When Life Gives you Lemons, make Lemon cake

Back in March someone gave me this bowl because I like 'old stuff'. I said 'thanks' but inside I was thinking 'ugh'. Mum however saw potential in this bowl that was missing a handle.

'We'll make a ship out of it', she said. I thought it would be a very ugly ship :)

We first thought of hiding the feet behind some pieces of driftwood but that would cover a lot of the 'ship' so I thought of removing the feet. Even with a torch they wouldn't budge so I took the bowl to town and had it cut with some more heavy duty tools as a hand saw didn't do the trick either.

Old knitting needles, drilled base and some Sugru (special silicone glue which was about the only new thing we used for this project) started to make this look like some kind of ship.

Then with wires the details on the mast.

And then spray painting it all white, as it was going to become a 'ghost ship' Mum said and finally I started to love it.

'It needs a Mermaid, a decent pirate ship has a mermaid on the front', Mum came back with a mermaid in 2 seconds, a piece she had bought about 10 years ago on Etsy and had been hanging in our atelier ever since. I bent the arms down and she was ready to be attached.

A light spray paint to let her blend in.

The sails, first with paper.

Then with Mode podged hardened vintage lace. A green plastic net (found on the beach) an anchor made of a beach found fish hook and some more details and paint...

Attached to an impressive piece of driftwood and this is not an ugly bowl anymore. I loooove it!

We scratched off some of the paint so that it still has some old charm.

The little flags are made of soft metal and match the wavy hair of the mermaid.

A definite one of a kind, if you have any ugly bowls, please give them to me :D
Available at StarHomeStudio!

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.

From Sad Stool to Beautiful Ottoman

I mentioned a few days ago that we were starting a new adventure, renovating old furniture. I showed a bigger piece, but before we start a marathon we wanted to warm up first and start with a smaller project.

An old abandoned stool, looking very sad and not very promising. But I love its legs, I sound like a man, but yes the legs were what made me love it. I did not mind her not wearing make-up or having a bad hair day, her body is great :)

So I started by cleaning off all those useless threads, I was not planning to use it in such a way anyway, and giving those pretty legs some good attention. Sanded them, varnished 3 times, more sanding and 3 layers of a beautiful vibrant blue and this baby already had a different attitude.
The joints needed some firm glue and readjustments.

And then came the fun part, deciding on the fabrics. I knew I wanted vibrant stripes on the side, mum wanted embroidery, eventually we got both what we wanted. I started to get really excited even before dressing her up!

First step was to add new webbing.

Then foam on top and cardboard on the sides to fill up the thickness differences of the wood.

Then everything was wrapped with batting to make the edges soft.

After cutting and sewing the vintage embroidery in shape we sewed it in the shape of the top, this was stapled to the stool and tadaaaa!

I am thrilled with the result, it is adorable, cheerful and very satisfying that it all came from a sad looking stool, ready to be thrown away.

The top is a beautiful hand embroidered piece of linen, vintage from the 1950's.
It has a cute pompom trim between the embroidery and the striped fabric. The striped fabric I bought a few years ago in Amsterdam and was waiting for a special something.

The Ottoman stool is now available in our home decor shop, StarHomeStudio and already more furniture pieces are in the planning.