Upcycling, Our Warehouse and Arundel.

October 07, 2021

Upcycling, Our Warehouse and Arundel.

Upcycling

Transforming old and battered pieces for your

home can be rewarding, in more ways than one.

Saving on the pennies, to begin with.

But the feeling of satisfaction you get

can outweigh even that.

We often have customers who have an old

and on their own admission,

shabby, looking item of furniture.

"What can I do with it?"

I always tell them that

even a coat of paint will transform

and lighten that heavy old 1930's sideboard.

Car boots are a good source of treasures

that others might consider junk.

Finding things to work on

Ford car boot is on Thursdays and Saturdays.

It's grown huge over the years.

Ardingly antique fair is another wonderful source.

here is a link to the fair site.

https://www.iacf.co.uk

Here are a couple of our

English Victorian Bamboo Tables

in

Homes and Gardens Magazine.

How did they come to be in such a prestigious interiors magazine?

When this is how we found them

Now.....you may think, it's just a tatty

old table, or bookcase

lying there in grannies shed

or down at the car boot sale.

You may think it is from China, and it's new.

It's a fascinating story and that table has

been around a lot longer than you have.

Well....unless you happen to be about 150 years old, that is.

The furniture was mostly made circa 1860.

Many of the factories were in London and Birmingham.

There were around 250 factories producing the pieces.

There are a few sites online you can check it all out.

http://garycsharpe.blogspot.co.uk

This site will give you a massive list of the factories.

Someone has really done their Victorian bamboo homework.

http://www.achome.co.uk/antiques/bamboo_furniture.htm

We track down these
battered bamboo pieces
and bring them back to our Arundel studio.

It's getting more difficult to find, I have to say.

They would probably have rattan on
the table surface, or lacquer, sometimes leather.

We clean them up, restore, and sturdy them.

Take away the ripped rattan and give them a good dose of wormer.

Then we paint and decorate them with decoupage.

We always use 19th-century images.

In 2016 our decoupage work brought us to the attention of Liberty London.

They invited us to bring our furniture to their 4th floor.

Imagine that!

In an old warehouse behind the chip shop in Arundel....

and in one of the most prestigious stores in the world.

It's a crazy world that's for sure.

When we received the phone call, I said,

"Ha Ha Allie, very funny."

The voice at the other end said,

"No, no, this really IS Liberty."

This is us...husband and wife
Nass and Brenda

and our P/T staff

We don't only work on bamboo.

We paint and decorate cupboards and chests of drawers too.

and boxes, bowls, pots....anything that has some age to it.

....and is in need of some TLC

these are vintage enamel washbowls

This was one piece I did use material later than Victorian.

We found a 1915 French soldiers Scrapbook.

Some of the images were very risque, by 1915 standards.

I wonder what became of that 1915 French soldier.....

and this is how we find the bowls and buckets.....

We are based in the beautiful town of Arundel in Sussex.

We work in the town.

But we have also lived there for 30 years.

In a Victorian terraced cottage by the river.

We have an antiques showroom

in the 19th century Arundel Swallow Brewery warehouses

We don't only sell decoupage...

we have a large collection of

English and French decorative antique furniture.

To see more of what we do

follow us on Instagram

and to see our full collection

Open by appointment or chance

phone for appointment...+44 (0) 7973968446

or email

arundel.eccentrics@sky.com