Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Two turquoise pieces - such a splash of colour


When I painted the piece of furniture that Wagner Australia bought and gave away on my facebook page, the marketing manager asked for me to paint the piece in a bold bright colour. I love bright splashes of turquoise so I went to my local paint shop and checked out the colour range. I chose Dulux Porpoise Place but it's not the exact colour I ended up with. I first selected a semi gloss acrylic but it was way too shiny for my liking so I went back and aimed to get the same colour in a flatter sheen but the guy at the hardware shop mixed the colour into the wrong base colour. Porpoise Place is meant to be on a Ultra Deep base but the hardware guy accidentally mixed it in a Deep base. So I then mixed both my tins together to get a mid sheen, mid colour paint and it turned out perfectly. A custom mistake!


Above is a close up of the French desk before I lightly distressed it. My client Nicole had asked me to find her daughter a french style dressing table that I could turn into a desk for her daughter. A few weeks later I found this stunning walnut piece. Usually these dressing tables only have two drawers on each side and longer legs but I was thrilled to find this one with 7 drawers in total. Nicole loved it and asked for me to paint it in this turquoise/teal. I always get confused with turquoise, aqua, teal etc and never know what exactly to call them and this colour proves difficult to capture in a photo anyway but trust me it's gorgeous.


I replaced the original hardware with crystal knobs. There's also a beautiful piece of glass to go on the top which I think will be good for a desk to protect the paint work.

When Nadine, another facebook follower, saw this desk she asked if I had any small pieces for a hall table and could I paint it in the same colour as her hallway need a bright piece.  I had a gorgeous vintage music cabinet in my stash which she loved.



Pretty ugly in my opinion in it's original finish especially paired with those gold star knobs.  I painted the whole thing, inside and out with the turquoise paint mix and added little silver knobs. In progress below. For both pieces, so I didn't need to use a primer (as I didn't want any white peaking through) I used the first coat with a custom mix ASCP. The custom mix is one I did ages ago and I had enough to use as a base coat for both pieces but not to do three coats on each. It's probably close to Florence but more blue and then I did two coats of the acrylic paint. 


And finished.


The details on this piece are lovely also. The little silver disc covers the original gramophone winder holes.


So if you love this colour and want to replicate it, I would get the hardware shop to mix Dulux Porpoise Place into a deep base in a satin finish. It won't be exactly this colour but close enough. Dulux Waikiki might also be an option.

Just to finish I thought I'd share some photos from the weekend at the beach. I think this summer will be a hot one and when I'm not working you will find me here...




sharing at 
Miss Mustard Seed

6 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for sharing your painting colours. I love it when original plans go awry and things turn out for the better. I really do love this bright, show stopping colour and will be looking to doing something similar on a piece I am yet to find.

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    1. thanks so much Jan, i'd love to see a before and after photo when you do

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  2. It's such a gorgeous colour Fiona, just beautiful! I think those mistake colours are often the best. :)

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    1. Thanks Catherine, One of my favourite colours ever was a mistint! Hope you are well xx

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  3. Hi Fiona!
    They are a stunning pair and I love the colour...buuut I think I am too conservative to use it .
    When you described painting it you mentioned you painted acrylic over chalk paint this really interested me as I have never thought of doing that as an option.

    I so love following your work.

    Best wishes

    Cheryl

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    1. Hi Cheryl
      Thanks – yes it is a great option and one I do all the time. Using the chalk paint as a primer basically. It is also the best way to paint over something that has been waxed previously – I will lightly sand. Paint chalk paint over the waxed surface, sand the chalk paint smooth then paint with whatever paint I want to use.
      Many thanks for following
      Cheers Fiona

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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