Furniture Upcycling

Will the addition of carbon fibre veneer panels by Kimorra® make this silver machine go faster? Not really 78 rpm or a bit over is going to be the speed limit but it looks great and that is the point. This carbon fibre and silver machine has a crushed red velvet speaker cover and turntable with red paint surrounds. A video is coming soon and you can see before and after photos on the Carbon Fibre Gramophone page.

Another gramophone! The mechanism is Swiss made and works well. It has been re-greased and re oiled. It has taken 2-3 months to do and was completed at the end of September 2021. Ceramic door handles from Knobbles and Bobbles. Rustoleum, Halfords, Blackfirs, Helmsley and Good Home paints. Kimorra® has been used in the intricate cut out on the from and on 3 sides. Some screw and other hard to get in 2021 metal fittings have come from Threadfast Engineers who tend to keep a wide variety of fasteners. See the dedicated page for more photos of before and after. This one was sold on Etsy along with some needles and records in November 2021 With this link you can find our Dead Fly Recycling Etsy Shop Have a look at our before and after photos on the Pink and Purple Dulceola page

This is a Selecta gramophone. It has taken around 4 months to complete. The gramophone mechanism has been fully serviced and the cabinet which had water damage was renovated. The main features are gold and bronze Kimorra® inserts. Red, black and bronze painted areas. A laser cut fly design from Sawfish laser over the speaker which is backed with a gold fabric . The interior has been tastefully renovated following the red, bronze and gold theme with space for records within the cabinet and also behind the newly made red door. You can see more details about this renovation on our Project Gramophone page.

This is part of the front section of an oak linen box. The gold and silver painted wood uses Rust-Oleum metallic paint. This is complimented by the Kimorra® gold and silver veneer making this one of the most glitzy transformations that we have done so far. See our page on how it was upcycled. This item was sold through our Etsy Shop in 2020

A classic oak bureau manufactured by the famous Dereham, Norfolk, name of Jentique has been given a total facelift. Maybe this is sacrilege! but this looks absolutely unique. The denim veneer from Kimorra® steals the show as it is like having a pair of jeans made into comfortable furniture. Mann’s wood dyes from wood finishes direct have been used to stain the wood blue and subtle tones of greens show through. A water based matt finish varnish still gives a brighter aspect to the wood contrasting with the denim panels. Frankly we think this looks so good we should do it again if a similar piece of furniture comes along but for now at least it is a one off. See the how it’s made page

It’s one of our early experimental pieces and it worked really well. Originally dark wood the application of a mix of yellow and mainly red Mann’s furniture dyes has warmed up the wood. Applying a piece of Kimorra® veneer onto the front door has totally enlivened the piece. A coat of varnish and it is ready to go

This wonderful small coffee table uses hand cut Kimorra® inserts using a copper effect Kimorra® veneer on all 4 sides. An epoxy resin has been used to fix these and give some additional depth to the effect. Hopefully the day will come when we can afford a laser cutting machine to save time with the cutting! A very lightly diluted orange woodstain (Mann’s red/yellow combination) has been used to warm up the colour before sealing everything in with some Ronseal matt varnish

Ok, this is where we started. A pine chest of drawers made to match the room it was going to be put into. The pink highlights are hand cut pieces of Kimorra® veneer that have been cut and bonded into place using an epoxy coating. The blue circles on the door knobs are also Kimorra® veneer, the rest of the door knob has been dyed using a red wood stain. A blue Mann’s woodstain from Wood Finishes Direct has been applied to the drawers and the rest of the unit. Everything has had multiple coats of epoxy coating and has been polished. If we had our time again we would have used a regular varnish rather than the epoxy which can be difficult to handle. It’s in regular use and it’s very unlikely the durable epoxy will ever wear out!