‘George’ the freestanding drawer!

Last year, I acquired some lovely old furniture from a lady, after meeting her brother one day on a train to Aberdeen… (You can read the full story here!) One of the pieces she very kindly gave to me was this vintage chest of drawers. It was really beautiful piece and had been extremely well loved, but some panels were missing, others were falling off, the beading was chipped and broken and the drawers were very stiff and heavy.

I made the decision to use the chest of drawers in a new way, and create things from its different elements. I had already made a big ‘Z’ for Ziggy out of three of the drawers for my workshop wall, but just recently I had the idea to make a piece of furniture out of one of the remaining drawers.

I love mid-century furniture legs, so I ordered a reclaimed set, then got to work sanding, drilling, screwing, 

cleaning, priming and painting… and in the end, I got this! 

I was struggling to think of a name for this piece, but Fiona helped me when we were installing the Pop-up Shop. A Wham! record I own (…guilty pleasure!) soon became the soundtrack to all our hard work, so Fiona wanted to dedicate a piece George Michael. So meet George, the freestanding display shelf! 

'Brian'- the redesigned 1950s coffee table

It is always lovely to receive an email from someone asking if I can help them source a piece of furniture that they have in mind, but just can't find! And this was why Richard got in touch- he was moving to Edinburgh and was on the look out for a mid-century coffee table for his new flat.

I actually had this one in stock, waiting patiently on it's transformation, and it turned out to be exactly what Richard was looking for. It was a simple, unfussy design but it still had potential to be reworked with a quirky edge!

As for colours, Richard was keen to stick with a retro, mid-century vibe and came across this signage for the Festival of Britain which he sent to me as inspiration. 

We decided to pick three out of the four colours and chose to go with the blue, yellow and green. 

Green for the legs, yellow for the shelf and blue for the underside of the table, so you would catch a flash of colour as the ends of the tabletop curve upwards.

Here is a snap shot of how the table was starting to shape up... drying upside down between coats! :

The wood on the table top had some really interesting patterns in it and was in great condition for it's 60 odd years! I thought it would be a nice idea to restore the wood on the top and leave it unpainted to add a further twist to the finished piece. I sanded off the original stain and varnish and used Danish oil to give it a lovely new finish.

Here is a photo mid-sanding!

And while I was updating Richard on the table's progress, he asked me who it should be named after... I couldn't help but think that it's shape was reminiscent of a surf board and so I suggested "Brian" after Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. Richard loved the idea of having a piece of furniture named after the music icon!

And what's funny is that when I posted up on Facebook that we were looking for a name for the coffee table, one of Ziggy's followers, Louise suggested the same thing! I am glad that others see the method in my furniture-naming madness!

So here he is, 'Brian' in all his redesigned glory!

When I delivered 'Brian' to his new home, Richard had discovered that the table had been painted coincidently in the exact same colours as the cover to Brian Wilson's solo album 'Smile'!

He was obviously destined to be called Brian all along!

I really enjoyed this project and I am very happy to hear that Richard did too! Here is the lovely testimonial I received from him:

"I am delighted with the 1950s coffee table that Amy sourced, beautifully restored and reinvented for me with a fantastic paint job of mid-century colours. Amy took a piece of design inspiration I provided and came up with the perfect design based on this. It was a joy to be involved in Amy's creative process and she kept me up to date on her work at all times. The quality of her workmanship is excellent and it's clear Amy takes great pleasure in doing the very best work for her clients. I very highly recommend Ziggy Sawdust's bespoke service. Thanks Amy."

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...