Trashure

A friend's neighbor was throwing this sad stool a way. My friend rescued it, knowing I would be able to use it. Yes, I get trash gifts :D

Although it was falling apart it was actually well made and stable. It was missing two side sticks but I knew what to do with that problem right away.

First I dismantled it completely, it had good long screws that I threw in the tumbler for them to clean up. The parts of the top and those used to kind of repair it in the past I got rid of. I then used one of the long sticks to replace the missing short one and all the long sticks I replaced with pretty sticks that we bought in a thriftshop back in 2017 during our trip to California.

I filled up the screws and holes and already it looked much better! I brushed the wood clean but did not sand it smooth as I wanted to keep its texture.

I choose 5 colors of paint to match what I wanted to use on the top. I painted the wood with a rough dry brush without trying to cover the entire wood (except for the first layer of dark brown) and then sometimes used a metal brush to rub it off for an aged look.

The paintwork gets varnished as I use water-based paint. The feet got felt to protect both the paintwork and the floor it will live on :) I built the top of salvaged wood.

As this stool already was pretty high I needed to have a frame going down. The ugly bottom got covered with fabric.

The top got a 5 cm foam and got covered again with the red lining fabric.

And the top I covered with vintage kilim. The side kilim has holes due to the way it is woven, hence why the foam needed to be covered with fabric first.

This one might have the most extreme makeover yet till date, I'm so happy that it turned in to something pretty instead of ending up in a landfill.

It is super strong and stable, and absolutely gorgeous to look at.

I find it so satisfying to give these sad pieces of furniture another chance, even a better one than that they had when they were new :)

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

Tender Loving Care

I scored this cute but sad little side table with hand carvings a few weeks ago.

It clearly used to be beautiful, all made of heavy solid wood with inlays on the top and hand carvings but it was not protected against the sun and other outdoors elements.

We removed the top, cleaned off the leftover varnish and reinforced the skeleton.

I then painted it with 5 colors of paint, layer for layer from dark to light to let the carvings pop.

Elastic webbing on the top instead of heavy wood.

Foam and betting.

And beautiful vintage Kilim pieces, as you can see I used the paint colors to match the kilim.

Nothing is straight or perfect as all materials are handmade and vintage, but we are embracing the imperfections :)

Available at StarHomeStudio!

Kilim Love Vol. 2

Another Kilim wave today, I love how the texture and colors of these beauties makes everything so much more special!
This bag is another doctor's bag but much larger than the one we sold, it can be used as a weekender, won't that make your trip stylish?

The leather is upcycled too, eco friendly till we drop ;) And is available at StarBags.

This Kilim is in good state and too pretty to cut up! It can be used as rug, as a big cover for a large cushion or can be used in less classic ways like hanging above your bed...

It is available at StarHomeStudio, among other vintage beauties.

Our kilim above could also be used like they did on Gravity Homes, as an accent on bed. (p.s. our rug is dry cleaned ;)).

And a little furniture project in between. This super rustic wooden stool, it never has been glamarous but was in very sad state when we got our hands on it.

After some crazy paint work, no sanding to keep the rustic, aged appeal in tact, and varnishing.

And building a bigger seat which also made is stable...

Filling with foam and batting.

Last finishing touches, with nails and brass bead caps, you never know when you might need some good jewelry supply stash :)

And tadaaa! A super bohemian / rustic and yes finally a bit glamorous little pouf/ stool.

The top is also handwoven, all vintage materials, brought back together, re-used, so very satisfying :)

The ottoman is also available in our StarHomeStudio, among other one of a kind furniture.

Kilim Love

Big Kilim Fever going on here, I just love Kilims, the colors the work put in to them, the motives, they are all just beautiful.
Unfortunately time can be rough on them and we had another Kilim which had some holes making it not suitable as a floor cover, but perfect as materials for some bohemian bags.

I use very strong (upcycled) leather for the tops, bottoms and straps.

And Turkmenistan charms for the additional bohemian touch.
They have flairs of history, travel, exoticism and free spirit :)

I also added another beautiful vintage Kilim in the StarHomeStudio shop which has gorgeous vibrant colors and beautiful geometric motives.

 Here are some great looks to show how beautiful Kilims make a space, a boring room becomes very colorful with just one pretty tapestry.

(source: mydomaine)
They are perfect for in the hallway...

(source: mydomaine)
But also in less obvious places like the bathroom.

(source: thedesignfiles)
And beside looking good on the floor they also make great accents on the wall like above the bed!

Flying Carpets

We have been busy with making a whole bunch of new pretties for the shops. And the past 10 days or so a lot of them had something in common which was the use of old tapestries and Kilims. We started with this coat which we made with a tapestry which was entirely hand embroidered!

The thought of cross stitching such a large piece makes me crazy, it clearly was done before internet or tv :) Unfortunately in time some of the embroidery got damaged so by the time we scored it, it was not usable for it normal purpose.

We found the perfect pattern with not too many parts which was necessary as small pieces wouldn't have worked with the material. We cut out the entire pattern and puzzled a whole while till we got all pieces with mirrored embroidery and all damaged parts were not used. The tapestry turned out perfect for it as we were only left with the tiniest piece of it and with this gorgeous coat which is available at our clothing shop StarsWear.

Many many years ago (about 30 to be more precise) my mother bought a whole bunch of Kilims in Turkey, this was of course way before we moved here and when we were still living (or maybe not me as this might have been before I was born) in Holland.
We are now slowly having them professionally cleaned and the ones in good state are once cleaned listed in our Vintage section of the Home decor shop.

Unfortunately some of them turned out to be damaged, making them useless as floor coverage but of course not rubbish. Throwing away hand woven pieces of kilim was not an option.

Even though this one had a big fat whole right in the middle, making it impossible to get a decent sized piece out of it.

But I remembered an old pouf in the attic which I brought down.

After sanding, varnishing and painting it in a soft pink...

It got some extra foam to make it higher so that the motives of the kilim would fit perfectly.

Tadaaa  pieces of Kilim + old forgotten pouf and this came out of it, pretty cool don't you think?

The brass feet got all cleaned up and shiny and it got a pompom trim for some quirkiness. The unexpected choice of pink paint is as you can see a matching color with the pink of the kilim and a little unexpected. The newly made pouf is now available here.

We had a few little pieces left after the pouf...

Which after many hours turned in to a pretty awesome bag!

We used a doctor bag frame, upcycled leather and two pieces Kilim.

It has an old feeling but still a cool newness, I love re-using 'useless' stuff it is so satisfying! Can you believe that we still have some pieces left? Those will most likely turn in to smaller purses :)
For now this one is available in our bag shop, StarBags.