www.calico-cat.co.uk

Another Warehouse for Calico Cat Painted Furniture

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:46:19 +0000

With our two other warehouses not coping with the expansion of the business at last we have a third, another 2,000 sqare foot to add to our existing 6,000 which will see our growth catered for until the spring when we will expanding further by which time we hope to have 600 pieces of furniture reguarly on the site. We had hoped to keep it all under one roof but the logistics of moving it all is somewhat off putting!!!

Vintage Gramophone Cupboards From Calico Cat Vintage Painted Furniture

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:06:23 +0000

At Calico Cat the home of stunning painted shabby chic furniture we are now offering for sale these two converted cupboards

Originally they would have housed early gramophones. They are Edwardian and obviously as gramophone technology improved the gramophones became redundant. Luckily, unlike in todays throwaway society, the workings were removed and the interiors converted into cupboards. You see loads of these at auction still, very rarely with their inners sadly,but it is heartening to see these examples of the early upcycling of furniture !

Half Price Sale As We Expand Our Range Of Hand Painted Bespoke Painted Furniture

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:36:50 +0100

Due to the rapid progress of Calico Cat, we are snowed under with furniture. The auctiions were very quiet over late summer so prices favourable so we made hay whils't the sun shined. The upshot is we are taking over another 2000 sq ft of warehousing from the start of November, however, until then we can hardly move in our current space so grab yourself a bargain and give us some breathing space !!

Another Shop Fit Out From Calico Cat Hand Painted Furniture

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 08:15:15 +0100

We have this week sold more hand painted shabby chic furniture to a new retail outlet, a lovely shop at the foot of the South Downs in the beautiful village of Alfriston, a marked change from our last customer who has set up in the Bluewater Shopping Centre !!

I find it encouraging that rather go for massive expensive refits of tardy veneered mdf, blockboard and chip board business persons are using their heads and not only getting character fittings into their shops but if as sadly is often the case the business fails they can re sell their fittings easily.

Retro Vintage Painted Shabby Chic Cocktail Cabinets From Calico Cat Painted Furniture

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 07:52:13 +0100

New this week to Calico Cat hand painted shabby chic furniture are two mid 20th Century cocktail cabinets.

These were once a mainstay of every middle class home and although totally out of fashion for 30 or so years they are making a strong comeback as they are firstly practical but very well made and some of the more outlandishly designed ones work as great statement pieces. Many were mirrored inside an done of these has a pull out working surface

Auctions refused to take these in owing to their lack of commercial value but are more than happy to accept them now, the wackier the better

These days you have to make do with storage design of low grade quality, these are a return to the halcyon days when Britain still made things properly with panache thrown in to boot

We have a dozen or so in our 'cocktail cabinet' section, the two shown here in our 'just arrived' section

Useful RestorationTips, Ink Stained Top From Calico Cat Vintage and Painted Furniture

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:24:15 +0100

Calico Cat, traders of vintage and painted furniture in Sussex, bring you the first of our restoration tips

I purchased these tables as part of a job lot at auction. Unfortunately the top tables surface was ruined with an ink stain and general deterioration

The general concensus among the other dealers was to sell it as a nest of 2. My friend Nick suggested an acid would remedy the problem

Untouched by such negativity when I got it back to the warehouse I simply hammered the ends away from the side joints and the stretcher, turned it over, put some glue in the joints and clamped it, voila, 2 minutes, jobs a good 'en

Calico Cat New Branded Photo Farrow and Ball Sideboard...Colour....Arsenic!!

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:41:12 +0100

These are photos of the first product we have taken in the new set of Calico Cat Vintage and Painted Furniture

It is a sideboard winging it's way up London for a customer who requested it be painted in our bespoke colour service in Farrow and Ball Arsenic, great name

The new stock this week has been shot in the set.

As you can see in the second photo without the glare of outside the pictures show far greater detail and let's face it the photos are a vast improvement on previous.

Unfortunately the close up shots are worse than before so will need re doing as we have so much stock waiting to be photod I rushed.

Still learning curve in the right trajectory

First Photos Of Our Stylised Painted Shabby Chic Furniture

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 11:25:30 +0100

Our news blog on Calico Cat Vintage Painted Shabby Chic Furniture is now underway, follow the progress of our new business as we fumble our way around the crazy inexplicable world of digital marketing in an attempt to make this a popular site for lovers of vintage and painted shabby chic furniture. Along the way will be informative items on restoring, buying, minor repairs and comment

This is the first tentative photo of our attempt to re stylise our new furniture and work our way through re photographing the other 400 pieces!!!

