Have you visited the website looking for workshop dates and found there are none?
You might be wondering whether there will be any more coming up.
Perhaps you have been on Done up North’s socials and found things a little quiet and wondered whether anything is still going on.
If you followed my furniture projects before, you might be wondering what I am up to and if I am still upcycling!
Or if you just found Done up North while looking online for furniture upcycling classes, maybe you'd find it helpful to know more about me so to help you decide you're in the right place.
You can read more about my own personal journey to become a Professional Upcycler and also more about Done up North.
The Big Change
Towards the end of 2023 I had to take some time out of the business to put myself back to together and, well, do up my own life!
As a result, I decided I had to step away from the arduous process of physically designing and upcycling custom pieces myself. That meant giving up my lovely Studio too.
It took me from the April until the September to finally finish, sell and move everything out and clear my storage unit too. It was a mammoth and bitter sweet task largely done solo (though was massively grateful for some hands on help from Alison Paints, my furniture painter friend!) but it was the only way forward.
Look at that face! Totally Done in Up North. That's the last piece stood behind me in my empty Studio. (You can watch the video from that day here)
I moved what was left and was given a lifeline by my friend Emma to stay in her empty flat in Leeds for a while. It meant I could have a break from van life, which although exciting and idyllic at times, the lack of certain conveniences does take an extra bit of energy and resilience to deal with. Letting a tap just run was heaven!
That's where I shot the last Money for Nothing episode I did though really I wasn't back to myself and was pushing myself still too hard. I’ve made a few attempts to get back into things over the year out but realising eventually I wasn’t fully letting go, allowing the healing take however long it took and learning to lean into it and not let it frustrate me.
My burn out was a result of stress exacerbating already Menopause-mangled hormones which in turn has a massive impact on ADHD symptoms (only diagnosed two years before). It's something I know a lot of women are dealing with too which is why I talk about it.
Amazingly, there was still lots of interest in workshops despite my absence and so it looked promising that when the time was right I’d be in a good place to get things going again.
Time to move on
It slowly crystallised while I was off that it was time to leave Leeds after so many years bobbling about between there and London (and so so many addresses) and feeling never quite fully like I belonged in one place.
After spending so much time alone through and post Covid and throughout the decline in my health, I could see I needed to create more connections & community in real life than online.
The only way to do that was to actually let myself settle somewhere and create a real home for myself at last. It made sense to head back nearer to the Wirral, where I grew up and my family still live.
This was made a bit more challenging because I was moving back into the (not-so) Done up Van to live after a year or so out of it. Ironic that I was going to settle down in a tiny home designed for travelling about! But I’ve always been more fascinated by inventive, small space design and living a bit differently than the usual bricks and mortar over than the idea of a life on the road.
I’ve had several failed attempts at starting the ‘big upcycle’ to renovate my old Talbot Express motorhome over the past few years. In fact, trying to do videos on that after the huge upheaval of single handedly moving out of a 3 bed rental, as well as doing all the business stuff, was definitely the start of the wheels coming off for me. It seemed totally doable at the time though!
In fact, last Autumn when I went back into it to get it ready, it was actually in a worse state after the past couple of years, rather like its knackered owner, and it was quite a daunting thing to be even thinking about.
There was no hot water, the gas fire didn’t work and it just looked terrible where I’d had to pull out all the old textiles to get at the moths than had been munching away. I’d also had to gut the whole bunk bed area down to sheet metal to fix damp coming in through the outside rails.
And, possibly even more daunting, I didn’t know where the hell I was going to park it, where I could actually live. But all I could do was leap into the unknown and hope to at least land gracefully, if not actually fly.
I really believe that you have to not try to plan or control, let things unfold and trust it will all work out to be what is best for you.
Where I am now
And it really has.
So, I’m still Done up North – just a rather different view of the world on the other side of the Pennines!
I’m now based right on the stunning West coastline of the Wirral with the most amazing view all the way from Wales to Liverpool and Albie and I get to enjoy the most stunning sunsets on dog walks and we are surrounded by nature every day.
And for Done up North it was a great start to the year, running some great workshops as well as working with local charities to support their Lottery funded upcycling groups.
