two pieces so it can be used differently like bed side tables for example.
If you don't have enough color themed books, they are actually available in bundles arranged in color.
But if you like this look, here is what I found:

This beautiful vintage clock from AtelierVintage25.

Love this cute little globe from thelittlebiker. This one is cute too, and here another one and you have a collection of three :).

Here is a cute wooden train, mine is vintage from a flee market in Amsterdam and I have had the bus since childhood, I found a bus on Etsy too including passengers :)

I found the exact same ship as ours, only this one is not painted which I might like even more than our painted version :)

And finally a cute planter with a cute plant and you've got the look :)

Newly Listed: Sterling Silver Brown Ring

Sterling Silver Ring, Brown Sea Urchin Ring, Art Nouveau Style, One of a Kind Size 7 by StaroftheEast
Tree photo, tree landscape, sunset, landscape photo, home decor, night sky, texture, birds, rural photo by HolgaJen
Tree Photography - Wall Art - Winter - Tree Buds - Home Decor by TerriEllisPhoto
Snowflake Photography, Frozen, Minimalist, Snow Crystals, Purple Leaf, Purple Leaf, White by Smokinmudproductions

Snail Mail

It is not often that I complain, almost never publicly. You won't see me ramble on FaceBook or here on the blog. Today I won't complain either but I do want to lay my egg and share something with you.

As an online seller you have to deal with lots of things. You have to make pretty items, than you have to take good pictures to show those items accurately and in detail and be the eyes for the customer.
You have to explain each and every aspect of the item and also of your services like packaging, shipping, policies etc etc.

I enjoy these things, yes it is hard sometimes to do all these things, you have to do many kinds of jobs while your customers hardly know or acknowledge how much work you put in to it all. With handmade each and every item has your time and love in it and you take everything very personally.

The reason why I am saying all this? I love my work, mum and I feel blessed to do the work we love and we are grateful for each and every sale we make. After 10 years each sale is still a thrill, but there is always a but :)

Christmas is our busiest time, like most online sellers December is the month to make your year and have some extra cash. We had a busy Christmas, we offer registered shipping and express shipping, time frames are explained in each listing and lots of people choose express shipping. However even more did not. And here the problems started. Emails and Etsy convo's start to pour in the closer we got to Christmas. During Christmas everything got quiet but after Christmas things got worse.
You have to understand that on a good normal Sunny day shipping takes 15 days to the US, we live 500 miles from Istanbul so by the time our package goes from our postoffice to the main office of Istanbul about 3-4 days have already passed. After that it leaves Turkey and arrives in NY where millions of packages arrive and are sorted, some are checked at customs, this of course all takes time, but when all goes well it is 15 days.

During Christmas the millions of packages get many millions more and this is where USPS always gets stuck, even with extra workers they just can not manage, and this year was worse than ever.
Right now we still have 42 packages undelivered, all from December. We have emails, convo's, Etsy cases, Paypal cases, the whole stressful package, and we are of course feeling pretty down about it. With 1-2 packages worse case you can refund the buyer, but with this many that is impossible.
The worst part has been a few people who are practically yelling at you and treat you like sh*t, and are blaming you for slow shipping.
I try to explain; Christmas, bad weather, we are at the other side of the globe, simply the fact that it is out of our hands and that we offer express shipping to avoid such things. Also pointing out that we ship the packages within 2 business days of purchase. One buyer has sent 11 horrible emails, opened cases and still keeps saying that we provide horrible service every possible way, like we are the owners of USPS and enjoy keeping mail away from our customers.

So yes this is the part that sucks of our work; delays in shipment and the pissed off customers that come with those delays. Luckily most are understanding and patient, but a few do manage to make you feel horrible. I just wish we could beam things right over like in StarTrek, that would make the world a smaller and maybe better place? :)

If you are one of the waiting customers, thank you for your patience and understanding :)
If you are a seller living the same nightmare I would love to hear your stories :). If you are a seller who found the formula to keep all customers happy please share it :)

Newly Listed: Brown Fairy tale Dress

Brown Fairy tale Dress, Forest Farm Dress, Trees, Mountains, Cottage, Vintage Gobelin Tapestry Fabric Clothing by StarsWear
Redhead Girl Print, Nature Fine Art Photography, Portrait, Green Dark Forest, Mysterious Woods, Red Lips by YinNature
Green and brown pine cone photo, woodland nature photography, fine art print by NewLeafPics
Deer Antler Photography, Rustic, Textured, Softened, Green Brown, Woodland, Wildlife, Animal, Forest, Autumn by PaperMeadows

From Trash to Treasure

I love these trash transformations, they are a challenge and super satisfying.
As you might already have guessed, this piece's treasures are the legs.

