I bought these delightful little "sol d'or" narcissi from the market yesterday, it was the gorgeous colour of them that grabbed my attention (am I right in thinking that sol d'or translates to golden sun in English?). But oh my goodness, I really hadn't bargained on the scent of them, and as I sit at my desk to write this morning, there is the most incredible scent of Spring in the air. It's absolutely knockout! Thinking that three vessels on the table is possibly a little excessive so I'll be moving one of the little jugs up to scent my bedroom later. I've already got some in the bathroom....ahhh, you can never have too many fresh flowers in the house.
Anyhow....this post isn't supposed to be about the whiff of flowers, I got distracted a bit there, sorry. What I want to yarn on about today is my recent upcycling exploits. I've kind of grown to like the word Upcycle, even though it annoyed me for a while with it's trendiness. I used to think why say upcycle when it's just about giving something a makeover? It's the same with vintage and retro, which is really just a trendy way of saying old isn't it?
I bought this last weekend, on a complete whim when I went out to buy eggs. Instead of going straight to the butcher, I detoured past the second hand shop and saw this quirky little (vintage? retro? old?) wire veggie rack sitting forlornly on the pavement amongst the second hand furniture. It called out to me, begged me to take it home and love it. And for the price of £6 how could I refuse the call? So I came home to the Attic with half a dozen eggs, a bunch of daffodils and a wire veggie rack tucked under my arm.
On Thursday I was lucky enough to have a precious child-free day and the weather was gorgeously bright and sunny, so out into the back yard I went to put my upcycling plans in motion. First stage, a good ol' rub down with some hot soapy water.
Second stage, lots of newspaper and a can of spray enamel paint bought in the sale from a local discount shop. Teal Treasure indeed. My favourite colour of all time (although I prefer to call it "Tiffany"). I don't have any experience of using this spray stuff, and truthfully I didn't do a very good job. I didn't listen to the words on the can and was a bit heavy handed with it. So it dripped a little, and also the can ran out before I had truly finished covering all that wire. So the upcycling is a little bit patchy and blobby. But the colour............oh the colour!!! Look see.......................
......isn't it lovely? So much more appealing than mucky old cream.
I do believe I managed to transform this unwanted item into a colourful thing of beauty. A real treasure. Useful too....can you guess what I'm going to use it for? What do you suppose those wire baskets will be crammed with? Of course......yarn, glorious yarn!!! Yippeeeeeee for the thought of a whole colourful rack of yarn that can be maneuvered about on dinky little wheels! I will of course bombard you with pictures when I've got around to filling the baskets, it'll be a visual feast.
This was my other spontaneous upcycling project this week, yesterday to be precise. Another impulse buy, this (vintage? retro? old?) wooden cutlery tray was sitting in the window of the Oxfam shop as I walked past, price £2.99. I do happen to like aged wood, but I am not too keen on the colour brown. So after lunch yesterday, I set to work with my upcycling plans. I have a modest stash of Decopatch papers left over from previous projects, so I trimmed some to size and finally managed to wrestle the lid off the top of my decopatch glue. It worked a treat...the decopatch papers are very thin, a bit like tissue paper, but the magic glue transforms it. Not only does it easily stick the paper down, but it provides a very durable finish, making the whole thing very hard wearing and practical.
So this old wooden tray has been successfully upcycled and repurposed at the same time, how about that? I'm going to be using it as a desk tidy, to hold essential bits and pieces on my new " Lovely Shabby Chic Solid Pine Farmhouse Kitchen Table with Farrow and Ball Painted Legs!"...haha, LOVE the dramatic Ebay descriptions with Lots Of Capital Letters! Yes, I have a new piece of furniture being delivered later today after a frantic, nail biting finale to an Ebay auction a few days ago. Oh the drama of those last 30 seconds!
The farmhouse kitchen table is not going to be living in the Attic though. Nor is the upcycled wire yarn rack, or the upcycled wooden tray, no no. They are all destined to go and live in my new studio. Studio. St-u-di-o. Oh that word!!! Makes my heart flutter, it still seems so dreamlike and unreal! I am desperately desperate to tell you the whole tale, but whilst we (my studio buddie and I) are busy renovating the room we will be sharing together, I feel inclined to keep it under wraps. There will be an overexcited post all about it very soon though, as soon as we have finished the dirty work. There has been much hard graft going on. Lots of cleaning, scraping, sanding and oiling (the floor), and now lots of filling, sanding, priming and painting (the rest of the room). Soon though.
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Edit to add :: Interesting article HERE about defining antique/vintage/retro (be sure to read the comments!).
I think the rough conclusion is thus ::
Antique = at least 100 years old
Vintage = 20-99 years old, from the era it represents
Retro = newer, but made to look like an item from the older era.
Teal treasure or Donna Hay blue as I would call it you certainly made that tired paint your biotch girl ;). Gorgeousness personified and entirely ungreenwashed in the process :). You just liberated another corner of yarnbombings elitism! Decoupage bombing!!! There is a sad old lighthouse on the point just out from our property and methinks there might be a little bit of creative grafitti going on in the near future ;)
Nothing like the excitement of your finger on your keyboard waiting for ebay trolls to strike and the unmittigated bliss of winning your bargain is there? It works doubly when you just can't get things easily because you are stuck on a small island off the nether regions of the most Southern point in the world and you are pumping the air yelling and terrifying the dog because you won! ;). Kudos on the win, the "SQUEE!" of the studio and for sharing it all with us :)
Posted by: narf7 | March 24, 2013 at 07:58 PM
I love the colour you used for the wire basket rack- very clever! Also the cutlery tray is gorgeous...some shops would charge and arm and a leg for something as pretty as that!
http://tillymakesandbakes.wordpress.com/
Posted by: Tilly | March 11, 2013 at 01:30 AM
I have a wrack just like that for my veg in the kitchen, I was going to throw it out and think of something different as we are currently remodeling but first I think I will have a go at upcycling it and see what it looks like, thank you for the inspiration :D
Posted by: Bec | March 06, 2013 at 04:42 PM
Hi I had one of those vegetable racks when I lived in Germany and when I was pregnant I found some lovely dark blue flowery quilted fabric. I made little inners for each basket and used it to store my nappies, and bits for my baby. I used to keep it behind the chair and then wheel it out with everything to hand. I was so proud of it and used for all three babies.
