Hi, 

We are sisters Brenda Tasker and Noleen Le Blanc (originally from South Africa). We live in the picturesque Hampshire village of Hartley Wintney. Our love of arts & crafts has been a passion for many years and together, with our very talented sister in South Africa, we have always enjoyed learning new skills and attending creative workshops.

It has been the most exciting journey for us, as we embrace this artistic venture that is so fulfilling on a creative level and also on a business level as we strive to step out of our comfort zone and create a niche for ourselves.

We come from a family of three sisters and our oldest sister Sandra was always considered the arty one of the family as she did art at school and was... and still is... a fantastic artist.

Obviously the artistic genes were lying dormant in Noleen and myself. In hindsight, we were always involved in projects that involved glue, paint and our imaginations. Often at home, we were fiddling around with fabrics and tackling crafty projects around our homes. We enjoyed not only creating beautiful things but making use of what we already owned.

The opportunity to start our small business began in November 2020  when a friend of ours did a house clearance and offered us some furniture that was destined for the skip.  We tried our hands at upcycling the two chests of drawers and absolutely loved the creative process.  All the skills we had learnt over the years were put to good use.   Doing something we love on a daily basis is very rewarding.

When you are working with old pieces of furniture, there are the challenges of broken hinges, worn knobs, damaged wood or glass, and this all affects the decision making process. 

I think we were very lucky to have had two very practical parents who encouraged us to work out how things worked. My father was always tinkering in the garage fixing cars and engines and his love of engineering has obviously rubbed off on us. 

Our mother was always a practical no-nonsense woman who often told us to figure something out instead of giving us the easy answer. We learnt a lot by trial and error. Now we are able to give each other ideas and share style tips and techniques. Creating something beautiful out of something unloved is our passion.

Brenda said: "We live in a throwaway society and it is too easy for people to buy something all shiny and new, rather than imagine how to fix something or re-purpose it for a new role in one's home.

The beauty of using old furniture for a new purpose is that it will last for many more years than a modern piece of furniture.  Old furniture was built with excellent craftsmanship using quality wood and joinery. Today's furniture is mass-produced and only made to last for a few years.

Noleen said: "It is exciting looking at a rather dated and worn piece of second-hand furniture and seeing the potential in it. Sometimes you keep the basic use and just alter the external appearance, but on other occasions, a whole revamp is required."

We accept commissions from clients who want their existing furniture to get an updated look and we also have some lovely old pieces in stock which clients can choose and we can customise. We call these pieces "naked" items that just need to be "dressed" to the customers specifications. We involve them in the process allowing them to choose the colours and patterns and envisage what will look best in the room they want.