Long way to go, another couple of coats of paint to the back will help, progress though, We are off to source some beautiful wood for the flooring (lino), some filler for the gap between the stunning painted shabby chic mdf panels a must

New Set Being Built At Home of Calico Cat Vintage Painted Furniture

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:40:46 +0100

As part of the changes at Calico Cat (shameless plug for Google eyes) the home of vintage painted shabby chic furniture in Sussex (plug over) we have begun work on building a set in our warehouse so our photos are not being stylised in front of weeds concrete and corrugated iron, a novel and necessary change. The upshot is sadly we need to have our beautiful quality pieces of furniture made of elm, walnut, mahogany, English oak now photographed in front of a makeshift set made of MDF....ah the irony

Observations

The step ladder is tall and is not short resting on the sideboard

The garish green colour is a sideboard being painted for a customer in Farrow and Ball ARSENIC!!!

New Stock of Vintage Painted Shabby Chic Furniture

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:36:52 +0100

Now the takeover of the site of Calico Cat Painted Furniture Sussex is underway you can view our new items in the Just Arrived section. As the previous incumbents ran the stock down the furniture in Just Arrived hadn't actually just arrived, but as we have so will the fresh look. We are currently constructing a 10 x 16 ft set so the pictures of our stock are vastly visually improved.

We aim, when the set is completed, to post thirty new items a week so keep looking.

Follow developments over the coming months of our new venture as well as tips of the trade, restoration tips and general comment on this news blog.

Calico Cat Vintage Painted Shabby Chic Dressers Shop Fit

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:30:49 +0100

We are pleased having an enormous stock of hand painted furniture has reaped dividends www.flutterbyes.co.uk who trade from amongst other places Bluewater and sell household accessories have chosen our bespoke shabby chic pieces to kit their latest shop out in, so 10 large dressers are winging their way up to London this very week for display purposes.

See the dresser section in our shop for more painted and unpainted items you can have painted in the colour of your choice

Pay by Pay Pal For Your Vintage Painted Shabby Chic Furniture From Calico Cat In The Heart of Sussex

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:42:14 +0100

As part of the updating and re vamp of our painted furniture site customers can now pay for their goods from our wide range of furniture, be it a small painted bedside cupboard or a painted shabby chic wardrobe via PayPal

We hope a payment by credit card system will be in play within 10 working days

New Stock Painted Vintage & Retro Furniture From Calico Cat Sussex

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:33:55 +0100

In the last few days we have introduced 300 items of new stock all @25% off.

Antique, Retro and Painted, Calico Cat will now encompass the whole spectrum of mid range vintage furniture whils't still specialising in painted furniture with over 400 pieces on the site that can be painted in your own Farrow and Ball colour

Hand Painted Shabby Chic Furniture Specialists Calico Cat Relaunch Business

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:27:55 +0100

From September Calico Cat will be merging with one of the founding partner's businesses to create a larger site. Calico Cat have been producing shabby chic hand painted furniture for the past 2 years, but want to increase their range to include retro and vintage furniture. We have many years of expertise in this area and are excited about bringing new vintage furniture to the market place.

During the month we will be adding 400 new pieces, painted, retro and antique furniture, 98% of which you can have painted in the colour of your choice.

Please be patient as we need to change payment methods and messaging systems so until this is set up you can pay cash on collection, send a cheque, carry out BACS transfer, or use PayPal.

Happy hunting !!!

Christopher Harris

Calico Cat massive clearance Sale of Shabby Chic Furniture

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:33:35 +0100

Calico Cat the online retailer of Shabby Chic furniture announces their summer sale. We have a huge range of beautifully made pieces of furniture for every room in the house, from childrens wardrobes and painted dressers to dining tables, dressing tables, and chests of drawers. Each piece can be hand painted in the colour of our customers choice, making all of our furniture bespoke to every customers taste. The sale starts today and all of our furnitiure is 40% off the retail prices, so you can buy a wardrobes for under £120 or a painted dresser for less than the price of a chair at Laura Ashley. Better still every piece of furniture is well made and has stood the test of time so we are upcycling and reducing the need to cut down tree for furniture. Get looking and find a bargain piece of furniture for your house.

Calico Cat End of Winter Sale Now On!

