Retro Re-cover

I have just finished covering our dining chairs. I picked this bargain of a dining set up a couple of years ago from eBay. Think I paid a grand sum of £10 for 6 chairs and £10 for the table which extends to seat 8 people. They aren't actually a matching set but I don't think that is obvious (not that it would bother me anyway).

The chairs originally had a rather fetching pink velvet fabric on Typical of their era. I covered them with cheap cord at first until I found the right fabric to do the job properly.

I managed to lay my hands on some lovely authentic African batik. Just what I wanted! Here is the result.

Pallet Wood Upcycle.

The pallet wood decking area in our garden is finally complete!

I just love pallet wood. We were very lucky (and unlucky) to have a building site near to our house. They were happy to let us have some old pallets. Steve's dad also donated some from his business. www.gee-tee.co.uk We used the biggest pallets as a base and then arranged the slats in intersting colour combinations.

Steve put in a huge amount of man power and we are really pleased with the result. A hard part was breaking the pallets down. Those things are really built to last! I can tell you first-hand how difficult it is to pull the giant nails out. It was really worth it though. Best of all, the wood was free!

It isn't as uniform as manufactured decking but I think it is much more interesting and beautiful. We used yacht varnish to bring out the colour, then I ran up a sail for shade on my sewing machine which I fixed to a frame made by Steve.

We have also created a pallet wood wall in our upstairs bathroom. Pics to follow when complete.