Storing & Upcycling Furniture

I recently found myself having a conversation with a stranger at a dog park about my mum passing away last year and the predicament of sorting out my mothers house and furniture, of over 50 years of collecting. I would love to keep a lot of pieces of furniture and update them but I have absolutely no space left in my little cottage. My spare room, my mothers third bedroom, not to mention my Large Chinese wedding cabinet are overflowing with my mums possessions. During this conversation it was suggested  I look at some storage options as an alternative to having to sell a lot of my mothers treasured items, to be honest, this idea had completely escaped my mind.

Today there are lots of different storage options and some very competitive prices. It's been easy for me to work out how much space I would need by using the on-line estimators. Some companies even deliver small containers to your home where your can load your own furniture, they then come back and take it away to their storage lockers. Other companies allow you to store the container at your property. With this knowledge I am no longer in panic mode as I'm  thinking of the possibility of either extending my current cottage or moving to a larger home, the option of storing my mothers possession's meanwhile is a weight off my mind allowing me time to decide which pieces I will up-cycle and which items I will sell.

Deciding what to store is not too difficult and I have already chosen some of the furniture I'm definitely keeping. Among these is a nest of tables, chest of drawers, piano stool and a standard lamp. I have various ideas of what I what I might do, I most definitely want to sand back and re-paint the standard lamp and add a lovely drum shade, I have a great idea for the shade which I am going to share another time.  I also want to re-paint and re-cover the piano stool to use at the bottom of my bed. Meanwhile I've been browsing the Internet for ideas for inspiration and found some really cool ideas to share.

1

2

3

4

 (Source unknown)

6

All very different looks, I especially love the gold and black nest of tables in image 5. Unfortunately I can't find this particular image source it's been on my computer for ages as mum has exactly the same shaped nest of tables and I thought what a great way to create an expensive designer look.  I also love the idea of the contemporary drum lampshade on the vintage standard lamp. The last makeover I attempted myself was to apply a French wash to an old pine table but I do love the distressed look of the coffee table above.

Image Sources
1|2|3|4|5|6