Don't Throw That Furniture Out - Give It a Revamp!

     I've been decorating my room recently, a task that I completely under-estimated! I've been dreaming of changing my room for at least a decade, no exaggeration, so the ideas that I've had in my mind for all of that time have naturally evolved and become more certain. I knew that I didn't just want to paint my walls and change my curtains, I wanted to achieve a completely different feel.

     I'm a pretty thrifty person, an eye for a bargain but also someone who enjoys keeping what furniture that they already have and making it work. I think that not throwing all of my furniture away and starting from scratch could have been the thriftiest thing of all. As I knew that I was keeping my furniture, by that I mean my wardrobe, desk, dressing table and bedside cabinet, I wanted to stamp my own mark on them and make them unique pieces in their own right. Years ago I had painted them all cream, and they all looked the same, very tidy and they blended well together, but I became restless with it and bored with the bland!

     I love vintage furniture, anything old and that other people have discarded as tired and faded and basically seen it's last day - it is then that I swoop! I have nothing against 'high-street furniture' at all, there are so many ideas and looks around to choose from, but I think that even if you have one piece in a room that is either reclaimed or even a little charity shop find, it can add character straight away with a wonderful sense of being.

     With all of this buzzing around in my mind, I set about designing ideas for my furniture. I looked at each piece in their own  right and how to make them special.

     Straight away, the notion of painting them different colours is one of simplest ways of making them different. Taking off the wooden knobs and replacing them with something different, another way. It was as I was getting down to the nuts and bolts of designing, honing my ideas, that I began to really enjoy myself. As I was researching the varying styles of handles I found that I had tripped into a world that I have grown to love! The wonderful and varied world of 'door furniture'. *Stifled yawn* I'm sure you're thinking but it truly isn't! Some of the door knobs, handles, finger-plates are so beautiful they are almost like jewellery. Especially the older styles, the Victorian, Edwardian and Art Nouveau, just to name a few. Each era had a wonderful time creating such beautiful pieces to adorn their doors and furniture just like a lady of the age would adorn her neck with a necklace and her ears with earrings. What is also wonderful are the reproduction pieces that you can find around, some are pricey, but it is still possible to rustle out a bargain.

     My favourite era is Art Nouveau, and I was greatly swayed by the colour palette and the fluid lines and femininity. The inspiring use of metallics; bronze, copper and pewter. This helped me enormously with my designs. I began researching stencils that I could either use or adapt. I know that stencils have a bad reputation, but I think that viewing them as a wonderful guide in design, especially motifs, has been an enormous help. I think also that it depends on the finish when using a stencil. The dreaded 'sponge-effect' from the 80's and 90's has a lot to do with people's prejudice, myself included. But if when using the stencil you choose bold colours put down in a block, the effect achieved looks so much better.

     I think that the designs I have come up with will look rather eclectic, my choice of colours are teetering dangerously on the edge of clashing, but realising that I have to be brave has helped me no end with pulling my socks up, taking a deep breath and getting on with it!