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??

My blue porcelain collection keeps growing...

It must have been 3 years ago when I first fell in love with this blue china style, don't ask me what style, or maker they are from. I don't have a great knowledge of antiques, I just buy what I like and find interesting, obviously I don't make a good collector. I know some of these are very very old, and the patterns quite unique, so I must have not done so bad after all. I use them for styling and serving cakes and bread when people come around for dinners. The collection keeps growing, with tea and sugar pots that use to put my jewellery etc...When weather gets better I will start going to carboot sales and antique fairs in the look for more gorgeous pieces to bring home.

Do you collect, if so what is it? There is this new site called fyndesters, where you can upload photos of your collections and share them with the world, check it out, very easy and good fun to use.

Restoring old furniture

I am currently bidding on a Danish side board on Ebay, and trying to get al old chest of drawers from a local second hand shop, not that my house needs more furniture, but I can't help but start thinking when I see an old piece of furniture what I could with it, and how it is going to look in my small rather crowed house. The white table and 4 black chairs in my living room, cost me hardly anything, I painted them in my garden and gave them a new look and use. The table was quite ugly and the school chairs needed in new coat of paint. I love the lamp, it is an old original glass shade, that I had wondering around the house, so I bought some red cable and made it the new dining area lamp! 

I find restoring old furniture relaxing and exciting, not only I am recycling, but never know how and old piece is going to look like after many many hours of hard work. I needed a small piece to play with the knobs and take to the shows, so decided to transform the 2 old small side tables into something more neutral and modern to show off the new knobs.

(photos chocolate creative)

Old Spitalfields Antique Market

Well, back to reality, Gassy is gone back home, Summer is almost ending, and I have to focus on work, because I want to and as a way to avoid thinking too much how hard is to have a boyfriend who lives in another country, (4 hours flight from London), not so bad, as he is from my home town, Gran Canaria, but still so far away....We visited Spitalfields antique's market last Thursday, and he totally loved it. We are even thinking of having a stall ourselves to sell all the stuff we like and keep collecting, well that is if he chooses to come and live in London with me haha...My favorite stall was run by two girls who had the most curious stuff, loved the wood games, cards, stamps, etc...they displayed the items so well and make you want to buy them all, if I only have a bigger house. The market is stuffed with all sort of things, from old frames, taxidermy, pottery, paper goods, I trully recommend a visit, although prices are much higher than in other markets, well you are in the city after all.