November 10, 2008
Los muebles de La Condesa / The Countess's furniture
My mother, the true acting Mrs. Countess and bearer of the family title, is an artist. I've been saying it for a long time, but this weekend I saw it clearer than ever. I went on a spiritual retreat to her house, and when I arrived, I found that she had almost finished a piece of furniture I had recently asked her for to store sheets and other things (for the dressing room, of course). The piece of furniture, as you will now see, is beautiful.
My mother is an artist, I swear, she's too shy to recognize it and I've been holding her creations for myself for too long, but now I think it's time for the world to know what she can do. Here you have pictures of old furniture she gathers and redecorates, giving them a second and much more beautiful chance.
What my mamma does is give a second chance to old furniture that had little hope of life left. She collects them, restores them, recovers them, pampers them to the extreme, studies their possibilities, paints them, redecorates them, and turns them into works of art. For this, she knows all the antique shops, flea markets, and places that value old things as much as she does and where she can go to rescue her next creations.
She bought this chest of drawers at an antique market. The chest was one of those dark and sad ones that you felt sorry for when you saw it. In my opinion, now it looks like it came out of Marie Antoinette's dressing room.
She goes around every single street market to find pieces she finds interesting to work with. This furniture here is for my room, but I think I could well be for Marie Antoinete's one.
She has been doing this all her life, and she has passed on her love for antiques to all of us daughters, so all our houses have in common a super cheerful, colorful vintage vibe. Each piece is a unique and unrepeatable work that takes weeks of work, a lot of love, and inspiration. Here are some other examples so you can see the art and good taste this woman has.
Each furniture is turn into a unique piece with endless hours of work and passion
This mirror was destroyed, but she loved it and spent days putting planks behind it to keep it standing. It's enormous, gigantic, and entirely covered with gold leaf, which can only be applied by hand and with great care.
This mirror was almost destroyed, but she fell in love with it and reconstructed it entirely. Covering the whole surface with layered gold. The piece is huge and it took her weeks to finish it
This other mirror she made for me because I wanted a vanity, but in the end it turned out so beautiful that I use it as a headboard; the vanity will come when I have more space.
This piece is a kind of nightstand for princesses, or countesses, of course. A nighstand for a princess, or a countess of course (my nickname means countess in Spanish)
She originally saw this chair in a Dutch antique shop; when she returned to Spain, she didn't stop until she managed to make an identical one. The photo doesn't do it justice; it's upholstered in purple velvet, and I only allow myself to sit in it. I'm sure you're better understanding where my aristocratic pretensions come from.
She saw a similar chair in an antique store in Holland, it cost a fortune. Once she came back to Spain, she couldn't stop until she made an exact one, for a much more affordable price.
This lamp was destroyed; it only had the body. She completely restored it and replaced the old lampshade with a bowler hat that makes it unique and different.
And she painted this piece of furniture for me like this because I told her I liked the furniture in the Friends kitchen, worn but colorful.
The reason for the colour and style of this shelf is because I told her I liked the furniture that appears on Friends' kitchen
What do you think? Is the Mrs. an artist or not? My idea now is to stop exploiting my mother's talent for my own benefit and open it up to the world. I would like to be able to sell her furniture because it makes her happy to make them, and we no longer have room for more at home. How do you see the idea?
Do you know anyone who has a shop who might be interested? I'm not sure I'm convinced by the idea of selling them on eBay; I have a feeling I won't find the audience I'm looking for there.
So what do you think? Is my mum an artist or not? Do you think it would make sense to start selling some pieces? Any idea about where? Not sure Ebay is the right place, doesn't seems like the people who could be interested would be there
Any ideas? Any advice. Help, please!
My mother is an artist, I swear, she's too shy to recognize it and I've been holding her creations for myself for too long, but now I think it's time for the world to know what she can do. Here you have pictures of old furniture she gathers and redecorates, giving them a second and much more beautiful chance.
What my mamma does is give a second chance to old furniture that had little hope of life left. She collects them, restores them, recovers them, pampers them to the extreme, studies their possibilities, paints them, redecorates them, and turns them into works of art. For this, she knows all the antique shops, flea markets, and places that value old things as much as she does and where she can go to rescue her next creations.She bought this chest of drawers at an antique market. The chest was one of those dark and sad ones that you felt sorry for when you saw it. In my opinion, now it looks like it came out of Marie Antoinette's dressing room.
She goes around every single street market to find pieces she finds interesting to work with. This furniture here is for my room, but I think I could well be for Marie Antoinete's one.
She has been doing this all her life, and she has passed on her love for antiques to all of us daughters, so all our houses have in common a super cheerful, colorful vintage vibe. Each piece is a unique and unrepeatable work that takes weeks of work, a lot of love, and inspiration. Here are some other examples so you can see the art and good taste this woman has.Each furniture is turn into a unique piece with endless hours of work and passion
This mirror was destroyed, but she loved it and spent days putting planks behind it to keep it standing. It's enormous, gigantic, and entirely covered with gold leaf, which can only be applied by hand and with great care.
This mirror was almost destroyed, but she fell in love with it and reconstructed it entirely. Covering the whole surface with layered gold. The piece is huge and it took her weeks to finish it
This other mirror she made for me because I wanted a vanity, but in the end it turned out so beautiful that I use it as a headboard; the vanity will come when I have more space.
This piece is a kind of nightstand for princesses, or countesses, of course. A nighstand for a princess, or a countess of course (my nickname means countess in Spanish)
She originally saw this chair in a Dutch antique shop; when she returned to Spain, she didn't stop until she managed to make an identical one. The photo doesn't do it justice; it's upholstered in purple velvet, and I only allow myself to sit in it. I'm sure you're better understanding where my aristocratic pretensions come from.
She saw a similar chair in an antique store in Holland, it cost a fortune. Once she came back to Spain, she couldn't stop until she made an exact one, for a much more affordable price.
This lamp was destroyed; it only had the body. She completely restored it and replaced the old lampshade with a bowler hat that makes it unique and different.
And she painted this piece of furniture for me like this because I told her I liked the furniture in the Friends kitchen, worn but colorful.
The reason for the colour and style of this shelf is because I told her I liked the furniture that appears on Friends' kitchen
What do you think? Is the Mrs. an artist or not? My idea now is to stop exploiting my mother's talent for my own benefit and open it up to the world. I would like to be able to sell her furniture because it makes her happy to make them, and we no longer have room for more at home. How do you see the idea?
Do you know anyone who has a shop who might be interested? I'm not sure I'm convinced by the idea of selling them on eBay; I have a feeling I won't find the audience I'm looking for there.
So what do you think? Is my mum an artist or not? Do you think it would make sense to start selling some pieces? Any idea about where? Not sure Ebay is the right place, doesn't seems like the people who could be interested would be there
Any ideas? Any advice. Help, please!