RESCUING AND UP-CYCLING OLD FURNITURE

Tuesday 31 July 2012

It is not a secret that when it comes to decorating and designing I like mixing old with new. I am always looking for old pieces of furniture that I can bring home and give a new life purpose. I like simple pieces with character, not very ornamented but elegant at the same time. London is full of shops and carboot sales where you can find treasures at a very reasonable price. If I had more space at home or a bigger studio outside the house and more time I will be restoring more pieces. 

I was looking for and old chest to display the NEW wooden knobs collection for the trade show and the photo shoot, and found this very old and almost destroyed piece near home, only costed £25.
I choose a dark grey colour paint as a neutral background for the NEW knobs, I think it works well.

(below) This is how it was looking before all the hard work and countless hours we put in. I started by cleaning it with some soap and water, to then start stripping the varnish and dirt with a special product (found in DYI shops). Once I got rid of most of the varnish I sanded it and Gassy started to fill holes and scratches with wood paste to leave the surface as even as possible. He then restored the inside and drawers, to later give it a few good layers of matt water based paint, we used eggshell paint as I don't like the glossy finish and it is hard wearing enough to protect the wood.
Restoring old furniture is a process of love, you must enjoy it otherwise you will give up as soon as a few days and some sore arms and hands hadn't been enough to bring it to life, but it is very rewarding to see the final result. I wish I had a bigger space where to work, maybe in the future...
The inside was the worse, the chest has seen a lot of rain, dust and lived a long life, 
possibly over 100 years old??

VINTAGE TREASURES

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Summer 2010 was good fun, family and I went to visit my brother Jose who lives in Prague. What an amazing city, it is like a walking museum, where ever you look at, there is something beautiful and interesting. One of my fav places was the Toys museum, I spent hours in there, taking inspiration and simply admiring the toys, I have never seen anything quite like this, I am hoping to go back next Summer and take more photos, my camera decided to die on me just as I was taken these photos...


The photo below, shows a very retro style bathroom, well the metro tiles are back, and square basins are a must. I am doing the bathroom in my house and are thinking of using the same tiles in my new bathroom,  will post soon my mood board, I need some advice...  

GOING BACK IN TIME

Monday 23 July 2012

Sunny good morning from London, we are expecting 28 degrees today, so I am planning to work all morning and take the afternoon off to go for long walks and do some gardening, and yeap a Summer nap. Photos I took in a Museum back home, la Aldea villague have several museums, each of them shows how things were many many years back in the island. The old school, the doctor's house, the barbers, etc...Needless to say I could have taken home most of the things I saw on display. Life was so much simpler and interesting at the time, maybe we could learn a few things from our past and ways of living?

10% discount to celebrate the launch of the new site

Thursday 19 July 2012

I am feeling very happy right now, at last the NEW chocolate creative's website is up and running. It has taken me months to design, get the text together and develop the site with Alfonso, who has done all the back end, and to whom I am very grateful for being so patient and understanding in his process. I am not a web designer and have never wanted to be, I did work as one a long time ago, and it was obvious to me that I am not good at it and that I should leave it to the talented designers out there who like getting involved in coding and all things web. However I choose to design my own site as I had a very clear image of what I wanted to achieve under a very tight budget. I am still using bigcartel (totally recommend it, they still have to work out a few things, but it is pretty good as it is), as the e-commerce platform, which Alfonso has customised for my needs. As the business grow, new things will come up and maybe a new site will need to happen, but for the time being I am going to enjoy this one!

The new site have a gallery, press, stockists sections and so on, I still have to retouch a few things and revise all the text AGAIN. It would be very helpful – if you guys by any chance decide to browse the site – and happen to find broken links, or would like to leave a comment about the look, usability, navigation etc...that would be great, I value your opinion and would take it on board.

Thanks Piero, for all the great photos you always take for chocolate creative, needless to say without him chocolate creative would have grown much slower, to Tina and Caelia for helping with the text, and to Alfonso for making my dream of having a proper website with its shop come true, and to all of you who keep supporting my business and are out here, THANKS! 

Use the following code: 10PERCENTOFF to benefit from the 10% discount, (some of the hooks and knobs are out of stock, more units coming in soon), offers ends 31 of August. 


Monday 9 July 2012

LAZY SUNDAY

Sunday 8 July 2012

Hello, it is Sunday late afternoon in London, Sun is out but not after being raining all day. I remember being affected by the luck of proper Summer much more in previous years, but right now it seems I am way to busy to notice the weather. Talking about London, magazine Monocle latest issue has rated the 25 best cities and guess what? London is not one of them, want to know which one has made it to number 1? Zurich, followed by Helsinki, Copenhagen, etc...well I have been in Zurich (Winter time, -10), and I have to say it is not my cup of tea, give me Melbourne in place 6 and I am sure I will be much more happier with that option. Anyway I love reading Monocle despite their taste in cities haha... I wouldn't rate London as the best but would have included it in the list, this city is AMAZING!! ok transport is shit, weather is unspeakable, we are way too many people living here, but there are so many other great things about the English capital, if never being here, you have to!.  

It is being family time for me, boyfriend left and mother arrived, followed by brother, I don't want to think how I am going to feel once they have all gone back home, I guess I will throw myself into work so I don't have to think about it.

My camera seems broken, taken photos but can't upload them to the computer, shame I took some nice shoots today of my laziness around the house but cant' show them, so no photos more words...but leave you with some pictures Piero took of Missi, that is laziness in style!

Have a nice Monday, I have a busy week ahead, so will pop around soon!

SHOP CRAFT & CREATE

Friend Zeena, is having a pop-up shop starting this Wed, so if you are in London, and fancy some shopping for handmade gorgeous products, or simply enjoy some crafting 'me time', come along, more details bellow.