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:58:02 +0000

Hurrah, the end is in sight and Spring is just around the corner. We don't know about you but here at Calico Cat we are going to be celebrating the end of this cold spell in style ... firstly by putting on a massive end of winter sale! So you can reap the benefits and celebrate too., as we're offering a fantastic 15% off every single piece of furniture on our website - you don't need to do anything as the discount will automatically be applied at the checkout. Just fill your baskets with all the lovely shabby chic furniture that you want and click checkout!

And ... furthermore, if you order more than one piece we'll sort out a really amazing discount on the delivery price, but you'll have to call us to arrange that - the number is 01272 401100.

Happy shopping!

Unique Chic Furniture

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:52:11 +0000

'Unique chic' has become a popular phrase recently, and it seems rather apt to describe what we do here at Calico Cat. Our furniture is all unique and definitely shabby chic! We can offer all of our one-off, bespoke pieces in any colour of your choice to make them completely unique for your home. Check out our Unique Chic Video to see a small selection of the furniture we offer, or visit our shop to see the entire range of our current unique chic collection!

Affordable Shabby Chic

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:22:26 +0000

Here at Calico Cat we believe in being very affordable, as well as stylish and good to the environment ... and there's no reason why you can't be all these things at the same time!

Cheap shabby chic furniture is a fantastic alternative to cheap flimsy flat-pack furniture that generally has a short life-span and often falls apart after just a bit of handling. Our re-used, up-cycled, pre-loved, second-hand (call it what you will) furniture is a much better bet if you want well-made, good quality pieces that last.

It also looks a million times better as well, and gives you something completely bespoke for your home.

Whether you want painted wardrobes, shabby chic dressers, bespoke bedroom furniture or unique chic furniture for any room in your home Calico Cat is the place to visit.

Browse our shop to see our full collection of affordable shabby chic furniture!

Shabby Chic Dressers

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:06:57 +0000

Get some French farmhouse style or country cottage chic with a painted dresser or shabby chic sideboard. Here at Calico Cat we have a wide range of painted shabby chic dressers and sideboards, all of which can be finished in a Farrow and Ball colour of your choice. Check out our latest video showcase showing a small selection of the dressers available ...

Painted Wardrobes Video Showcase

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:22:42 +0000

Check out the latest video by Calico Cat showcasing some of our lovely painted wardrobes!

Calico Cat on The Alan Titchmarsh Show Again!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:42:51 +0000

It seems we have a fan, in the form of Alan Titchmarsh, well at least his producers anyway, as following the success of our two sideboards featured on the show on Friday 20 January, we were asked if we'd like to provide a bed for the show on Friday 27 January. The idea was to show how a bed can be given a whole new lease of life by being reupholstered, in keeping with the on-going theme of the show - up-cycling furniture to save money and create something unique for your home.

So with the help of James Carey, of Henry James Upholstery, whom we regularly work closely with, we provided a bed that was featured on the show on Friday 27 January. James lovingly reupholstered the vintage bed head and footer with a retro-design material. The feature was again presented by the lovely interior designer Anna Ryder-Richardson. To see the show follow this link to ITV player. The feature starts 27 minutes into the programme!

More news soon!

Calico Cat does Unpainted as well as Painted Furniture

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:37:22 +0000

Calico Cat is known for its large selection of affordable, painted unique chic furniture but due to a small demand we've decided to offer unpainted vintage and antique furniture as well.

Painted furniture is not to everyone's taste so we have started to offer a few select pieces of good quality unpainted furniture in our online showroom, and this way if you like the piece but would like it painted we can paint it for you (but we can't take the paint off the pieces once they're finished!).

So far we have some unpainted wardrobes, sideboards, desks, beds and chairs - all in the Just Arrived Section at the moment. Check them out or contact us for more information about anything you see.

Happy hunting!

Calico Cat Painted Dresser on The Alan Titchmarsh Show

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:43:08 +0000

Here at Calico Cat we're very proud of our performance on Friday's Alan Titchmarsh Show (well speaking as proud parents we're proud of our unpainted and painted dresser's performances!) And we must give a big thank you to the lovely Anna Ryder Richardson, who mentioned 'Tim at Calico Cat' by name and lovingly showed Alan how to distress a painted dresser. Alan himself even had a go at sanding down the painting dresser, and seemed very impressed by the price of it on the Calico Cat website - have a look for yourself at our Vintage Painted Sideboard here.