Posted by: catherine Maudsley | March 04, 2013 at 10:00 PM
What wonderful repurposing!! Lovely!!
Posted by: Taylor | March 04, 2013 at 08:41 PM
I'd just like to say what a fab idea for the veg rack! We have which we use as a shoe rack (or should that be *Shoe Rack* ?)
I'm dreaming of one day living somewhere with space for a proper shoe cupboard or bench, then I can spray paint my Retro Chrome Veggie Rack and have a mobile yarn basket too !!
Posted by: Lisa | March 04, 2013 at 01:44 PM
Who would have thought to do that to an old veggie rack! So clever! Can't wait to hear all your news about the studio and definitely can't wait to see pics! So excited!
Posted by: Louise | March 04, 2013 at 01:41 PM
Lovely your up-cycling! Great news about the studio (looking forward to hearing more about it!).
Posted by: bethbutcher | March 04, 2013 at 01:14 PM
Your veg rack brought some fond memories - when I was little, my nan "upcycled" her old veg rack into a bunk bed for my dolls. It was yellow, had blankets and pillows and I loved it!
Posted by: Claire | March 04, 2013 at 12:03 PM
Great work .... love the colour on the wire rack!!
Posted by: www.lilitohandmade.com | March 04, 2013 at 11:20 AM
Wow, can't wait to hear more about the studio, Lucy! And I love the colour of that spray paint, too - so cheerful!
Posted by: Linda J | March 04, 2013 at 10:04 AM
Your own STUDIO! That sounds great! So excited and curious to see more of that :-).
Love your upcycling, too. Reminds me of all the stuff I have stashed with vague ideas of "redoing" them. So maybe this is just the example I need to actually get going...
Posted by: Ellen Brugmans | March 04, 2013 at 08:44 AM
Love what you've done with both those items and the colour for the wire rack is just delish. Can't believe you will be sharing the studio with the person whose blog I read the other day, also excitedly talking about the studio. Good Luck, x
Posted by: Cockney Blonde | March 03, 2013 at 09:57 PM
Ooh! I have one of those in my basement holding laundry junk! It's about to be repurposed!
Posted by: Sue Munn | March 03, 2013 at 09:40 PM
Love your blog. Still working on my ripple. Have you seen Caitlin Sainio Designs? Check out her facebook page today - she had a cute crochet butterfly that would go great with your spring flowers.
Posted by: Debbie Gallett | March 03, 2013 at 09:27 PM
Love your finds, Lucy, and in particular the wire rack - what a gorgeous colour you sprayed it! And you know, it would now fit almost anywhere in the home, wouldn't it? No, strike that 'almost'....I can see it put to use in ANY room, storing just about anything, yes, even loo-rolls and cleaning stuff!
However, it'll be so much nicer holding your precious wool stash (or part of it!) Looking forward to the photos! Lx
Posted by: Lynne Gill | March 03, 2013 at 08:35 PM
Wow, you're going to have a studio! You lucky thing. I long for some creating space of my own. Can't wait to hear all about it. Love the up-cycled bits. I used to have one of those racks. Don't know what happened to it. Love the colour. F x
Posted by: Fiona | March 03, 2013 at 07:02 PM
Great finds! I love making over thrifted treasures. I can't wait to see your new yarn cart in action, and pictures of your new studio. Lucky you!
Posted by: Cassandra | March 03, 2013 at 06:49 PM
I think most of us who read your blog already knew just what would be going into the wire veggie rack, ha ha. Good idea Lucy and a gorgeous colour.
Posted by: carol partridge | March 03, 2013 at 04:33 PM
Looovely! This is my favorite colour, too...
Posted by: Unn | March 03, 2013 at 04:01 PM
Spray painting is difficult to get right - but as long as you keep your baskets full of yarn, nobody will notice :-) (Enabling much?!) Best of luck with the new studio. Thanks for all the patterns and keep 'em coming!
Posted by: JoJo | March 03, 2013 at 02:34 PM
Love those daffs I can almost smell them!
How exciting. Look forward to reading all about your new studio.
I teach primary school children to knit, maybe crocheting next year!
Posted by: winifred | March 03, 2013 at 01:36 PM
Wonderful work, I can't wait to hear more about your studio!
Posted by: Lianne | March 03, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Yes, yes! I hoped you would be using it for wool. Gorgeous colour. Very excited about your studio - I hope you are singing Phil Collin's Sussudio amending the words to St- st- stu-di-o o o in anticipation?! Please say yes!
Jones x
PS I am granny squaring in your Stylecraft Special colours. Love them :) If you fancy some gratuitous photos of wool to help your day along, I blogged about my new wool here: http://thehouseofjones.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/boost-to-the-wool-stash/
Posted by: Jones | March 03, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Can you believe it, Mr P went to get me some daffodils yesterday and couldn't find any! :0( He's promised to go out again today to find me some more. I need some yellow daff sunshine in the house! x
Posted by: PinkCatJo | March 03, 2013 at 11:21 AM