Friday 25 March 2011

the big cleanup

it's been a productive few days - here are some progress photos...

you can see the flood-level still on the far wall









Wednesday 23 March 2011

Soggy Bottoms End

Rapt!'s HQ ("Bottom's End") is now decidely soggy, following inundation by flood on Monday. In our part of the Jamberoo Valley over 400mm fell in 12 hours (yep - measured in the nursery's rain gauge). Being at the top of the catchment, little Bottom's End was hit by an astounding force of water which swept right through the poor old shed.
I'm afraid this is going to set the upholstery business back a bit - my beautiful (new) sewing machine and (new) compressor were both swamped, along with all the chairs in the orphanage. It looks pretty bad in there right now and will no doubt take a while to fix... here are some pics.







Sunday 20 March 2011

Become a Rapt!ee

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Friday 18 March 2011

a few past projects...

 Here are a few projects completed over past year not previously posted:


The Captain's Chair - Before



Captain's chair After timber restoration & recover
Ottoman (built from scratch)




Artist's stool Before


Artist's stool After ...  my very first commission  (thankyou Amanda)


Tossed-and-found at the tip..
Rebound

Baby bear trying out her chair ~ she says it's "just right"!
Just for fun ~ an upholstered chest of drawers (after seeing similar @ Ballet Russe exhb'n Canberra)

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Balloon-back upcycle

This one is hot off the workbench.  The Before pics show how sad she was when I rescued her (she was headed to the scrapheap). I learnt quite a few things on this project - the first was the 'strength' of upholstery. When I removed the covers, (there were several layers,) the chair partly fell apart - some of the joints were broken but the fabric had been holding it all together.
I learnt how to fix joints (by re-building those tenons and mortices,) and also how to antique-paint.  The cover is from a superb piece of linen I had in my collection, and I also figured out how to do the double-piping (that trim around the edges) for the first time.

Before
After



This chair is for sale for $350.00 - please see the For Sale page.

Monday 7 March 2011

Bedroom Chair

I made this chair completely from scratch. It's called a bedroom (or slipper) chair because the design makes it suitable for having in a bedroom. Theres a "secret" compartment under the hinged seat for keeping your slippers (or anything you like!) in.










  


This chair is for sale, and listed in the MadeIt shop (see link at top of page).

Saturday 5 March 2011

The Visitor Chair

Before










After 



This "visitor" chair is probably my favourite make-over result so far. I love not only its classic Parker style, but I reckon I hit the nail on the head when I chose the fabric. What do you think? 

Thursday 3 March 2011

The Beechworth stool

Today's post shows the upcycled result of this old stool I found in a junk shop in Beechworth last year.  It looked like it must have been stored in a farm shed for some years; its brown vinyl cover was crusty and full of yukky stuff. The legs were painted in thick undercoat - but it was their fantastic shape that caught my eye.  I thought they gave it some potential, but little did I know what beautiful timber would be revealed when the paint was stripped.




Before


After


The stool has been completely re-upholstered (all new interior) and is now for sale for $350.00 - please see the For Sale page.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

New logo

what do you think of my new logo, up the top there?  The very talented and gorgeous Rosie Handley, of Kindleman - Creative Bright Sparks, created this for me and I think it's a ripper (rapter?).  If you've got any graphic design needs here's her website link www. kindleman dot com dot au.