So I started by sawing off the legs, the top was beyond redemption.

I sanded them, filled some holes and painted them several layers and varnished them for protection.

We have been having these vintage brass hoops, remains of vintage lamps (we use the crystals for our driftwood clouds and urchin ornaments).
I used two of them to make it a cute little round table, attaching them was a challenge, but eventually I managed.

The only thing I bought for this project was a metal plate and some stencils, I painted it in the same teal as the legs and then applied a thick gold paint. This one above became a total failure. It was my first stencil attempt and the first time I used this tick paint, it was a total mess. I washed and scrubbed it off and started over with a different stencil and applied the paint a little thinner, which worked out.

One of the hoops had holes all over, my mum said 'my OCD won't allow those holes to stay like that', her words, not mine :) Anyway it did come out prettier, I sewed beadcaps with beads to it and now there are no holes, OCD at ease :)

The top had holes too, I thought about hanging something small, mum wanted tassels, her choice was better, and I made 26 handmade tassels, a tedious job but they did get pretty.

And the results! For some reason this table took the longest of all furniture projects, yes even the chairs are faster. I think I started somewhere in October, and it finished in January, figuring things out and making them reality doesn't always goes as planned or fast.

The top stencil was small, so I applied another row of flowers which I had to do 1 per day as the paint dries very slowly, you see that is 5 days already :D

The yarn we had at home, the exact same shade, in combination with the filigree and the stencils on top it has something oriental, like from a far away exotic country.

The top is not attached to the legs, so you can bring in the tea or coffee and put it straight on the table without needing a tray.

It is available at StarHomeStudio, among other one of a kind furniture pieces.

Newly Listed: Bohemian Wool Coat

Bohemian Wool Coat, Woodland Mori Girl Coat, Leaves, branches and flowers, Magical Clothing, Green Coat by StarsWear
Umbrella Photograph, Orange Whimsical, Dreamy, Home Decor, Shabby Cottage Decor, Fine Art Photograph by DreamyPhoto
Felted cloche hat, retro style hat, unique hat with nasturtium flower, green wool hat, stylish winter by FilcAlki
Landscape Photography, Autumn, Church Steeple, Rustic, Woodland, New England, Steeple of the Trees by cloven

The Ultimate Make over

It is always super fun to show how our chairs go through a make over. This one was super ugly, for one the fabric is a nightmare, but it was also n bad shape.

After pulling off the ugly torn fabric, and removing the old foam, we had to reinforce the chair, especially at the feet. Also new elastic bands for the seats and of course sanding off the yucky brown paint and giving it some color were the first few steps.

Mum had a beautiful huge embroidered linen vintage piece on the ready for several months, it was just waiting for the perfect chair for it. We score these chairs locally at second hand shops, thrift shops for the home etc, it is always a thrill to find a hidden beauty.

The embroidery is colorful and gorgeous so we avoided using too many other fabrics to let the beautiful embroideries speak.

We did add some fun by adding crochet flowers are the front :)

Also as the embroidery is vintage it had a few imperfections, even after dry cleaning, so we covered those with flowers too.

And this was the sneak peek ı showed yesterday, love those little flowers :) The feet also got varnished to protect the paint.

Just when we finished the chair and were talking about how awesome it would be to have a little ottoman with the chair, covered with the last left over pieces of embroidery we scored an old wooden spool, perfect!

It got the same color feet. And not a single inch of embroidery nor pink fabric was left, we used it all, and the duo is so cheerful that it gives me a smile every time I see it :)

The crochet flowers makes it look like they are really blooming.

Even the back is pretty, so it can stand in the middle of a room :)

The embroidery must have taken so many hours, it would have been nice if the original maker could have seen the chair!

This one of a kind duo is available in the decor shop, among other special furniture and decor pieces.