Small Occasional Table Upcycle Project

After finding this little gem in my local Salvation Army Shop i couldn't wait to get started on giving it a new look. I decided to go for a very simple style using 'Duck Egg' paint and a super high gloss finish.

Recent Commission - Distressed Dressing Table

After trudging the 4x4 through the snow, over a temporary bridge and past some very picturess countryside I arrived at my latest commission in Weybridge.

My Client had a lovely large dressing table with three mirrors that she had grown bored with and called me in to to give it a creamy french distressed look.

Using 'Grey Obsession' and 'Country Cream' paints I distressed her peice and polished it off with a jacobean wood polish.

'Sara has a seat at the top table' - Sara Prebble Design in this weeks Surrey Informer - page 12

Very excited to have a full page in this weeks Walton & Weybridge Surrey Informer Newspaper. 

Make a coffee, cut a slice of cake and turn to page 12!

For those outside of Surrey read the full interview here: 

      1.     What does your business do?

Sara Prebble Design is my furniture design and restoration business in leafy Hersham Village, Surrey. I take old, tired furniture and give it a new look to suit the current style of French Shabby Chic and gustavian distressed look. Using various different colour schemes to match in with a room’s decor, I transform each piece with a unique, fresh, current and revitalised style for any home.

saraprebbledesign.blogspot.co.uk

2. How many people do you employ?

I’m an independent furniture restorer. It’s just me.

3. What does your shop/business bring to your town?

A bespoke service offering the opportunity to breathe new life into old pieces of furniture in an environmentally friendly way.

4. What makes your business unique?

Every piece I transform is unique. Every customer’s home and style is different and they get a new love for their old furniture and they can help design the new look with me, making their piece completely unique to them and their home. It doesn’t have to be furniture either, Frames, Candle holders, basically anything wooden can be upcycled in this style.

5. What type of businesses would you like to see brought to your town?

An Art & Crafts Centre/Marketplace to showcase designers in Surrey would be a great space. There is a lot of design and craft talent in Surrey.

6. How has your business changed since you started?

The style and trends change but the techniques stay the same, I have quickly learnt that when you think you have seen every style of furniture, something surprises you.

In the future I am looking into holding workshops, people can come and have a go at doing the techniques themselves and leave the day with something they are proud of.

7. What's the best thing about owning your own business?

The creative freedom and the customer relationships I make along the way. I work with people to create/restore something they imagined for their homes and I get to meet some great people doing it.

8. How has your business been affected by the recession?

Times are hard for all businesses but if anything it has benefitted, it’s a lot more cost effective to reinvent a coffee table than to buy a new one.

9. How is the business likely to evolve over the next decade?

In the future there will be less quality pieces to work with because of a trend for easy to put together furniture. But trends change and the great thing about reinventing furniture is you can do it again and again.

10. Why have you chosen to base your business in Hersham, Surrey?

It’s as simple as this is where I live, It’s close to London and near lots of inspiration.

11. What's the strangest customer request you have had to deal with?

No strange requests but the most unique piece I have worked on is an Antique Hostess Trolley that was used as a computer table. It looked great.

12. What has been your proudest moment in business?

Getting my first customer. Building a business is hard work and it’s nice when you start to see it coming together.

13. Are critical reviews important or is word of mouth better?

Word of mouth is better but I recognise the importance of both. As I work with people for their homes I hope when they are happy with their piece, they spread the word.

14. What do you think makes your business stand out from your competitors?

The personal touch. Customers get involved with the restoration of their furniture, we discuss their ideas over a cup of tea.

15. Who is your role model in business?

Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish of NotOnTheHighStreet.com They have achieved something very unique, the perfect online market place for crafters. Reading their book is a great motivational booster.

Promo Shot for Surrey Newspaper

This a promo shot by Darren Pepe for a Surrey newspaper interview that is coming out next week.
Feat. Painted Cabinet, Candle Sticks and a Picture Frame by Sara Prebble Design
The Picture frame featured is currently for sale in my Etsy Shop for 12.99 buy it here

Do you have an idea for a peice of furniture that needs a new look? Perhaps some candle sticks or photo frames? For a quote visit our commissions page. 