Following the success of last week's feature on upcycling furniture this Friday's Alan Titchmarsh Show (27 January) is featuring yet more of our unique chic furniture. We are providing a gorgeous re-upholstered bed and an un-restored bed frame to show how it can be upcycled into something fabulous. Don't miss it to get some really great money-saving tips!

If you missed last week's show and would like to see it just follow this link to go to ITV player or search for The Alan Titchmarsh Show Friday 20 January.

[Images provided by http://www.itv.com/itvplayer].

Watch The Alan Titchmarsh Show today!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:24:22 +0000

Make sure you tune in to ITV today, Friday 20 January, at 3pm to watch the delectable Alan Titchmarsh doing a feature on up-cycling second-hand furniture, using several Calico Cat pieces.

The gorgeous Anna Ryder Richardson will be showing Alan and his viewers how to create beautiful but affordable furniture using an unpainted and a painted sideboard, and two beds, provided by us.

Watch the show and learn some of our techniques to make your home fabulous with unique chic furniture!

Calico Cat on The Alan Titchmarsh Show!

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:01:15 +0000

These are exciting times here at Calico Cat, we’re super busy keeping up with the demand for our unique chic furniture and this Friday we have two pieces being featured on ITV’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show!

Make sure you tune in at 3pm on Friday 20 January to see our fabulous furniture being upcycled by the gorgeous interior designer and TV presenter Anna Ryder Richardson, best known for being a designer on the BBC shows Changing Rooms, House Invaders and Staying Put.

The feauture on the show is all about upcycling furniture, making it not only green but affordable too – exactly what most people need in these tough economic times.

Anna clearly has excellent taste in selecting one of our shabby chic pieces of painted furniture and one of our unpainted pieces to show the ‘before and after’ effect of the painting and distressing process. It really is an easy process to master with a few tips from an expert, so make sure you don’t miss the show to find out some trade secrets! You might even see Alan himself doing a bit of sanding and painting – but be careful ladies, we know he raises blood pressure for some of you!

Both the pieces featured on the show are for sale - you can buy the finished, painted sideboard made from solid mahogany on our website, and while the solid oak unpainted sideboard isn’t available on our site yet if you’d like to buy it just contact us and let us know if you’d like to buy it unfinished, so you can have a go at distressing it yourself, or finished by us in a Farrow & Ball colour of your choice.

Don’t forget to watch the show on Friday and keep an eye out for further similar features on future shows … you never know one of us might even make a guest appearance!

Shabby chic antique furniture shop Calico Cat showcases vintage painted wardrobe

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:01:34 +0100

Just arrived in the Calico Cat shop, the home of handpainted antique furniture, is this Vintage Painted Maple & Co Wardrobe for £675.00.

A Victorian Maple and Co wardrobe of high quality, it splits into 4 conveniently sized pieces. The central part is made of two halves, there is a small base, and finally the cornice, making access easy. It features some fantastic carvings and is made from mahogany. One side has a simple wooden rail, the other has the original brass one and hooks.

This piece has recently been handpainted by us in off-white 'classic cream' and so is in very good condition, with a shabby chic appearance.

Some of the fretwork to the side has been damaged which we have shown in the photographs, but this only really shows when viewed close up.

Find out more about the Vintage Painted Maple & Co Wardrobe

Shabby chic antique furniture shop Calico Cat showcases retro style chest of drawers

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:20:24 +0100

Just arrived in the Calico Cat shop, the home of handpainted antique furniture, is this Painted Retro Chest of Drawers for £98.00.

Dating from the mid-twentieth century, this piece has unusual angled drawer fronts, making it highly distinctive. The black trim is plastic, and all of the drawers run well.

It has recently been handpainted by us in an off-white 'classic cream', and so it is in great condition with a shabby chic appearance.

Find out more about the Painted Retro Chest of Drawers

Calico Cat launches new 'shabby chic’ handpainted antique furniture web site

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:40:52 +0100

The Calico Cat web site has launched selling more than 250 pieces of ‘shabby chic’ handpainted antique furniture. We stock a wide range of furniture styles, including traditional, retro, vintage, modern and rustic pieces. Each piece of furniture is unique, and has been carefully handpainted by us at our barn on the outskirts of Lewes in East Sussex.

Customers are able to have their chosen piece painted in the Farrow&Ball colour of their choice.

Find out more and visit the Calico Cat shop – the home of handpainted antique furniture.