In September last year, my beloved grandfather passed away. I felt like my world had broken into a million tiny pieces.

One of the things that I had to do which I found desperately difficult was to clear out his home. Both of my grandparents were huge advocates of recycling and repurposing things, I actually spent much of my childhood trawling jumble and car boot sales with them. Clearly this is a habit that stays with you. My mother is an addict too.

So when it came to working out what to do with their old furniture, I knew that I just had to keep some of the classic pieces in the family. Nothing expensive or flashy, just things that always remind me of sitting in their front room.

What I really didn’t want to do was rush into anything and get it wrong so my mum kindly looked after their old dresser, some shelves and my grandad’s old armchair in her garage until I moved into my new home in March of this year.

Having lived in the house for a few months and decided how it ‘felt’ and therefore how we were going to decorate, I found the most wonderful little family firm of upholsterers in Huntington who were so kind to me when I took grandads chair up to them. They spent ages talking through things with me so that we got it absolutely right. I chose a very classic fabric, kind of like Rupert the Bear trousers. They sanded and waxed the legs of the chair too and when I collected it, I was brought to tears by just how beautiful it was. 

 

A very strange thing happened the night that we bought the chair home, my three-year-old collie came running into the room where the chair was and stood there wagging and barking at it as if someone was sat there. She then disappeared off to collect her tennis ball and brought it back and put it in the seat of the chair, just as she used to do when my grandad came to visit. I definitely think animals have a sixth sense and I don’t know why but I have had an enormous sense of calm and peace arrive with me now that seems to have come with my lovely old armchair. One or other of us sits in it every day and we will treasure it for ever and ever.

  

The next thing to deal with was the dresser. I knew that I wanted to sand and paint it – I went on a course earlier this year to learn how to do just that. It’s become rather an addiction and I have several pieces around the house bought for pennies and given a coat or three of paint that I just love. 

So I started the dresser about six weeks ago, first removing the top from the base. Then I sanded the top of the base and waxed it with three coats of old antique pine Briwax. 

   
 
   
 
I had to take all of the doors off and the handles off of the doors and drawers. Then everything had four coats of vintage chalk paint. The key here is to allow every coat to dry and with each one taking approximately three hours due to their being so many nooks and crannies, it was one coat a week for a month. Then it was two coats of wax over the entire thing and some handsome new handles for the doors and drawers. The shelves had the same treatment. Both were done in the colour ‘linen’.

The dresser is absolutely transformed and I think looks incredible in my living room. But it’s not just that for me, I could’ve bought this from any shop and it wouldn’t mean what it means to me ❤️

  
Everytime I look at it, it reminds me of my grandparents home and the warmth and happiness I felt there. I’m so pleased to have been able to give all of these things a completely new lease of life and keep them in the family where they will stay for my lifetime.

  

It’s so nice to have a room finally finished, the dresser was completed the day hubby finished painting the living room. The whole thing was a labour of love but I’m sooooo happy with how it’s all turned out.

Now to cover it all in Christmas decorations! 

TTFN x