Trying not to be wasteful
It was hard to resist the small, rather battered and unloved table outside a shop in town that was closing down. I'm always sad to see anyone business come to an end and the sale of shop fittings had been on for a while. So for £10 the table was mine to carry back to the studio.
The walnut veneer had seen better days along with some plastic finials nailed on to look like ivory! The heavy pendant metal handles also needed to go, along with the strange smell of camphor in the two drawers...
So it was on with the paint stripper to remove some very thick varnish, prise the finials off the side, remove the handles and paint the whole carcase with my favourite paint, Farrow & Ball 'Off Black' exterior eggshell. A couple of coats transformed the rather sad worn-out brown and the elegant lines of the table started to show through.
I decided to create a border of iridescent jet black 10mm glass tiles and an inner border of 10mm black and white glazed ceramic tiles. Within the border the floral design was pretty much ad hoc. The stained glass was from the off-cut box of another stained glass artist. I love the idea of using someone else's scrap as she cuts very specific shapes but can't use the bits that are left. These are perfect for my floral mosiac petals and jig-saw pieces as infill.
Here the tabletop has been grouted using Mapei Black grout, swimming pool grade so waterproof and very flexible.
The drawer handles were changed for some smart faceted black crystal on a plain silver coloured mount.
A bit of alabour of love but I was really pleased to be able to revive an old table to new glory and inject some colour using the waste glass from another designer. Upcycled and recycled.
I always welcome commissions, so use the contact form on this website to ask me about any furniture you may want upcycling and mosaiced. As you see the original doesn't have to be that wonderful so long as the joints and the wood quality are sound. Or maybe I have inspired you to have a go yourself!