Transforming wooden furniture

I started with the little cabinet as I found that the most inspiring and couldn't wait to see how it would transform! With all the little cuttings it was obvious that I was drawn to white painted furniture which of course would fit well into the small house, as dark woods can be a little overpowering in a small space.
Its a labour intensive job to sand the furniture initially, messy and a bit boring so its good to start with a small piece so you get quick results and it spurs you on for the rest. In a sensitive and often self questioning condition the last thing you need is feeling like you've failed at something else so be realistic, if you've never done anything like this before, start with a wooden photo frame or a candle stick and work up.
You can do the transformation one of two ways. Either lightly score the surface of the lacquered wood and paint it with white matt emulsion (or silk if you prefer but not gloss) and finish it off with clear varnish or sand off all the varnish and take it back to the raw wood. You can then paint it with emulsion (has to be matt for this) and once that's dry, sand it back in places to reveal the lovely wood underneath.

The trick to this aged/weathered look is to rub off the paint in the areas that would naturally wear such as the corners and edges, around the handles and on the top surface. What your after is that 'years of use' look but its a fine line between shabby chic and ready for the dump so don't over do it. All is not lost though if you do sand back to much, just paint it over and start again. I find a good trick is to also rub a little shoe polish on those bits that would naturally get a little grubby as the new paint can look too white all over. Just a very small amount on a fingertip rubbed along a prominent edge gives it that overall aged look. You can also rub cold tea onto it in little patches but have a go at this whole effect with tea on a spare bit of wood first as it is a love it or hate it effect.

The final layer is the clear varnish over the top but do make sure its all thoroughly dry first as it doesn't look good smudgy. I wish I'd taken a 'before' shot of the cabinet but I hadn't thought about capturing the transformation of Ambleside at that point. It looks rather quaint doesn't it and the cabinet had only cost £15 in a charity shop and a few pounds for the paint and varnish which would of course streatch to many bits of furniture.