Reasons to refurbish

If you are drooling over the latest home furniture and décor stores but are left disheartened by the price tags, never fear, there are some great reasons why learning to refurbish your furniture may be the option for you!

1)  10/1/11 After the January floods  that devastated so much of Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, South East Queensland and right across the nation, you quickly come to realise what a wealthy country we live in. With so much wealth, we need not be wasteful to enjoy beauty, order and, even, style. Refurbishing furniture is a great way to keep our landscapes free of landfills. 

I was given this wardrobe through freecycle. see http://www.freecycle.org/

2)      One of a kind! By the time you choose your paint colour and add a few embellishments you will have a unique piece of furniture. The possibilites are endless! So don't throw away that ghastly chest of drawers Grandma Ethel gave you. If it's timber, there is hope!

3)      For the fun of it! It is satisfying to put the work in and be able to enjoy admiring your efforts for years to come. I find taking up the paintbrush or belt sander rather therapeutic. Who doesn't love a good 'Before' and 'After'?!

4)      $$$ saved! Second hand doesn’t have to be bland! Have fun bargain hunting at your local op shops, tender centres, garage sales or eBay see http://www.ebay.com.au/
 

---Mrs--- 

The three hutches

The Story of Mrs and the Three Hutches

So you may have already read about our humble beginnings in furniture restoration 

($100 in hand and a curiosity about ebay). 

Included in that bulk purchase (which filled a large trailer and ute) 

was this two door hutch...

This hutch was definately not as pretty as the photo suggests when we picked it up in BrisVegas, but for $20 I thought, "eh."

Mrs seemed to be keen on this whole 'Shabby Chic' thing and even when she explained it to me I wasn't totally convinced. But again, "eh." $100 for an experiment is not an exhorbitant amount. Very long story shortened significantly saw a very unpretty two door, pine hutch turned into this very presentable (and practical) piece of work which went on to sell at a nice profit! Once I had retrieved my jaw and congratulated Mrs, I suddenly found myself in a state of convincedness (I've just officially made that a word) and asked her what was next."A three door hutch." was the response. Mmm, ok. 

three door - before

four door- before

"But we haven't done the three door hutch yet"

"I know, but they're willing to accept $200 and we're going to Brisbane anyway"

"Grrr"

The photo's don't really show that the four door totally dwarfs the three door (that white box above the four door is the air con head). I'm actually quite impressed with myself that I was able to transport it from Brisbane to Toowoomba in a rusty old dump trailer that lost its tail gate and ply floor on the same trip (there aren't any police officers reading this are there?...nah). A trip that had us lost countless times all over Brisbane and spending lots of money on petrol. I was not a happy camper and Mrs and I agreed that this would most likely be our last 'ebay run' to Bris, especially when the Tender Centre is just 10 mins down the road. 

To be continued...

---Mr--- 

                                                         

Break it down!

A smart looking book sling for the tween to teen.

After making my first few book slings I was thinking I would share the cost of each unit. They were not quite as affordable as I would have liked. Let's break it down!

Fabric - $4-6 a half metre 

2 x Dowel and Double bracket - $12

Postage - $8-12 as it is more expensive to some parts of Australia

thread - $2

ebay advertising -$2

Total = $30-34 per unit

So making $5 was not a great thought after I also consider the electricity, sewing machine, pre-washing and ironing the fabric and  labour. I have priced them, I believe fairly, at $40 to $45 each. This would make a profit of $10 on each item. Perhaps I'll stick to restoring furniture. Speaking of which, 'Mr' will soon be letting you in on our adventure to collect our most recent eBay purchase.

---Mrs---

eBay or made it?

   When I first decided to give these book slings a go I was certain there would be other parents out there who would like the practicality of them! Afterall, what parent doesn't want to see their child develop a love of books and reading!? At first I was sure eBay would be the way to go. Until I was introduced to made it

an online market for handmade items and only available to residents of Australia. Great! I took a look at the terms and thought they were reasonable but I wonder if my humble book slings would get a look in amongst all these incredibly creative items. If, however, I list on eBay I run the risk of paying higher fees and not really knowing which catergory to place my item under to meet my target market.

What to do?

  

a playful aqua and floral printed corduroy 

 

After trying various fabrics I am getting to know which ones suit this project the most.

So let's start with eBay and see if there is any interest over the weekend. Stay tuned!

---Mrs---

Storytime Book Sling

As parents to 5 young children, their bunk beds have been a wonderful space saver. Story time before bed is a must in our household and so, to promote this important habit and encourage organization (which we need with our tribe) I am making book slings to go along side their beds. I take no credit for this wonderful idea which I have seen afew times on the net. Simply, they are a double curtain rod (or bracket), a piece of Tasmanian Oak dowel and fabric to fit. The books slide in between the two sides of fabric. Friends and family have begun placing their orders and I am busy making them from a variety of fabrics to find the most durable for this project.  Until yesterday I thought I was pretty good at a straight stitch...

I was wrong.

    

         Owl print from spotlight with my not-so-straight stitching

    

 fabric slipped over the dowel

   'Mr' added the brackets and the finished product!

 Not bad for a first attempt.

      

     Next it was time to make one for the girls room.

side on view of brackets

Some of the more durable fabrics ready for sewing! 

If you would like to place an order you can contact me at ourhomecraftandfurniture@gmail.com. Together we can discuss the choice of fabric (colours, patterns, fabric selection, theme in your child's bedroom) and I can post to anywhere in Australia. 

---Mrs---

All I want for Christmas...

Christmas 2009 I asked Mr if I could give eBay a whirl! So with $100 to my name a-shopping I did go.  I love homemaking and thought I might find some 'new' items for our home. I figured that as long as it was solid timber we could always give it a coat of paint and enjoy doing so in the process. So today I thought I might share our practice items.

Down the track we will share more about how we went about painting these but for the moment here is an overview of our some of our furniture refurbishments thus far.

First we gave this Pine timber hutch a new look

 

Mr added new knobs for a french country look.

This old timber cupboard was originally a blue similar to this. But it was dirty and the paint was flaking off from age. A good sand and a few coats of paint and it was ready for use again. 

This pine coffee table had a great shape for refurbishing - excuse the laundry baskets in the background!

Then there was this lovely country cabinet..

And finally, there was this coffee table (which we almost ended up taking to the dump before deciding to give it a coat of paint).

So there you have it! It's now time to go into business and share our journey along the way. 

--Mrs-- 

From our home to yours

Welcome to Our Home Furniture and Craft! We are a husband and wife team with carpentry and sewing skills.We enjoy finding second hand furniture bargains and refurbishing them. This blog records our projects and shows you how we have furnished our house on a budget, one project at a time. We regularly list items on eBay, only refurbishing and selling that which we would put into our own home.We invite you to share your furniture refurbishment 'do's and don'ts' along with us as we make our home! 

---Mr & Mrs---