But it gradually started to become apparent that without a huge effort on social media and marketing, which I simply didn’t have in me any more if even the algorithms played ball (unlikely), I wasn’t going to be able to sustain the uptake once the New Year good intentions started to subside.
We are finding ourselves in an ever-increasingly more uncertain World and of course it naturally affects our confidence to do new things or make changes.
Plans for Workshops
For me personally, after finally getting myself on an even keel again, I desperately did not want to find myself back in that stress-filled place, worrying about where the next booking was coming from or feeling like I was never doing enough or the right things to constantly feed and keep up with the social media machine.
Spending so much time trying to pull all the other logistics together - finding suitable external venues with good availability, rescheduling, losing deposits and so much back and forth trying to arrange it all with people, it just started to become an awful headache.
That doesn’t mean I want to have to stop doing the workshops I love doing so much and that I know those who come enjoy so much too.
At least for now, I’ve decided only to offer 1-to-1s, and private workshops for up to 6 people, which I can travel for or you can come and upcycle with me at my workshop on the Wirral.
I’ll also still be doing external workshops for organisations and events too where I can again just focus on the upcycling part!
It will be lovely to do some relaxed, sunny Summer workshops here – as well as being very scenic and peaceful with great views, there is also a lovely cafe (beats me having to get sandwiches and cut them into triangles hands down!)
So for now, I’m happy to just let things unfold as they will for and welcome people who want to come and wait and see if setting up scheduled workshops in the future is doable.
Upcycling my Motorhome
With the decision to pull back on that for now though, it’s given me a huge opportunity to actually get stuck into sorting out the Motorhome and do some proper upcycling and design for my own home at long last!
After sorting all the basics out like hot water, heating and bathroom sink, I’m now finally a good way on through transforming it from 1990s-era chunky beige laminate to my favourite Mid Century inspired-look, of course as I like doing in my furniture work.
After few false starts, I’ve now got a new kitchen section extending from the existing cabinet and put in a new counter top in made from reclaimed wood from a 1960s Teak wardrobe (broken down already I should add – sourced from the Leeds Wood Recycling).
I’m writing this with all my cupboard doors off ready for their new coat of paint instead of the sticky-backed wood-effect plastic. Removing that with a heat gun has been as satisfying as a tape reveal, just a bit hotter!
Unfortunately, it has revealed some very rough / fluffy mdf in places that primer isn’t helping. So figuring out a stylish way to resolve it without having to meticulously prep all the nooks and crannies of 12 plus moulded frame door is the next challenge in store.
Naturally, I’ve been trying to keep to my upcycling principles and use reclaimed or repurposed materials as much as possible.
That means bits of my past furniture projects and supply cupboard are getting a chance to be used up – like the leftover mosiac tiles from a Drinks Cabinet that are now covering my bathroom sink shelf and old furniture handles being refinished for the cabinet doors and even just scraps of trim I held on to.
I’m learning so much as I go along (my joinery skills have gone from non-existent to actually building something pretty solid, if not that pretty internally! Though my measuring skills are still lagging a bit e.g. Measure three times, cut once and still cut it wrong. Hey ho, keep trying...).
I am very fortunate that this time I have on hand a very patient expert (and all his tools!) to guide me or talk things over when I am unsure of how to tackle something, instead of how I learned furniture upcycling… on my own, the hard way!
Sounds odd to say perhaps, but I’ve been surprised by the pleasure of simply getting to enjoy using the skills and techniques I’ve acquired myself over the years, without pressure or expectation (usually my own) thanks to the harshest task-master of perfectionism.
Burn out has definitely helped me with understanding all that and learning to accept myself as I am and not worry as much as being approved of by others. Now the new mantra is ‘Done is better than perfect’ (even if I am still very much into details. You can’t change who you are completely!)
More to come
You can see how I’ve got on when I share more photos and the videos here on the blog.
I’m not sure I’ll venture back into regular social media again other than to simply amplify stories I care about there.
I have an eye on sharing to Substack though so you can follow me there and get updates sent to you or check back here again soon.
For now, I'm off to clean some hinges and try and see if I can salvage those old cabinet doors somehow. I'll let you know how I get on!
Nicky x