A Tourist in my own Country

Hey everyone :)

Things have been really quiet on the Restyled Vintage front lately, but they will pick up again soon, I promise!

The reason for the lack of posts is that we are in our third week of a three-week North Island Road Trip.  As I write we are holed up in our holiday cottage in the Hawkes Bay, housebound due to severe weather and flooding.  Not the best way to end our holiday, but we have still had a wonderful time!

Here are some shots (taken on mostly finer weather days!)

Flaxmill Bay, Coromandel Peninsula

Flaxmill Bay, Coromandel Peninsula

YUMMY lunch at Whangamata

Ingenious way of disguising a power substation - Whangamata

Me & My Girl at Burger King, Mt Maunganui :)

Hundertwasser Toilets, Kawakawa

Bay of Islands

Auckland Skytower

The boy has no fear!

My kids being kids at Russell :)

All geared up for a wet wild boat ride!

Boiling (and stinky!) mud geysers in Rotorua

Soaking in our own hot pool at Hot Water Beach - one of the strangest things I have ever seen!

Huka Falls, Taupo

Tane Mahuta, Kauri Coast, Northland

Clear blue skies on a freezing cold day in Whitianga

McDonalds breakfast in a DC-3, Taupo

(I borrowed this photo of the McDonalds Taupo plane from someone who was there on a sunny day - it rained for us!)

Haruru Falls, Bay of Islands

New Zealand's oldest wooden house, Kerikeri, Northland

Maori Waka, Waitangi

Waitangi Treaty House, Waitangi

My kids being kids, Whangamata

Jake & 'The Mount' (Mt Manganui)

My gorgeous girl with gorgeous Art Deco buildings in Napier :)

Jake & his best 'I am getting eaten by a whale's jaw' impersonation

A piece of New Zealand paradise, Coromandel Peninsula

We have packed alot into our time away, staying in Wellington, Cambridge, Dargaville, Paihia, Auckland, Cooks Beach, Whangamata, Mt Maunganui, Taupo, and Napier, where we are right now.  Tomorrow we head to Wellington to begin our homewards journey, which I think we are ready for now, and all looking forward to (not the journey, but being home!)

I am a bit ashamed to say that it has taken me this long to see so much of my own country, but better late than never, I guess.  It is fantastic to finally be able to have a real picture in my mind of what some of these iconic Kiwi places are actually like, rather than just imagining what they might be like 

(and some of my imaginings were a bit out of touch with the reality!)  

At least we have given our kids this wonderful experience at an age where they will hopefully remember at least some of it...of course when we ask them their favourite parts of the trip, they list seeing the movie Hop, the trips to the lolly shops, the new Mighty Beans and Squinkies, Easter Bunny finding them in Mt Maunganui, the place we stayed that had bunks, and the place we stayed that had two sets of stairs in it as the highlights!

And I think that makes them completely normal :)

xx Karen

Before & After - French Style Tallboy

This tallboy was purchased directly from my Stockroom, and the buyer wanted it done it an off-white to cream, with an antiqued finish, similar to other pieces she had seen on my blog.

The client was great to work with, as she was very trusting of my abilities to understand what she wanted, and was sure that I would do a great job...she said that I was the artist and she was happy to leave the exact finish up to me.  Awesome - (almost) free reign! 

Sadly, I never even actually met her - we did all our arrangements over email, then when she picked it up, I wasn't home.

Here are some shots of the progress.  I also did a matching bedside cabinet at the same time, with the same finish.  The client wasn't in need of a bedside cabinet, so it is for sale.

 This is the bedside cabinet, painted and distressed but not glazed yet.

And the tallboy, painted but not distressed or glazed.

And here they are, all finished...

The light isn't the greatest sorry, I had to take the photos at 7am as I was heading out for the day and the client was coming to collect them while I was out.

I painted the handles and glazed them so they match the furniture...much better than the awful brass colour they were before!

I love the side panels on this piece, it adds so much character.

The client was thrilled with it.  This is what she emailed me after she picked it up...

"Just a quick note to say thank you so much for the beautiful
job you did on my tallboy.  I love it!  Picking it up brought a much-needed smile to my face; last week I was made redundant due to the blasted earthquake!  But now I see my lovely tallboy when I wake up in the mornings and it lightens my heart a little.  Keep up the lovely, creative work."

And that brought a smile (and a sigh of relief!) to my face.  Painted furniture is only stuff at the end of the day, and not really that important in the scheme of things.  Us Cantabrians have been reminded of that lately, more than ever, due to the earthquakes and ongoing aftershocks.  But while it is only stuff, something pretty can and does make some of us happy, and that is a good thing.  It keeps me sane creating it, and it keeps others going being able to enjoy it...and that is all good!

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Bright and Happy Dresser

Well first of all, this post is about two weeks overdue, sorry about that!  My poor blog has been a bit neglected lately, and the reason why will be revealed in due course :)

So, I will get on with a before and after completed last week.

My client had these set of drawers given to her, they had been in her family for ever.

 She went bright and bold with her colour choice which made it a fun job for me - she was inspired by this:

And this is what we ended up with:

The colour is Resene Riptide, apparently their closest match to the Tiffany Box blue.  Such a gorgeous colour, and I am sure it will look gorgeous in a little girl's room...which is exactly where it is going
(lucky little girl - I wonder if it will start her on a lifelong quest for Tiffany jewels to match?)

The client was thrilled with it, and I was too.
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xx Karen