furniture

How to Distress New MDF Furniture

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Make your new furniture look like it's been in your family for generations

The key to any good distressed finish is to create a plausible ‘history’ for the furniture or cabinet. We’ve all had hand-me-down furniture that has been scuffed, scratched, painted…and painted again over decades of use. With a little imagination, you can easily create a back story for your newly-built MDF or wood furniture that can guide you to making it look like it’s been in your family for generations.

This particular project was inspired by leftover pieces of MDF sheets and beadboard paneling from our porch renovation and the need for ‘something’ to suit the available space in said porch. Once He Who Hogs the Power Tools was done with construction, it was time for me to step up and make it look like it I inherited it from Grammie.

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Feeling a Little Wonky

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JR’s grandmother was a Brit who used to talk about feeling “wonky” every now and then, when she was a bit unsteady on her feet (age, not vino) and had to sit down. I wonder if this (wavy-wobbly furniture) was the way she saw the world, at those moments!

The Mini Wonky Jewellery Box here, a little chest of drawers just under a foot high, is the bold primary version of a whole clan of these woozy dance-y little stash boxes from Canadian craftsman Paul Szewc at Masterpiece Cabinets. 

In fact, there’s a whole gallery of even more groovy one-of-a-kind hand-painted boxes (and full-sized cabinets, real furniture, as well) to gladden the heart of your Alice Through the Looking Glass.
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Blandito Italian Bendy Foldy Lazy Floor Pillow

Read more about the article Blandito Italian Bendy Foldy Lazy Floor Pillow

So your Blandito may not be the seat to offer your aged auntie when she drops by for tea and scones, but as a cosy crash mat for the multifunctional small-space lifestyle of the hip young urban creative with a penchant for modern Italian design?

Furniture of merit, indeed.

I believe the title says it all. Blandito® by Oradaria Design of Italy, is described as a “transformable pad for lazy living” – and I think we can all get behind that concept, no?

Cosy as a sleeping bag or one of those appalling slankets but with, you know, much more padding and much less of the nerdy monk look.

Stuffy as a floor pillow, but with its own smooth moves – transformative!

Yet, furniture-ish in a couch-inspired way, but without all the stiff bits that keep you from slouching in comfort.

Yeah, well, the pictures say it all.

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Dust Furniture One-Offs and OutTakes

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Most of us don’t make a habit of stalking a furniture maker on Facebook, but here’s one you may want to make an exception for.

If you’re already a fan of craft artist Vincent Thomas Leman’s “abstract traditional” style — the heart of the practical yet whimsical Dust Furniture — you will know exactly what I mean. If not, you soon will be craving the warped and wonderful pieces for yourself.  Each piece is  handcrafted with skill and good humor in the husband-wife team’s studio in Valparaiso, Indiana, USA.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on their Etsy outlet, if you’re on a budget, to catch the occasional sales on handcrafted “prototypes, web exclusives, extras and sometimes, mistakes…” and the occasional surprise deal you’ll find hard to resist.
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