Lovelea Designs Wavell Heights

LoveLea Designs are teaching local craft enthusiasts how to turn scrap into beautiful furniture pieces, at their workshops in Wavell Heights.

The workshops are operated out of the bottom floor of owner, Lea’s home – it is decked out with everything from chainsaws to painting stations, to an upholstery room.

Lea makes it her mission to find unloved furniture to makeover, so her collection of ‘scrap’ is quite impressive - a mix of antique, vintage, art deco, retro and contemporary pieces. These can be found on Lea's facebook page, which is being continually updated when new stock is sourced and becomes available. Attendees of her workshop can either purchase one of their treasurable finds or bring their own piece along to upcycle.

LoveLea offers a variety of workshops, suited to any crafty type and tailored to their specific creative need. There’s furniture upcycling, as well as upholstery and lampshade covering workshops. There’s even kid’s furniture upcycling classes which are held in the school holidays.

The little ones come along and upcycle stools for their rooms and sometimes they make their own chalkboards. The kids also love meeting the resident dog, Cindy.

LoveLea even tailors private events for groups – perhaps you have a crafty bride to plan a hen’s gathering for, or feel like doing something different for your birthday. LoveLea hosts a ‘shabby chic and Champagne’ event for you all to enjoy.

Throughout the three-hour workshop (which happen on weekends), Lea will host demonstrations on particular techniques along the way.

Lea assists all of the workshop attendees at every step of their upcycle, to ensure they get the desired result they were hoping for.

Everything in the workshop, even including the paint, has been salvaged from kerbside collection, council tip shops, trash and treasure markets, garage sales, gumtree, and existing customers, in efforts to minimise wastage and provide new life to an old yet beautiful item.

Workshops are priced at $60 for three-hours, with all sorts of inclusions from paint to furniture finishing’s, and of course use of all their tools and equipment.