After months of preparation, hard work and toil I have officially now moved into my unit at Old Bolsover Yard. I've tried my best to get storage, work benches, and light fittings in keeping with the age of the building and like the whole of the yard sympathetically done.

Old Bolsover Yard can be found on Castle Street in Bolsover situated behind the Beehive Cafe. As you go through the entrance at the side of the Beehive Cafe you will see the big green doors of my unit ahead. As I am just starting out my hours of work are a little mixed but by November I am hoping to have settled into a routine and will post regular opening hours. If you would like to keep updated with daily goings on then you can find my facebook page here where I can also be contacted via messenger.

The buildings that make up the complex have recently been renovated to bring them back to life. Having researched some of the history of the area it appears that the site used to be home to the town slaughterhouse and local butchers in the early 1900s. Some work is underway hopefully supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to find out more. If you're local and know anything about the history feel free to pop in and say hello and tell me all about it.

In the coming weeks the gallery will be up and running which will feature some of my work along with other designer-makers. Even though I've just moved in I'm already busy with new stock and have lots of ideas to get the workshop looking ship shape.

I will be blogging monthly, updating you with progress in the workshop and what I've been up do each month.

Until next time

​Damion

Sorry it's been a while since I last added a blog post. I've been a busy bee!

It all started back in April with an old unwanted pine chair and rather than just paint the chair I wanted to do something different - then I thought Decoupage!

Using a couple of vintage Marvel comics and lots of time and patience the Superhero Chair was born.

This full decoupage chair went to 'Spring into Vintage', an event organised by the Vintage Suitcase at the Dome, Buxton and found a new home.

Time for some more decoupage . . . 

With these chairs proving to be popular, and after being able to get two more similar unloved pine wooden chairs I decided to again paint, then decoupage the seats on these two chairs.

The next two pictures show the seat area in more detail - I used more vintage Marvel comics for these.

Marvel is proving to be a popular trend at the moment. I think this might be due to a lot of the upcoming movie releases, and personally being a closet fan myself it's great artwork to work with.

These chairs are currently looking for their forever home.

Available from: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Upcycled-Marvel-Comic-Decoupage-Chair-/271541089101?pt=UK_HG_ChildFurniture_RL&hash=item3f391c334d and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Upcycled-Marvel-Comic-Decoupage-Chair-/271541092880?pt=UK_HG_ChildFurniture_RL&hash=item3f391c4210

If you would like to commission your own custom decoupage chair then please feel free to get in touch to discuss your requirements by emailing ethosupcycling@gmail.com

Here is my latest edition to Ethos Upcycling. I purchased an old oak video cabinet.

This item was heavy and cumbersome, and had issues with one of the 'doors' not shutting properly.

I had a look over the piece and decided that with the issues it had drastic action needed to be taken . . . 

Once the video cabinet was opened up its full potential became obvious.

Everybody needs good storage, however the weight of the item as a whole was not very practical so I decided to break it down into sections to create Pigeon Holes.

These photographs show the finished products with the Pigeon Holes being put into use.

These two items will make a lovely addition to any home and I will be sorry to see them go.

The smaller pigeon holes can be used as shown or on its side as more of a low unit, either way what a fabulous way to showcase your prized possessions.

Now available for sale via Ethos Upcycling Online Shop

Damion

I started Ethos Upcycling early 2014 after reading articles about Chalk Paints, the durability of the paint and the way it looked appealed to me. The simplicity of being able to apply it with nothing more than a paint brush meant I decided to experiment myself.

One of the hardest parts about setting up my own business was choosing the name, eventually after a long hard think I settled on 'Ethos Upcycling'. 

'Ethos' is a Greek word meaning 'character' and 'Upcycling' is about the reuse of discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality than the original. This was perfect as my ideas and what I wanted to achieve with this business were summed up in these two words.

So here I am:

Ethos Upcycling -  Taking old, discarded or simply unloved items and bringing them back to life

I now have my own website www.ethosupcycling.weebly.com and regularly sell items via Ebay.
 
There is also social media for keeping fans and followers of Ethos Upcycling up to date with what’s happening in terms of new products, and ongoing projects, plus details of items for sale.
 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ethosupcycling
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ethosupcycling
Pinterest:  www.pinterest.com/ethosupcycling

I had a bit of time to myself yesterday afternoon and made the decision that these dining room chairs are a little boring and needed sprucing up.

Needing some inspiration I looked out the back window and saw my hens in the garden.

Time for Chicken Chair to get underway . . .

I put an undercoat of Annie Sloan Chateau Grey over the frame to begin with. It was nice to see the boring brown finish of the original chair disappear. Once this had dried I applied Annie Sloan Old White over the top and waited again until this layer was dry. I then sanded and knocked back the Old White paint to give the chair a country feel

I had managed to get hold of this Linenstyle printed Chicken fabric from Molly Felicity Designs and thought it would be perfect for my Chicken Chair.

I then gave a good coat of clear wax to the chair frame, once I was happy with the finish. It was now time to re upholster the seat pad.

Voila - here is the finished Chicken Chair

I am very pleased with this, it's got the rustic country feeling that I think fits in well with my style, and fits with the design of the house. This one's staying with me.

Only three more chairs to do now so here's the question:

Do I stick with the same theme or make each one a little different?

Damion

I've acquired this apple crate and thought it's far too good simply to store apples and thought there must be a use for it around my home.

I'm always looking at ways to repurpose items when I can.

After a lot of trial and error I came to the conclusion that it would be ideal for book storage.

I had considered maybe giving it a wash of paint but decided to leave it in its original rustic form.

The crate is made from well used wood, nailed together with a natural unspoilt finish. 

This final picture shows it stacked with books standing in pride of place next to another classic retro lamp from the 1970s.

In the foreground is a fantastic wooden plant stand which also adds character to the living room.

All of these pieces in their own little way show my likes and personality.

So what would you store in your apple crate?

Damion

I made a purchase of this cable reel, being one to like a challenge, as I felt it had some potential to be re-purposed into something useful.  It's made from ply wood and came to me looking a little tatty.

After much thought it was obvious really - it's obviously a coffee table!

After giving the cable reel a sand, getting rid of glue and splinters, I dusted it off and then it was time to paint.

I applied a coat of Duck Egg Blue Annie Sloan Chalk Paint all over to begin, and then when dried put on a second coat of Night Jewel Dulux Matt paint leaving the central column the original Duck Egg Blue to give a two tone effect.

Once this was completely dry wax was added and polished to complete the look.

When waxed I decided the project still needed a little something extra - something was missing.

After lots of coffee and thinking it hit me - a vinyl record was the answer.

Digging through a few vinyls I came across an old Black and White Minstrels record which had 'His Master's Voice' across the centre.

By adding this record to the centre of the reel my aim to produce a quirky, practical coffee table was complete.

So now the coffee table has pride of place in my living room I have started to put all the available storage to good use by adding some books and DVDs.

It's surprising how much storage is available.

Now it's time for a well earned beer but before I go just one question:

What would you store on yours?

Damion