So now that all three beloved children are away at Uni I have had to find something to occupy my time other than longer hours at the office!

QT1 has always been good at upcycling – painting cupboards and chests of drawers with chalk paint and covering cube shelves with maps out of oan old atlas.  And I have always loved crafting  so obviously that is the place to start.

So in 7 days’ time we are having our kitchen replaced. This involves substantial demolition and building work to turn it into an amazing (hopefully) through kitchen/dining room all brand new and redecorated with new flooring and everything.

I’m really excited and have bought s range cooker and retro fridge  well as new dining table and chairs already in the sales. Which means the current dining room resembles a storage warehouse but oh well.

Oh and we’ve had to clear the whole of the kitchen and utility room cupboards and surfaces out as well as completely clearing the hall.  Which means the converted garage is now full to the rafters with everything under the sun, including 2 sideboards and two bookcases (the piano was already in there!)

Anyway back to the upcycling. As part of the kitchen makeover we are having a small breakfast bar added.

So I saw two second hand swivel bar stools in a British Heart Foundation charity shop. I snapped them up and we fetched them home on Sunday. But they weren’t really the right colour to go with the blue themed Shaker style kitchen. So I bought furniture paint and this is the upcycling work in progress. The furniture paint is from Homebase and is called Belgrave.

I spent an hour sanding both pieces down so the paint would sit properly which is why I didn’t have time to finish the painting yet.

I’ve got the bug now so I’m on the lookout for more upcycling projects maybe to supplement my hand made greetings cards which are still selling well for charity when I take them round to dates and events.  When the kitchen upheaval is done I am aiming to progress to an online shop. Watch this space!