Antiques go back to the future with upcycling
ASK ‘what’s new in antiques?’ and it’s not just a dire pun — between upcycling pre-used furniture and a renewed interest in historical artifacts thanks to 1916-mania, old stuff has never been more on trend.
There is a difference though between delicately restoring a fine antique clock and giving a tatty dresser a lick of trendy coloured paint but both are proving hugely popular with people who are keen to enrich their lives with things with a backstory; or who like the look of a finely carved item of furniture; or who prefer to recycle older stuff rather than buy modern flatpack gear.
Antiques might once have been only for experts and people with old homes and old money for furniture named for kings and queens but they’re definitely back in season too for folk from more humble — aka regular — walks of life. The popularity of courses in antique restoration and appreciation is testament to that.
And the Late Late Show has even brought back the antiques restoration segment which ended in a bitter High Court case. You must remember it? A handful of regular people were sent off to buy antique ‘wrecks’ which they showed off in all their woodwormy, moth-eaten shame.
The competitors then worked their french-polishing and upholstering magic on the chairs and cabinets and proudly displayed them as shiny, non-creaking glorious antiques a few weeks later. Everyone oohed and aahed at the transformation and saluted the hard work put in by the amateur restorers. Until it turned out that one competitor enjoyed a little too much help from a professional antiques expert and didn’t acknowledge it. On-air recriminations ensued. Three years later there were defamation proceedings, apologies, and a settlement.
Well, the actual show was such good fun that the concept has been dusted off and reinstated. Last Friday a fresh batch of amateurs displayed their junk shop finds and they have eight weeks to transform them.
Of course there’s also the upcycling trend which is definitely still on the upswing. A bit more accessible than learning french-polishing, it typically involves transforming a more mundane piece into a bright, even hipsterish, chic accessory to a kitchen or boudoir. Mass-produced furniture is welcome here too as with a bit of lemon-yellow chalk paint and a songbird stencil it becomes a personalised treasure.
Contrary to what you might imagine both sectors can work in harmony and enjoy the other’s expertise and skills. The antiques expert can give you an idea of how much someone might pay for a piece that’s properly restored as well offering an accurate guide to how it would have originally looked. And if you just want a piece to look good in your own home then the upcycling experts can sell you the perfect shade of raspberry paint and can tell you how to apply it.
ANTIQUES
A name that keeps coming up in relation to antiques restoration is oldchairs.ie and also oldclocks.ie. Nigel Barnes is a member of the Institute of Conservator Restorers in Ireland and with his partner Pepie O’Sullivan he runs an antique restoration business from their home in Co Clare. They hold various weekend courses ranging from country chair making to clock repair but the most popular is the beginners’ upholstery and antique restoration weekend.
Nigel explains: “We take a maximum of five people at any weekend. We work through broken-down and wobbly chairs and all sorts of scruffy or broken furniture.” He guides participants through the various stages involved in the woodwork aspects and Pepie looks after the upholstery and natural fibre seating: “We put the tools in your hands and show you how the work is done.”
There’s no shortage of antiques available for projects here in Ireland, according to Nigel who says: “Good stuff pops up at auction here quite frequently. The social history of a piece of furniture is somewhat a speciality of mine — people want to hear about the history of a piece.”
And upcycling isn’t greeted with horror either: “We help people get to know what they are dealing with — we have seen all kinds of valuable things but we don’t do value judgements on what someone wants to do to their own property. We just want to ensure they know what they are doing. We can let them know that painting a piece of furniture may not enhance its value for resale but there is no preservation order in furniture so if it’s yours and you are happy to paint it then go ahead.”
Actually paint is relatively easy to take off anyway if you know how, says Nigel.
“The worst thing you can do is sanding - now that causes irreversible and irrevocable damage - you can’t put sawdust back on after you’ve taken it off. I had someone bring a Georgian table to me around five years ago to see if it was worth anything. They had a man in doing work in their house and they got him to ‘tidy it up’ with a belt sander. I told them it would probably have been worth €80,000 before they went at it but now would only be around €20,000.”
That’s not the only antiques disaster Nigel has encountered: “And at the moment I’m looking at a lovely clock which would probably have fetched €40,000 except that the veneer was taken off the casing. It was well-intentioned but it will never be quite the same.”
So, like the old ‘measure twice and cut once’ adage, if you’re in any doubt about what you’re about to do then it might be best to check in with an expert.
UPCYCLING
‘Granny owned it; mum threw it out; and now I’m bringing it back’ might well be the theme for upcycling fans. And the acclaim for the trend has certainly been boosted by chalk paint. One of the most popular brands is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It really is great stuff — a little bit goes an unbelievably long way; it dries in no time and best of all, for people like me who decide to start a project on a whim, you don’t have to sand or prime your furniture first.
One upcycling business which stocks a whole lotta chalk paint is The Paint Pot Interiors on St Patrick’s Quay in Cork. Run by friends Connie O’Kennedy and Jackie Cogan the business is four years old this month. “We started in a recession and we’ve survived the recession,” notes Jackie with some pride.
The Paint Pot’s customers range from people starting out with their first house or apartment to older people who just want a project or want to reinvigorate a loved piece of furniture which has become shabby: “Some of our customers are people buying their first home who buy good furniture in second-hand shops and make it their own or are 55 or 60 year olds who have lived with a piece of furniture like built-ins for quite a while and want to liven them up.”
So do they have to restrain people from turning a Chippendale chair into a unique turquoise and coral showstopper or jawdropper, depending on your outlook? “We’re more about upcycling old furniture than restoring antiques but if you have a piece of good furniture and you’re in doubt then don’t paint it,” Jackie explains.
But if you are sure you want to go ahead and paint that armoire or shelf then chalk paint really is the business. It slips on smoothly; you can dilute it with tap water and the rich colour just clings to whatever you’re painting. You might even get carried away and let the colour detail take over — as the purple dining table in my kitchen testifies.
There’s no sanding with chalk paint so you can work with it at any time of year without having to wait for a dry day. “You have no priming and it’s odourless and eco-friendly,” adds Jackie.
It’s not just about adding colour to a piece though: “We hold three-hour upcycling workshops on Saturday mornings, covering everything from distressing and decoupage to 3D stencilling and gilding.
“We also take a good number of furniture commissions from people who don’t have the time to work on a project themselves — or who just don’t feel confident enough to.”
Check out their Facebook page for details on the workshops.
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