Monday, May 13, 2013

Paris Grey Desk and Chair Makeover and Mother's day


Hello!  I hope you had a lovely weekend and Mother's Day. We had a beautiful day, starting with breakfast in a gorgeous cafe on the water's edge watching the Sydney early morning fog dissipated over the beautiful harbour.  It was a Paris Grey morning.


In the afternoon, the boys went off to the AFL and my daughter and I decided to venture to the shops for a browse - wandered around Pottery Barn for about 20 minutes but was a bit underwhelmed - I think that's my reaction to seeing it plastered over blogs and instagram - I'm never very good at following the crowd or buying new (rather than second hand)- although I have to admit that I did buy some demin coloured serviettes as you can never have too much table linen, right??  I did see several beautiful quilts at Pottery Barn and West Elm but as a daughter of a prolific quilter I'm not in the market for any new ones. It was however lovely spending quality time with my daughter, just the two of us. Such a different dynamic than having the two kids together. She told me tonight it was her best day ever- that makes mothering worth it all.


We also had a lovely dinner with my sister and family - very relaxed and delicious and an early night which was what we all needed. It was good to have some family time as my sister and I have been missing our mum on today of all days. It made me realised how sad today must be for some people - those who have lost their mums but worse, those who have lost their children and what a struggle today must be for them. Sending love.

I have just finished this little desk and chair. I love how little it is and it will eventually go in my son's bedroom. For the moment, it is in the corner of our bedroom.  

The lantern was my mother's day present! 
Painted in ASCP Paris Grey with Pure White trim and sealed with clear wax. I was going to paint it all white but one of my lovely friends talked me out of it and I'm quite glad especially as it'll eventually be in a boys room. I really like the shield on the back and used paint and a little distressing to highlight the features.


The chair is painted in pure white and I have to say I like this paint more than I expected - it is like painting with beautiful old fashioned gesso. While I was painting the chair I was reminded of the paint used on houses in Santorini - lovely textured bright white.


The damask fabric on the chair is left over from when I painted and reupholstered a French buttery fly extension table last year. I really love this fabric and am so happy to have a chair in our house in this material. See here for the table makeover.


With this desk I actually used a sealer and a primer as I could tell it would bleed - the original surface was stained dark and badly damaged -you can see it here. I also sanded it all very gently with a foam sanding pad in between each coat as I wanted a very smooth finish. I love how velvety smooth the finish can be with a little extra effort. So worth it.


I love this mix of Paris Grey and Pure White - I'm now working on a huge ornate mirror in the same colours. It's rather fabulous!  What do you think of the colours together - or do you prefer all white?

What did you get up to on the weekend? I'd love to hear.  Here's how I finished off our weekend - all snuggled up on the couch with my dog.


have a great day
Fiona xx


Sources
Desk and Chair - second hand finds
Striped Jug - my mums
Fabric - Reverse Garbage
Sealer - Resene Sealer
Primer - Waterbased Zinsser BIN
White Paint - ASCP in Pure White given to my by Annie Sloan Unfolded
Wax - ASCP Clear Wax - given to my by Annie Sloan Unfolded
Ampersand - birthday present from my kids (I think from Typo)
Glass Etched Lantern - my mother's day present (from The Works)


21 comments:

  1. i love the photo of the boats- it was a paris gray morning!
    and LOVE that desk- the crest on it is awesome!!! what a great feature!

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  2. Sounds like the perfect day. Love your little desk, how sweet is that. Hugs, Marty

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  3. Fabulous desk, love the colour and that little crest is fab.
    How great to spend the day with your daughter, its nice to have one on one time, my kids love it too. Such a tough day when you've lost your mum, but a special day to remember too. Bittersweet, but special that you have all those lovely quilts to wrap her love around you. xx

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  4. The desk is perfect in those colours , I love the shield especially when it is for a boys room. I have just bought both those colours from Sandy @ Paint Me White going to use them on Wed cant wait now I have seen your use of them. Love the misty photo ( you would think that was somewhere in Europe ). Wonderful to hear you had a lovely day with your family.
    Karyn

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  5. Got to get some of that awesome chalk paint! Your colour choice was spot on. Grey with white is understated but always lovely. Since losing my mum, Mothers Day is a poignant day for me. However, my daughter celebrated her first Mothers Day yesterday and how lucky am to have a beautiful little grandson in my life.

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  6. hi Fiona - you have done a beautiful paint job - love the mix of grey and white, and your photo of the boats is so beautiful - it perfectly suits this desk! I'm glad you had a lovely day. I had lunch my with teenage daughters, they are such fun. Your daughter is gorgeous also. Aren't we lucky.
    The fabric is beautiful also - thank you for listing all the sources of everything.
    x Beth

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    Replies
    1. hi Beth -you are very kind - glad to hear that teenage daughters are still good to hang with!!
      I appreciate your comments
      Fiona x

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  7. Simply beautiful - all of it!

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  8. Yep, the grey and white are beautiful together. I love the white - hard to find a white like that. I love the photo you took of the misty morning - it would look nice framed and hung above the desk??

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    1. hi Petra - I was thinking that also - it is such a good grey match to the paint!
      thanks
      Fiona x

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  9. Love the desk Fiona, it needed to be two tone but of course I would say that as I am a bit of a fan of the two-toned look! My paint STILL hasn't turned up :(

    xx Karen

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  10. Love the grey Fiona, it's beautiful with that crest.

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  11. I love how they turned out. I do love the grey but it is a no brainer to do white things more. Like your style.

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  12. Paris grey and white seem to have become my signature colors lol - and that desk turned out gorgeous Fiona!!!
    Beautiful photo of you and your daughter - precious words from her at the end of the day :)
    XOX

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  13. LOVE the desk Fiona.....good job !! Haven't been to Pottery Barn yet, highly suspect that i may have the same reaction as yr good self hahahha !!....Katerina from Glebe

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  14. Hi Fiona, i have followed you from instagram to here and so happy i did.The desk looks beautiful , love the colour scheme !! It is always great to spend one on one time with the kids ....glad you got to do that:) Priya (Peacocks And Paisleys) xx

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  16. Hi Fiona, I was a little underwhelmed about PB too, to tell you the honest truth.

    I think you should keep that mirror for a little while - it suits your house so well!

    It is nice just to hang out with our little ones sometimes. I relish a bit of one on one time with each boy, doesn't happen very often though!

    What's with the random anon comments coming up? My blog has had lots of crazy random spam from P@#n sites lately. And I don't really want to turn on word verification, no-one likes commenting when word verification is on.

    Lovely post!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Sorry if you have trouble commenting, you can always email me at lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com