The Painted Piece: Painting and Upcycling Experience

Hi, I'm JodiThanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet. It's nice to have you here. Since you've landed on my About Me page, let me tell you a bit about myself, shall I? Well, firstly I'm a caring wife to a supportive husband and doting mum to an energetic son. Also fur-mum a notorious photobombing doggo who loves his walks. And within my business, I'm an upcycler, refinisher, and furniture artist!My passion for upcycling really kick-started during the pandemic when I, like many others, was furloughed and spending time at home. I have creativity in my genes from my mum's side of the family and had always loved art, but had never quite found my niche – you know, that something that ignited the spark.Over the years, following my mum’s lead, I had painted over my own furniture or plant pots to change them up a bit (usually with whatever wall paint was hanging around!). However, with more time to spend researching online – and the boom in online tutorials and social media – I found myself fascinated by the transformations being created! Gone were the single-colour, ‘covered in Dulux wall paint’ upcycles, and in their place was a world of colour, pattern, art, and unique designs! I started practising the techniques I was seeing online... and I was hooked!Shortly after, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a free pine chest of drawers. I painted them a gorgeous deep blue, added some complementary blue and copper jungle animal decoupage, and even changed the handles – I was very proud of it! I decided to post it on Facebook Marketplace ‘just to see’ (despite my husband wanting to keep it) – and to my surprise and delight, IT SOLD!!That was it! The spark ignited, and my passion was alight.I started thinking that I might be able to give this a go and make something more of my hobby… thus the idea for Upcycled & Reloved by Jodi was born. I actively started scouring Facebook Marketplace for free or cheap pieces of furniture, practising my skills and developing my hobby into something more. I branched out and tentatively took on my first commission until, in 2024, I officially registered my business, quit my job, and turned my part-time hobby into a full-time ‘job’. They say if you do something you love, then you’ll never work a day in your life… It’s true – and it only took me 47 years to figure out what I love!