IN THE dreamy world of shabby chic anything is possible. The interior design trend has taken over and people are now starting to pick up the skills they need to transform their homes.

The style, which is based around old furniture with a distressed pastel-coloured paint finish, has become a staple and there are a number of independent furniture shops in Cumbria who have it in the offering.

Last year Alison Vaughan opened Mucky Ducky in Corporation Road, Carlisle, and Groundwork, a charity which helps people in the north east and Cumbria, launched the GWK shop on Workington’s James Street which up-cycles and personalises old items of furniture to give them a new lease of life.

It was also the first year in business for Fiona McCabe, of Parkhead Road, Brampton, who transformed an HGV trailer she bought on eBay into Tallulah Ravens Emporium, a chic shop packed with original gifts and one of a kind pieces of furniture.

Meanwhile shabby chic has become a popular wedding theme especially for the DIY bride-to-be.

At Enquire Within, a quaint and colourful shop tucked away in Salisbury Road, Currcock, Lisa Coke is also offering workshops to help people achieve the look themselves.

“People these days are starting to realise your Ikea furniture suits a purpose but it’s not the best,” she explains. “Whereas old pieces, which in the past people threw away, are good, solid, sturdy bits of furniture and you can turn them into something new. You can make them look completely different.

“Everything you buy is going to be a one-off because even if somebody makes the same thing again it’s going to be different.

“If you’re making something by hand you can’t replicate it, so everything’s a one off. It also means things can be personalised as well.”

Lisa, who now walks around the corner to work from her home in Clementina Terrace, used to teach childcare and health and social care at Carlisle College but after injuring her back she decided to work for herself.

Shortly after opening the shop in October 2014 she started to teach people the new skills she’d learnt and continues to host a range of workshops.

They take place monthly on Sunday afternoons for between two and four hours and included shabby chic painting, decopatch, making paper roses and creating rag rugs and wreaths.

Each one gives people the skills to make unique creations as they bring their own pieces to up-cycle.

There are many returning customers including Jenny Hullock, 62, of Westlinton, near Carlisle who has been to three workshops and continues to use her new skills to create gifts for friends and family.

“I love doing stuff, I just love it,” she says. “I would say our house is totally shabby chic because it is old. It's huge. If I get something more it gets stuck in.

“It is great because a friend of mine comes and we get to spend the afternoon together chilling and chatting and creating something.

“Because it’s so small and cosy you get attention. The teacher comes and puts you in the right direction.”

Jenny has already signed up for the next decopatch workshop, where furniture is decorated with fine tissue, similar to paper mache.

“It’s growing year on year. Trade is picking up and people are starting to know we’re here,” continues Lisa.

“People like learning a new skill. They say when they come in here it always feel very relaxed. It’s tranquil.

“People just like coming away for the afternoon and we sit and learn the crafts, have tea and coffee and gossip.”

Lisa works with a dozen local crafters who do everything from sewing and crochet, to wood-turning and glass-painting and some of them are now starting to run the workshops at Enquire Within.

Lisa also works on commissions and has gone to people’s homes where furniture is too big or heavy to bring to her workshop.

She said it’s becoming harder to source furniture but gets furniture given, looks on all unwanted sites and goes to car boot sales and charity shops to find pre-loved pieces.

As long as it’s not destroyed, she says she can work with anything.