I've got the blues

I find it very difficult to correctly photograph bright blues. I don't have great lighting in my studio (as it used to be our bedroom). I have plans to add some better lights but time slips away and I keep putting off calling the electrician. Add this to the fact that I took all these photos in the evening and you don't get a good representation of colour. I need to do some research into capturing blue hues better.

I decided to paint some more pieces in that beautiful deep teal that I have been using recently. It seems that people can't get enough of it. 

Below is a better photo of the colour. Colours like these with lots of tint have great coverage and make painting a breeze. I may never paint anything white again...

I immediately sold the Balinese drawers above and had several disappointed potential customers so I searched for another tall boy and painted it the same. One more happy customer :)

I've used a filter on the photo above and it goes part way to capturing the correct teal colour. I really think you need lots of natural light to capture blues correctly and sometimes then it's hard.

Here are the pine drawers before - so well made and in great condition but an awful orange hue from the varnish ageing.

I'll share tomorrow some pale blue pieces I have finished also. 

A lot of blue paint in my studio! 

A lot of paint full stop. 

Just the way I like it.

Fiona xx

Beautiful marble topped French cabinet and around home

Good morning, Hope you all had a great weekend. Phil had a cold and needed rest so we had a fairly quiet one. Some chores on Saturday resulting in a nice clean house and of course our ritual of the farmers markets. So good to have such a great resource so local. 

Yesterday morning the kids slept in and the house was lovely and quiet till 9am. Phil and I went for a walk and coffee and then home to relax over poached eggs until the children woke. Very nice.  During the day, I took the kids out to a movie and it was lovely to sit and snuggle with them and laugh at the silly movie.

Last week I bought a lovely chair for the lounge room (for the tv side of it so we don't have to drag around the chairs pictured above). It's a gorgeous French oak chair. I'm not a fan of the gold upholstery and will eventually recover it in a nice linen.

Anyway back to the marble topped french cabinet. When I bought it it was a horrible dark green paint and the ormulu were very shiny and cheap gold. I sanded it well to even it all out and cleaned and cleaned it. I then painted it in ASCP Graphite and highlighted the ormulu in a deep antique gold. I painted the interior with Dulux Clunies and added a shelf.

I just love how this turned out and would have happily kept it, but no room. It's already left for it's new home and I have to say I was a bit sad to see it go. Oh well onto the next piece. I have some great pieces coming up this week if I can fit painting around family activities. One project will be this lovely gold mirror that I sold last night and the buyer wants painted.

You can see in the reflection above and photo below a new pot plant (in a lovely planter my parents gave me for Christmas). I love ferns but am not so good with remembering to water indoor plants so I'm hoping I can keep this one alive. It looks good for the moment anyway.

I have a huge french cabinet leaving today to get shipped to Dubbo and I'm looking forward to having more space back in my studio. I'm really not set up for storing pieces for too long. I'll share photos of the cabinet soon. I'm really behind on sharing my pieces here on my blog but all in good time.

Have a good day

Fiona xx

More Luscious Blues

I had gorgeous teal paint left over from when I painted the layered secretaire so yesterday when I picked up a small carved trunk I knew exactly how I wanted to paint it.

A quick and easy project. Love it when that happens. I gave the piece a good sand to even out the old timber and remove the varnish. The a good coat of my teal custom mix and once that was dry I did a wash of turquoise chalk paint.  Once it was all dry I gently distressed the piece and waxed it. 

I love it!

While I had the teal paint on my brush I decided to be bold and paint a vintage resin mirror that I bought from an old Italian family last week in Concord. Te mirror was brown and gold and a bit tacky to be honest but in perfect condition. The guy I bought it from said his parents never allowed the kids into the formal part of the house so everything was completely brand new and pristine despite being 50 years old.

I think the mirror looks amazing - such a great pop of colour.

The kids and I are off to go treasure hunting as I have pretty much painted all my stock.  I will be listing another gorgeous mirror on social media tonight. You can find me below if you are interested:

Facebook

Instagram

have a good day

Fiona xx

French Country Bedside Tables

Good morning - I hope you are enjoying your week. We had an early morning swim today which was a bit brisk but lovely and refreshing and it was so serene doing laps and watching the beautiful sun rise. I've got a niggling sore shoulder so I took it a bit easy and mainly did breast stroke as freestyle hurt. I think its from a lot of heavy lifting. Need a good massage :) The swim was followed of course by coffee, which is always a good thing.

I have had a few pairs of bedside tables recently. These little ones are a sweet shape and I decided to paint them in a French Country two tone style. I used ASCP Old Ochre for the base and Old White for the trim. I love this combination.

French Country Style Bedside tables

55w x 40d x 55h cm. 

$400 the pair.

