Before + After bonanza!

I am currently in the midst of redesigning my website! I am quite enjoying it but I am fearful of some technical hitches coming my way soon! 

I will let you know when it's set to go live when I have a better idea myself, but for now I thought I would share some 'Before + After' collages that I have put together to tell the stories of my furniture. Here they are:

'Grace' redesigned vintage telephone seat

'Mick' redesigned 1970s cocktail cabinet

'Twiggy' redesigned 1960s dressing table

'Marianne' redesigned 1960s dressing table

'George' upcycled free-standing display shelf!

'Marilyn' redesigned original 1950s dressing table

'Twiggy'- redesigned 1960s dressing table

If I could have picked the decade that I came of age in, I would have picked the 60s... the fashions, the music, the cultural shifts have always strongly appealed to me! I went through a stage when I was 17 of having cropped hair and wearing chandelier earrings, extremely thick false eyelashes and a long leopard coat in the style of Edie Sedgwick... but thats another story!

So when I was first introduced to this 1960s dressing table, I just had to snap it up! It was in fantastic condition with just a few scuffs and scratches to the drawer faces and the handles had become tarnished with age... I also couldn't help but think that it could be funked up a bit, to bring out it's retro charm even further!

Channeling a Space Age-y vibe, here is how she turned out:

The mirror can be removed so she can become a sideboard too!

And with legs like those and all that 60s pizzaz, it was easy to pick a name for this piece!

Ziggy + Twiggy... a match made in heaven!

Findings from a Furniture Forage!

I went foraging for forgotten furniture recently and found a van load of treasure!

With a little tickle of my paint brush and some tender love and care, these pieces have some serious potential to be wonderful once again!

First up, a 1950's 'Beautility' Sideboard found with lots of vintage treasures inside!

Second, we have a Shrager Walnut Veneered Wardrobe and matching Dressing Table!

 beautiful hardware

 little glass faced, flip-up drawers with pretty flower handles!

Shrager furniture tag

It's needing alot of TLC, but I love this dressing table!

Any one who knew me when I was at art school, will know I have a thing for art-deco, walnut wardrobes!! I can't wait to rescue these pieces and bring them up to date :)

Next up, we have two very unusual Bedside Cabinets which will be tied together using colour and matching handles!

I also got my mitts on this 1950s Gateleg Table:

And this 1950s Coffee Table! Retro or what?!

And last but not least,  a stunning 1960s Dressing Table (that's in very good condition!) which made it's way to me via Christine at Ivy Rose Vintage!

I love this piece!

Oh I am finding it difficult to choose which one to start on first!! I dare say that all this will keep me busy for a while!

 If you spot anything that you would like me to tailor to suit your style and decor, I'd love to be of assistance! Any enquiries can be sent to hello@ziggysawdust.co.uk

'Marilyn' - the redesigned 1960s G Plan dressing table

excuse the reflection of my needing-to-be-painted ceiling!

I posted the 'before' photos of 'Marilyn' way back in June and I hope you weren't thinking that I had forgotten about her! She has been lovingly redesigned and was all dolled-up in time for The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket.

To refresh your memory, here's how she looked before:

She is an original G Plan piece and vintage G Plan pieces are highly sought after in their original state... but this one was looking a bit tired and I knew a little TLC would make her even more appealing!

The dressing table was covered in shiny, yellowing varnish which didn't do much for her... so I stripped her back completely, colour blocked her frame and left her drawer faces as exposed, waxed wood for a contemporary feel.

Here's a snap of drawers before + after to highlight the makeover!

from old + shiny to new + matte!

Using rose pink for the outer casing, chic grey for the dipped-level table top + legs, along with sky blue drawer interiors + navy drawer handles, I have used colour to highlight the structure of this delightful piece of retro furniture! The structural design on this piece is very unusual. It's the epitome of Mid-Century Modern furniture!

I removed the broken light fittings from the sides of the mirror, painted the mirror's wooden casing + re-attached it... The mirror can be angled + adjusted to give you an almost full-length view of yourself!

I actually discovered that the mirror can be removed completely + the sloping back-board which sits underneath it at the back of the table top, can also be removed to leave you with a rather stylish chest of drawers! How versatile! (I painted each component separately so this can be done without affecting the aesthetic/paintwork!)

The rims + insides of the drawers have been painted sky blue, which you can see peeking out in the photo above. These subtle injections of colour make the piece feel really special.

But my favourite part of the entire dressing table has to be her quirky, hinged jewellery drawers!

These pull out and around making sure that you don't loose an earring or something in the back corner... and they became an attraction at The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket!

Photo courtesy of The Fruitmarket Gallery

No Ziggy Sawdust redesign story is complete without an insight into the inspiration behind it all...

but I think we all know there is only one 'Marilyn' that this lovely dressing table could possibly be named after!

The colours in this picture influenced the colour choices for the dressing table and when I was ready to take the 'After' snaps, the paint wasn't quite dry meaning I had to wait a few hours before the photoshoot could begin, so she's a diva just like her namesake!!

Stay tuned for 'Ella'- the vintage sideboard's story + more snaps of DesignMarket...