A Grand Old Furniture Upcycling Day

Another day, another working bee!

This time we were hanging out at Caitlin and Tim’s backyard in Holmesville, dodging the hot sunshine and the occasional chicken as people sanded, scraped, hammered, glued, washed, painted, lacquered and all those handy type things.

Wooden chairs (roadside pickups) all newly oiled!

Oh the joyous disarray.

We had a few people working hard on our amazing bookshelves made from old doors. Others were oiling and preparing furniture. Andy, our upholsterer overlord, did an incredible job sewing pineapple-patterned cushions for one of the lounges we found on the side of the road.

"I've been working for 4 hours on this sewing machine! I love pineapple!"

 It is amazing how much furniture we have accumulated from council pick ups or donations by friends and family. Or from Tim's grandparents' shed. Actually, let's be honest. Most of it is from Tim's grandparents' shed, which we believe may in fact be Eden, from whence all things come. We have hardly bought any furniture for The Commons at all! 

Mandy and Paul. And Tim's knee.

Caitlin and Tim, the hosts with the mostest.

It was a relaxed day and we enjoyed more than one tea break along the way. Thank you to Paul, James, Tristan, Tim E, Vicki, Tony, Tim G, Caitlin, Andy, Bel, Mandy, Glen, Aidan and Jasmin who, it can be agreed, are the best furniture upcycling team EVER.

Tea time! Tristan, Andy and...looks like Aidan's asleep again.

Bel and Jasmin, pondering. Or looking at the roof. Either or.

I (Caitlin) was thinking today that the best part about all of the work we put in is that we all own a part of the Commons – we will be able to look around the Commons and say “I painted that wall!” “I sanded that table!” “I catalogued those books!” We all have a stake in the outcome, and it belongs to all of us, and we built it from nothing. And that is VERY. AWESOME.