Pair of vintage prints in ornate frames 

47x34cm $50 the pair.

Pickup from Lilyfield.

and in progress :)

I also painted these huge white bedside tables below. Nicole, a talented stylist and visual merchandiser, was one of my very first customers and has since supported my business several times. So when she said she wants big white bedside tables, I deliver! Well actually I made her come pick them up but you know what I mean. She's replacing the crystal with black knobs which will be gorgeous also.

A pull out table for extra space.

I still have one more pair of bedside tables (still in my car as I'm so short of space at the moment). I will share photos soon. I think I will paint them white as well, as I just love the crispness of bright white.

Have a great day.

Fiona xx

Fleur de Lis Dinnerware for Lilyfield Life

I am stocking some lovely Fleur de Lis dinnerware that is just perfect for Lilyfield Life and french lovers. I was so pleased to find this set as it is very similar to what I have at home and that everyone loves.

I have an initial small order here (4 cake stands, 3 oval platters and 6 each of the dinner set - no mugs on hand) but I thought I would gather everyone's order and put an order in all together. 

Details and prices below. 
Pick up Lilyfield or postage can possibly be arranged.

OVAL PLATTER $35.00
26x15cm 2 LEVEL CAKE PLATE $35.00
26cm DINNER PLATE $13.50
21cm SIDE PLATE $9.00
22x3cm SOUP BOWL $10.00
15x8cm NOODLE BOWL $9.00
350ml Mug $7.00

These are divine!! I am selling below retail prices as I have such minimal overheads. Let me know what you are interested in and I can either sell what I have here or I can include you in my next order. Email me on lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com. If you want to come see some for yourself, let me know and we can make a time.

Cheers Fiona xx

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A console, a trunk for friends, and why don't kids listen to their mother

Good morning! I think someone forgot to tell the weather it is already autumn. It's going to be hot in Sydney today and I've just been trying to tell my son that he should wear shorts to school instead of long pants. It is a dress up as a desert today and he wants to wear his red jeans. I walked away when he became argumentative. Not sure why I bother. It's up to him if he chooses to be hot. 

Yesterday I finished a lovely french style console. It's made from a South African hardwood and is unbelievably heavy and hard. I know it's hard because I had to drill new holes for new handles :) I thought I was going to snap off my drill bit.

I decided to leave the top it's natural timber but I polished and sealed it for a lovely smooth finish. For the base I painted it with ASCP French Linen and washed it with pure white for a driftwood effect. I then sealed it with wax. It is lovely and smooth also.

French Style console table

$485

140w x 53d x 77h cm.

and the Pineapple lamp and shade is $175
Happy to make an appointment if you are interested. Email or call me 0405766445.

I have also restored a NZ Rimu trunk for some friends. My friends got this trunk as a wedding present: it honestly was looking bad after many years of marriage, a three kids, knocks and bumps and a million cups of coffee. I sanded it back to silky smoothness and finished it in a hard wearing poly and then wax: good for many more years of happy marriage.

and before: (well almost before - you can see that I've started sanding on the left side)

....OMG just as I was typing this I had a call from school saying Jonty is sick and faint and can I come get him? OVERHEATED! in those bloody jeans.  He's home now, a cool shower, eating some ice and wearing the shorts. And that is why you should listen to your mother....

yours in expasperation.
Fiona xx

Layered Sapphire Blue French Style Secretaire

I meant to write this earlier but my day got away from me with painting and furniture pickups. I have some lovely pieces coming up that I am really happy with. I was blessed to grow up on the beautiful Sapphire Coast in a small town, Eden. We spent weekends on the long golden beaches, on our boat on Twofold Bay or bush walking and camping in the surrounding National Parks.

The deep blue ocean of that part of Australia was my inspiration for this lovely vintage secretaire.

For this piece I first mixed a gorgeous deep teal using ASCP Florence, Aubusson, Graphite and another deep blue paint I had on had. I had sanded and primed the desk before painting as it was particularly glossy and so I did two to three coats of the teal for lovely full coverage and then once it was all dry I did a wash of ASCP Napoleonic Blue. I painted the handles in rose gold and brushed some on the front decoration as well. 

I love the sweet little handles on the slides that hold the desk front. They are the sweetest little things I've ever seen. For the inside of the desk I painted in a pale grey that I'm not entirely sure what it is as it's from a previous project but it's probably Paris grey, French Linen and lots of white. I then waxed the whole piece.

I find it very difficult to photograph blue exactly as it really depends on the light but this is just beautiful. Very deep and lush.

Dimensions are 85w x 115h x 40d cm 

(desk down depth is 82cm in total). 

*SOLD*

Pickup Lilyfield 

(inspection welcome by appointment)

I'd love to hear what you think of the piece as well as my beautiful hometown?
Fiona xx