Granny's Dresser

When my granny died 23 years ago I was desperate to have her dresser but didn't have a house big enough so it was put into Dad's shed.  About 12 years ago Dad told me they were chucking it out and as I still didn't have a house it would fit into I couldn't really insist they kept it so I assumed it they had indeed chucked it.  But, this summer, whilst moving the swing-boats out of the same shed I found something covered up with a dust sheet and asked dad what it was - it was granny's dresser!

First of all I brought the base home.  In the cold light of my kitchen it looked quite a mess, 22 years of living in the shed as well as many many years of nicotine from her cigarettes had to be cleaned off.

It cleaned up quite well and I could start to see the real 1930's style and shape.

Then I brought the top home.

I stripped off the nicotine stained 1970s wallpaper that my grandpa must have put on the back and discovered some really pretty paper, possibly 1950s, underneath it, but it was too torn to keep so it all came off.

After more cleaning I painted the back boards.

Putting the top onto the base was quite easy as my highly organised Dad had put the original screws (and the key) into the drawer of the base.

Today I put some treasures in it.  Some of my great granny's china,

some Royal Tara china that I bought with the money that granny left me in her will,

and some other bits I've acquired over the years (mainly from charity shops).

It's a little tatty well loved in places, but I'm so pleased to have it :-)

A New Lampshade

When I gave my dining room a new look in the summer I didn't get round to doing anything with this lampshade.

It used to be ok with the cream walls but it really didn't go with the new white or with the new chair covers.

When I was at the Knitting and Stitching show in October I saw lots of stalls selling kits to make your own lampshades but none were the right size so I did some online research and decided to reuse the original frame.  I bought some fabric locally and ordered the laminated backing and sticky tape.

The parcel that arrived was slightly larger than I was envisaging!

This weekend I set about making it.  I pulled the old cover off the frame and used it to make a template.

I cut out the laminated backing and fabric and joined them together (much more easily than I'd imagined).

Then I wound the sticky tape around the edges of the frame.

Winding the frames onto the laminated fabric was quite tricky (now I know why most of the kits sold were drum shades and not angled coolies!) but I got there eventually.  Then I had to fold the fabric over and tuck it under.  If I did it again I'd leave more fabric to turn over as some of mine is slightly short in places.

And there you have it - one new lampshade!

And I have rather a lot of laminated backing left over so if you want a new lampshade you know where to come!