Gorgeous Painted Vintage Mirrors

My gorgeous girl started high school yesterday - homework already last night can you believe it! So proud of her in the beautiful uniform and how she takes everything in her stride with such grace.

I've been painting a few mirrors lately. I really love interesting old mirrors so when I can find them at a good price, I always buy them.  I think you all love vintage mirrors also as they always get snapped up so quickly.

This solid carved mirror was part of a console set - the console is a bit broken so I haven't started painting it yet as I need to repair it first so I decided to split the set and paint and sell the mirror separately.  It is huge and ornate. I painted it in a custom mix of ASCP Chalk paint and distressed and waxed it. I think it looks gorgeous. BTW I finally sold the ornate console I painted before Christmas. Every one who walked in the house said they had thought about buying it but no one ever did... that is until friends of ours came over on the weekend and saw it. Sold and out of my studio now :)

A lovely client of mine is in love with the mirror over my dining room sideboard so when she found this old mirror she asked if I could paint it the same. A lovely chalky matte finish and some dark crevice detail showing through. She was very happy and this will hang over a sideboard I painted her a few years ago.  It's nice to have good customers - makes me very happy. 

This amazing mirror below is so heavy and solid oak. It was so dark and dreary so I gave it a light wash of grey chalk paint to highlight the beautiful details. This mirror is like nothing I've ever seen before and sold straight away - my clever buyers :)

I still have a mirror to paint in my lounge room. When I get a chance I will paint this vintage french mirror grey or perhaps white. Still undecided and not in a rush as I always seem to be busy painting items for other people.  I love how it reflects the greenery form the hedge.

I have a few more mirrors to paint in between other pieces so shoot me an email if you are looking for something special.

have a great day

Fiona xx

Turquoise Vintage Cabinet

After painting a lot of things white and grey lately, I wanted to splash out on some colour. I was delighted to pick up an old cabinet recently that had gorgeous details. I love little old cupboards and this one is no exception. I did think about painting this white but knew it would also look stunning in a gorgeous turquoise.

I could keep this one and Jonty has been trying to work out a spot for it as he loves it also but I think out house is now full :)

This piece had some little holes in the back of the top where a backing board would have been so I first filled them in and once the wood putty was dry I sanded the top and primed it. Vintage mahogany has a tendency to bleed so it's a good precaution. I then gave the piece two coats of this beautiful turquoise chalk paint and waxed, antiqued and distressed it. I love how it turned out.

I have a lady coming to see it today but if you are interested shoot me an email and I'll let you know if it's still available.

Details:

Lovely old cabinet. 

Solid timber, beautiful details and beautifully made. 

Two shelves inside. 

75w x 47d x 76h cm 

**SOLD NOW**

My studio is looking quite full of lovely things both painted and unpainted. I have a lovely old french sofa that I'm hoping to work on next week and today I should be finishing up a gorgeous set of drawers imported from England that are made from tongue and groove old boards. Just lovely.

Now to get my girl up and ready for her first day at high school. Her uniform is gorgeous - as is she :)

Fiona xx

The Weekend and Beachy Bedside tables

Hi everyone, thanks for the lovely messages after my break from blogging and painting. For my fellow Australians I hope you enjoyed Australia Day yesterday. We had a lovely lunch at neighbours of Barramundi sliders and a watermelon salad then we took the kids to see a movie (Goosebumps) in the afternoon. We don't often go to the movies so it was a nice relaxing afternoon. We also had the weekend up at Avoca Beach as my dad had the kids for a night while we stayed with friends close by. The kids had a great time with dad and his wife - lighting fires, cooking lamb cutlets over the fire, bushwalking, swimming and long chats. 

Such a lovely time for them, and Phil and I had a lovely time also - it's amazing how one night away can make you very relaxed and happy. My friends' parents have been slowly renovating a lovely old house on the coast and there is also a little cottage (a bedroom and bathroom) on the land which is where we slept. It felt like a proper long holiday! Bliss.

Lots of time to walk, read and catch up with friends.

I brought home these hydrangeas from my friend's garden. Just beautiful.

I've got loads of pieces of painted furniture to share and first up is some beachy bedside tables.  To paint this driftwood effect, similar to you see at shops like Wisteria and Restoration hardware I first paint the piece with two coats of ASCP French Linen (after the required prep work) and then white washed with ASCP Pure White.  I then finished with a liming wax. I love this effect and it really creates an interesting paint finish. 

Lovely tall solid timber bedsides given a washed limed look. 

$380 the pair. 

Glass available for the tops. 

Great storage as the drawers are lovely and deep. Perfect for coastal or rustic decor. 

44w x 33d x 73h cm

Last day of school holidays here which is full of excitement as Sasha starts high school tomorrow. Good luck toy our kids also if they are starting a new school and wishing them all the best for the year ahead.

Fiona xx

PS I recently painted these white bedsides below for a lovely client but when my client got them home she realised they were too big for her space so is selling them and buying other ones. If you are interested in them, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with her.

Welcome back - 2016

Happy New Year. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and managed to squeeze in a break from all the craziness of life.  We had a lot of guests over Christmas which made it lovely but also busy and a bit tiring. Lots of beach days and enjoying Sydney's beautiful outdoors.

A drink at the Oyster bar before a play at the Opera House with the kids, Phil and Nana.

A big swell at Clovelly - still clear  enough to find lots of Blue Gropers

Little Bay

 playing tourist in my own city

magnificent view and evening with good friends for NYE

and lots of lovely times at home with friends also, enjoying being in our house.

I haven't been blogging because we've had a lot of guests to stay over Christmas and January as my computer is in the guest room/study so I didn't want to intrude on our guests to write my blog. The break has been good anyway. The other day was actually the 5 year anniversary of my blog. That's a lot of furniture makeovers and a lot of furniture painting advice I've shared.  Sometimes I don't know if it's worth it to keep blogging as how long can people remain interested in painted furniture and what I do but a lot of you still seem to like it so here I am for another year.

I have been busy painting a lot of lovely pieces already in 2016 and will once again share them here on my blog as well as facebook and instagram if you want to follow along. 

Thank you for all your support over the years.

Fiona xx