Refinishing, upcycling furniture

Most of us are familiar with the terms "upcycle" and "repurpose" with thousands of interior design blogs posting "before and after" images of their triumphs. Interior designers are also getting in on the act,  sometimes visiting second hand shops and auctions as options to finding that perfect piece and of course, they are not putting on overalls and grabbing the sander, instead they turn to the professionals who can do this work for them.

Refinishing furniture with specialised paint effects is quite an art, I found this out myself last year when I applied a French Wash to an old Pine table trying to achieve a distressed, French look. I thought it was as simple as buying the right products and away you go, however, I quickly learned it may be easy to apply the products but it is not easy to achieve the look you require unless you have knowledge and experience of paint techniques and effects.  

A few weeks ago on the blog, I talked about how I plan to keep some of the furniture I've inherited from my mother to upcycle/refinish in the future. With all that's been going on in my life and being so busy with the blog, I cannot possibly find the time to refinish the larger furniture myself. Added to that, the disappointment with my previous attempt, I was wondering where I could find a company that could do this for me. Lo and behold, last week I discovered a company called  "Lucille", located in Wellington.

Lucille is a boutique company owned by Olivia Neveu, Olivia takes "no longer loved" furniture and creates "much loved pieces". It all started when Olivia was studying for accountancy, being a poor student at the time she had to get creative with some cheap MDF bookshelves. Olivia has since moved on and left her career of Accountancy to follow the path she loves which is to re-imagine and refinish furniture for her clients.  Olivia prides herself in her work, whether it be a grand heirloom or a simpler piece, she will wave her magic wand and create something beautiful. Waving that wand though does take some work, sanding, new paint, pretty drawer liners, hardware and specialised paint finishes are all part of the refinishing.  Working with your ideas or allowing Olivia full freedom Olivia creates something of beauty for your home. If you can't find that perfect piece she will even try to track it down for you.

I think Olivia's work is fabulous, she pays such attention to detail, as you can see in the pretty floral lined drawers in her desk transformation.  The choice of hardware and of course the beautiful paint finishes all work beautifully together. I particularly love the special touch of painted stripes across the top of the mid century cabinet below. Different eras of furniture require different paint techniques and I think Olivia's imagination, combined with her skills  create  perfect harmony, a piece to be treasured forever.

Today I'm sharing some of the beautiful furniture Olivia has refinished.  I hope this will inspire you to take a new look at Grandma's old chair or that old shabby chest of drawers that have been in your garage forever. There is no need to get rid of our heirlooms, or to chop down more forests for making cheap pieces of furniture when you can have it refinished.  It doesn't matter if you haven't the imagination or skills, a company such as Lucille and a lovely person such as Olivia are the perfect solution.

I love all of Olivia's transformations, my personal two favourites are the cane backed chair and the desk with Queen Ann legs. If you have some furniture you would be interested in refinishing, please drop Olivia an email, she will be more than happy to to give you a no obligation quote and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at her reasonable costs. 

If you get a chance, also pop over and visit Olivia's blog to see more inspiration and before and after images of her work. 

Email Olivia:

hello@lucille.co.nz

Lucille on Facebook