Sarah Haugh Designs

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Sarah Haugh Designs Creative Furniture Upcycling ☆ Interior Designer (KLC Dip) ☆ BBC1’s Expert for Shift The Thrift and Money for Nothing ☆ Award Winning

Expert Furniture Upcycling for BBC1's Money for Nothing
Qualified Interior Designer
Creative Upcyling Commissions welcome.

Apparently furniture isn’t enough to keep my paint brush busy…. I collected scallop shells from our local beaches here i...
31/08/2026

Apparently furniture isn’t enough to keep my paint brush busy….

I collected scallop shells from our local beaches here in Scotland, then cleaned, prepared and individually hand painted each one and finished them all with a hand painted gold edge ✨

They’re perfect for holding rings and little treasures, adding a pop of colour around the home, or as individual place settings for weddings, dinner parties and special events.

They’re £10 each and available to purchase. Message me if you’d love one!

Which colour would you choose?

Sarah x



27/08/2026

I'm obviously very well known for painting furniture that's unwanted and unused, but did you know that I also collect the discarded scallop shells that are washed up on our shores here in North East Scotland.... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The unwanted scallop shells are seen as waste by the fishermen who toss them away. I see them as natural products of beauty that need to be reused again!

A Mermaid's Trinket is a collection of stunning hand painted scallop shells in beautiful colours and edged in gold ✨

These beautiful shells will be available to purchase soon and I will be sharing all the different designs and colours here so you'll be the first to see them!

Perfect for gifts, table settings and of course your very own mermaid trinkets.... 🧜‍♀️

Sarah x



This little sewing table commission needed a lot of work! When my client gave it to me to do I didn’t quite appreciate h...
24/08/2026

This little sewing table commission needed a lot of work!

When my client gave it to me to do I didn’t quite appreciate how neglected it was but my client wanted to save it and as you know, I’m all for that! 🙌🏼

The first job was to get rid of all of the old cobwebs and spiders!! 🕷️ Urgh, they held on fast!

Then I sanded all the wooden parts down and filled the damage as best I could. And then onto all of the moving metal parts underneath which were rusty. Sporting a very fetching pair of safety glasses, I tackled that with yet another power tool and then cleaned it all down 😷

We had previously decided on black so I used a glossy spray paint that can be used directly over rust, although I’d removed most of it!

Next the colour, and as it was left up to me, I decided to let the little vintage cotton reel that I found inside guide me! So a gorgeous green from Guild Lane was the perfect choice!

My design included an area that I wanted to restore so the history shone through and the colour worked really well with that and I simply waxed it with my own brand of furniture polish. Look at the difference!

I could say that this was one of the most neglected pieces that had been given to me over the years to do but the satisfaction of saving it from landfill overrides all the hard and quite often unpleasant work……! 🕷️🕸️

I love this piece but I still don’t like sewing! Maybe you do… let me know!


Hello! Some of you will already know that I've taken on a rather amazing Graduate from Heriot-Watt University who is hel...
20/08/2026

Hello!

Some of you will already know that I've taken on a rather amazing Graduate from Heriot-Watt University who is helping me with the final design and manufacture of my workwear range!

Now, Eva has a bit of a questionnaire for you as we would love to know what YOU would like in the final design! ❤︎

So if you do DIY, are in the Painting and Decorating trade, have a creative business or are someone that uses paint, messy crafts, loves gardening and such like, would you please be kind enough to fill it in? It’s totally anonymous!

The link is at the bottom ⬇️

And as a thank you, you'll be automatically entered into a free draw to win a set of my designer hand painted coasters and a tin of my own brand beeswax wood polish!

Thank you! ❤︎

Sarah x

https://forms.gle/srVBqwKMSrcq1UwU8



I’ve worked on many different types of drink cabinets over the years, from Mid Century Modern ones to 1940’s Vintage and...
18/08/2026

I’ve worked on many different types of drink cabinets over the years, from Mid Century Modern ones to 1940’s Vintage and I always recommend the addition of lighting!