Children's Unique Bedroom Furniture

It's been a very busy week for furniture painting this week, last piece of the week finished and in its new home yesterday.
This lovely chest of draws has been upcycled and repainted for a little girls bedroom. Her bedroom theme is pink hearts.
The frame is painted in Country Cream, the draws are Light Mocha with Light & Dark Mulberry Blush hearts finished with new burgundy striped knobs to match.

Do you have an idea for a peice of furniture for your childs bedroom? Perhaps some dinosaur stencils? Racing Cars, Kittens, or cupcakes? We can create a stencil to your idea and give your funiture an amazing new look.
For a quote visit our commissions page. 

Furntiure Painting using Stensils

Small Nordic Table. Distressed using Truffel & Linen Paints with a compass stencil in Truffle with a Jacobean Finnish.

We offer a bespoke design service for our stencils. Get in touch with your idea for a furniture stencil and we'll give you a quote. Visit our commissions page for more information.

Furniture Painting - Wardrobe

Recent Commission: This lovely large wardrope needed a new chabby chic look to match in with the rooms current french grey colour scheme. The key & charm in the door added a little something special.

For a quote for a piece of your own furniture to be re-styled visit our commissions page.

Furniture Restoration Commission

Elaine asked me to paint her dark mahogany dressing chair to have a new, brighter, rustic french look. I think it looks great in this window setting.

For a quote for a piece of your own furniture to be re-styled visit our commissions page. 

Social Media Frenzy

We have gone social media crazy here, follow, like and Fan us in the following places... Facebook
Pinterest and Twitter :)

Recent Commission

I have just arrived back from the beautiful land that is known as the lake district, I had a lovely time there and got to paint up this side board for Joyce in her amazing home. I have come back full of inspiration and ideas.

For a quote for a piece of your own furniture to be re-styled visit our commissions page.

Transformed Table

I've been a busy bee transforming this gingery wooden table into a light grey distressed with light aubergine coloured delight.

For a quote for a piece of your own furniture to be restyled visit our commissions page.

An old Piece...

....turned into a new piece

For a quote for a piece of your own furniture to be restyled visit our commissions page.

A week in Provence

A few weeks ago we packed up and headed off to Gatwick. Destination: I'Lsle Sur La Sorgue, hopefull for a sunnier climate  and a village full of antiques. We got both.

I'Lsle Sur La Sorgue is THE place in Southern France to shop for antiques.  Sunday is the day to go, an endless choice of shops and stalls to browse along the river Sorgue. The're are still some shops open on the other days but for the full experience, Sunday is the day. If you're lucky you may spot a couple having a sit down roast dinner on their stall.

On other days it is host to one of the best Provençal markets, meander down the narrow streets enjoying the fabrics and linens, a taste of cheese and pottery of all shapes and sizes.

The Antiques are devine. It broke my heart that I could'nt bring any back on the plane with us. The French are the essence of shabby chic and they make our shabby look the opposite of shabby! From this trip, I am going to do a peice of furniture with alot more ruffles, textures, rubbings and details and really 'French up' my shabby chic technique - Pictures to follow of the outcome.

Next time I visit I'Lsle Sur La Sorgue it will be in a car, better yet a van!

Get Reading!

This is a list Blogs my morning coffee wouldn't be the same without.

Passion of Pattern

Penelope Dullaghan

Apartment Therapy

Poppy Talk

A little place I call home

I want to start this blog off by telling you about my childhood home. Afterall this is where my passion for interior design and painting furniure came from. My mother once travelled to London to go on a painting course with Jocasta Innes, a then very popular furniture & home stylist. After that there was no stopping her, every piece of wood in our house got a visit from the paint brush and she perfected the art in no time. She took a stall in a local craft and gift centre to display and sell her pieces which took off and she gained quite a few commissions,it was a small town and the trend in London takes along time to dwindle its way to a small market town in the north west....if ever. My main memory of my mum from my childhood hood is with a paint brush in her hand and as a result, a family home that I just adore. Going there to visit is like a break away to the only other person who has a house like mine, or actually, I have a house like theres. I learnt from the best.

And now 28 years later I find myself, after living in London for 5 years, now living on the outskirts in a small village with a husband and a little baby. In a lovely house that is a great project to flex my painting skills on.

Keep checking back to see where my paint brush takes me.