Continuing our focus on our creative community…. Painted Love

Painted Love was started by friends Rachel and Tracey who met 17 years ago whilst working in the travel industry and they have remained firm friends, and painting partners ever since. They are committed to saving furniture that’s down on its luck and heading to the landfill site. They lovingly restore the furniture, giving it a new lease of life.
Adding a contemporary twist, these original pieces of furniture have been reinvented with love and are complimented by their handmade soft furnishings.


Rachel and her husband have lived in Furzedown for 14 years and have a daughter who attends Furzedown Primary School and a son with special needs, who attends a school in Putney. They have slowly moved down the Northern Line as they needed more space, arriving in Furzedown from Tooting Bec, where they were delighted to find our amazing community. Having not imagined they would choose to stay in London once they had children, they now never plan to leave! Rachel spends a lot of time sanding down old furniture whilst the children are at school and is also is involved with helping the Secret Pillow Project, empowering women in India through training and work opportunities.
Tracey is an art teacher who in her spare time began renovating furniture, along with her other creative outlet of pottery. She loves to find new ways to reuse old things. Tracey is married to Julian, who is also a teacher. They are passionate about their jobs which can take over, so enjoy getting aay to explore new places both home and abroad during the school holidays.
I asked them about their personal interiors styles and what what inspires them and her’s what they had ot say….

How would you describe your interiors styles?
Rachel: Eclectic (a polite world for messy) retro and currently very dusty due to building work!
Tracey: Mid century modern

Do you still enjoy making things for your own homes as well as the business?
Rachel: With two children, one of whom has special needs, and a very clumsy husband, we really can’t be trusted with nice things in our house, so most of the gorgeous things we make end up for sale. If there are pieces which I think can be easily recovered /repainted they end up staying. That is the beauty of up cycling that it doesn’t take long to repaint a scratched table leg or oil up a lovely piece of MCM furniture, which has fallen foul of a spilled drink.
Tracey: I wish I was as good as Rachel at making new things for our own home but school work and general life seems to get in the way!

Is it always plain sailing with your projects?
Rachel: There is always a lot of stripping and repainting involved with up cycling! One day Tracey and I will remember to write down whether we used oil-based or water-based paints so we don’t have to go back to bare wood if we decide to change colour. Sometimes a colour you have in your head looks very different in reality. Luckily I have amazing neighbours who don’t complain about the sanding.
Tracey: I did recently make a lampshade for our new garden room/workshop and everything went completely wrong! We now have a lampshade that is strategically placed in one corner so the mistakes don’t show!Our favourite workshops are lampshade-making sessions. They are deceptively simple and can make such an impact and its very satisfying when happy customers go home with a unique lampshade they have made all by themselves.




Which furniture or soft furnishings pieces makes the most impact?
Rachel: Probably a beautiful mid-century sideboard as not only does it have its own gorgeous shape, it’s the perfect spot to showcase accessories or a gorgeous Danish chair with one of our cushions on! Too hard to decide!
Tracey: It has to be a piece of Painted Love furniture! A classic piece of mid-century modern furniture particularly by a Danish designer always make a very strong statement and can be the real focal point in any room.



Top 3 home accessories…. These would have to be cushions, table lamps with Painted Love lampshades and (for Rachel) of course a 4ft tall knitted cactus swapped with a Sprout Arts member for some cushions — An essential for any home. Oh and more cushions!


Does a relaxing evening ever involve up cycling or sewing?
We do try and get together for crafting evenings to sew or paint but we usually end up chatting and eating chocolate! Or for Rachel, sometimes the call of an interior design show on the TV is too hard to resist.
What inspires you?
For inspiration, Pinterest and instagram are great resources, as well as travel and the availability of furniture to upcycle. Whilst in a small town in Belgium last week, Tracey spotted an airline trolley that had been converted into a mini bar. It reminded her of the airline drinks trolley She and Rachel had upcycled a couple of years ago and sold when in Sprout Arts. Had they not already done that, they’d have been tempted to “borrow” that idea.

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