There is a new and delightful little shop that has recently opened in Qualicum Beach called The Weathered Gate ~ it is the sweetest, tiny space filled with furniture that has been lovingly restored by the shop owners and accented with new home accessories. The mother and daughter team have fabulous taste in keeping with the style they so evidently love ~ the name of the shop gives you an inkling as to what you can expect to see.

The next photo of the exterior of the building will give you another visual to the experience that awaits…

To see furniture, that one may have passed on to Goodwill or to a young family member just starting out, repurposed and restored to a new and up to date piece is very inspiring. So much so in my case that I asked them if they do commission work as well and they said yes they do! I was so excited because we have owned an old, old Vilas corner cabinet that had special meaning to us but still had the original orangey stain and it just doesn’t go with our style ~ which is definitely eclectic but with clear boundaries. I have thought of refinishing this corner cabinet for years but just never quite got around to it. They picked it up from our home, refinished it and then returned it before Christmas – what a gift!

The only thing that went wrong ~ was me not taking a before picture! I can’t believe that I didn’t ~ you will have to use your imagination in thinking of this being an organey stained wood and being transformed to this…

The distressing was done with such a gentle hand that I will show you a couple of close up’s just so that you can see what I mean.

and closer still…

They also re-did the top of another sofa table for us, I wanted to keep the legs original and just have the top done in white ~ now that it is done I am thinking that we may have them do the legs as well. I’d love to hear someone else’s opinion – if you would leave me a comment I would sure appreciate it!

The story doesn’t quite end here ~ when Rick & I had stopped in at The Weathered Gate to confirm a delivery time (and I wanted to show him the shop too) ~ he commented on a sofa table that he liked, I was happy but not surprised as it was the one I had liked so much when I was in previously! I was SO tempted to buy it the first time but the last thing I thought we needed was another sofa table, as we have several ~ my instinct was to do it anyway ~ but I resisted. Low and behold, what was waiting for me Christmas morning??

Happy, happy was I!!  It will be fun decorating it over the years ~ my favourite book at the moment “Patina Style” by Brooke and Steve Giannnetti graces the top at the moment. Brooke’s blog, Velvet and Linen is one of my “go to” blogs for reading about and seeing the most wonderful design inspiration and she sounds so nice too, I think you would enjoy both the book and the blog.

The Weathered Gate, such a perfect, idyllic sounding name for this quaint little shop, another fine addition to Qualicum Beach ~ a shop I know I will pop into on a very regular basis! We highly recommend this sweet shop to see when you are town!