Lighting doesn’t need to be expensive or be connected to the mains these days, and you can find a plethora of different kinds… Remote control, sequence, mood lighting.. you name it, you can buy it!

Despite all the choices, I mostly recommend lighting that is a simple warm light as white light on a sensor can be too harsh. And let’s face it, you don’t really want to be completely blinded every time you open the drinks cabinet door!

So the question is, are you a warm light person or do you love a bit of party pizzazz when you reach for that G&T?

Sarah x

The hint of a fabulous wood grain underneath decades of grubby varnish really excites me! I never, never just paint over...
18/08/2026

The hint of a fabulous wood grain underneath decades of grubby varnish really excites me! I never, never just paint over it all and really hate to see this happen.

To me, it's the challenge of removing the decades of old varnish and then applying new! It's a nasty and very messy job but it's always worth it.

Others might get excited with new cars, shoes or handbags but honestly, it really does make me happy when vintage wood grain takes on a new life!

The ‘before’ photo of this piece is on my instagram page. If you’re not already on there, go and have a look where this piece has caused quite a lot of attention. The link is in my profile/bio.

This is still one of my most loved to date and now sold, but I’m looking for more hidden beauties out there!

Sarah x


I absolutely love to mix restored vintage veneer with a touch of colour colour and gold. It’s always just enough…. No mo...
13/08/2026

I absolutely love to mix restored vintage veneer with a touch of colour colour and gold. It’s always just enough…. No more, no less!

Let me know if you would love your vintage furniture to have a new beautiful new look like this one!

Sarah x


As the new series of BBC1's Money for Nothing is now airing and the episode with my sewing box is no longer on BBC Playe...
11/08/2026

As the new series of BBC1's Money for Nothing is now airing and the episode with my sewing box is no longer on BBC Player, I thought my new followers would like to see the work that I did on it 🪡🧵

JJ Chalmers saved the sewing box from going into landfill at the recycling centre. It was very wobbly, one drawer was missing and it was in a really poor condition!

I stripped it right down, changed the lid over to the opposite side so you wouldn't notice that the drawer was missing and repaired all the dried out wobbly parts!🔨🗜️

The original interior fabric was grubby, covered in pen marks and was very dated. So I stripped that all out and used a brand new colourful fabric in its place. The fabric covered a new padded areas for pins and needles and all the fabric in the box was carefully pleated and finished off with a coordinated braid 🪡🧵📍

Before I worked on the interior, I chose the blue from the background in the fabric and colour matched it to the paint that I used on the exterior.

To break up that blue and to emphasise the shape of the sewing box, I added the navy and then outlined that in gold before adding a gold embellishment on the front... 🎥"like a little bow tie" The shelf and top edges were also painted in gold to balance the whole design.

It was sold within two days and is now living its second life in Cheltenham!

What do you think of this great save?




Sarah x

Over the years, I’ve absolutely loved my clients and customers telling me what they’re going to use their bureaus for! T...
06/08/2026

Over the years, I’ve absolutely loved my clients and customers telling me what they’re going to use their bureaus for! This is what it’s all about… a second life after I’ve repaired, restored and redesigned them! 🙌

Which one is your favourite?

Hello! What I do takes me all over the U.K. which is fabulous, but I'm always secretly grateful to get back to my HQ her...
03/08/2026

Hello!

What I do takes me all over the U.K. which is fabulous, but I'm always secretly grateful to get back to my HQ here in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

I didn't even know that there was a thing called 'upcycling' back in the day. Since I was a teenager, I always enjoyed making something look nicer or repurposing it without buying new!

Since 2018, I have been constantly busy with customers and evolving and I am so grateful as I don't have a shop front or passing trade. Most of what I do is actually based on recommendations! Thank you!

If you would like to know anything more… whether that be professional upcycling, talks and demos or interior design, you can message me here.

www.sarahhaughdesigns.co.uk

Sarah x

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Thursday 09:00 - 18:00
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Saturday 09:00 - 13:00

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