Monday, November 28, 2016

What can I use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint On?

I am always getting asked 

Can I paint 
timber
previously painted timber
metal
rusty metal
laminate
glass
leather
vinyl
fabric
velvet
lamp shade

with Annie Sloan Chalk paint?

So I've put a list of blog posts of different materials where I have used (or seen used) ASCP and love the results.

Timber Furniture

Almost all the furniture pieces I buy are unpainted timber. If it is high gloss varnish, Balinese, or a piece i know to bleed I will sand gently using a medium grit sandpaper such as 220 grit and I will also often use Zinsser BIN shellac primer. This may seem a pain and an extra step but it will save you a lot of hassle in the long run. 





Previously Painted Timber

I don't really like painting over previously painted furniture - it means I have to deal with someone else's painting which isn't often the best. I will almost always give the piece a very good sand to make the surface very smooth ready for my paint. If the previous paint is very chipped I think that you are better to fully strip off the old paint.

This armoire was very yellow dated paint so I sanded it back and gave it a wash of ASCP Old Ochre -it made a massive difference - looks beautiful now. Annie Sloan Chalk paint can be painted over oil paint as well as water based paints and it is one of the few paints that will adhere over previously waxed surfaces.




Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on (Rusty) Metal

Depending on how rusty your metal is you might like to use a product such as Ranex Rust Buster first. You can then just paint the chalk paint directly onto the metal. It really has great adhesion. I've used it on many pieces and years later they still look great.

Remember if your piece lives outside then you shouldn't wax: either leave it unwaxed or use a clear coat sealer. 



Details on this chair setting make over on the link below - so beautiful. Hard to believe they were the same pieces.
http://www.lilyfieldlife.com/2014/02/painting-rusty-garden-furniture.html

Laminate

Treat laminate the same as high gloss varnished furniture - gently sand with medium grit sand paper then paint your heart out!

Glass

This is one of my favourite quick makeovers and I keep this vase in my bathroom still. After years of use and splashing etc it still looks exactly the same.

http://www.lilyfieldlife.com/2013/10/painting-glass-bottles-with-ascp-and.html




Leather and Vinyl

I think these work exactly the same and ASCP works perfectly on these fabrics. I have done many vinyl chairs and years later they still look beautiful after everyday use.

http://www.lilyfieldlife.com/2015/02/how-to-paint-vinyl-chair.html






Fabric

Painting fabric works well with watered down ASCP. It does change the feel of the fabric - a bit firmer and stiffer. I have painted fabric chairs and they feel like canvas after painting, sanding and waxing them.

http://www.lilyfieldlife.com/2015/10/painting-chairs-with-chalk-paint.html



Annie Sloan (and probably a gazillion other people) use her paint to dye fabric. Read her for instructions on dying fabric.

https://www.anniesloan.com/techniques/dip-dyeing-fabric-with-chalk-paint


Velvet

Personally I haven't painted velvet with ASCP and I'm not 100% convinced - but I have seen it done. If you do it correctly then the velvet feels a little stiff but not horrible. I would do this first on a piece you don't care about. Just to make sure you don't hate it :)

My friend Sandy from Paint Me White has written a blog post about how to paint velvet - you can read it here.

http://www.paintmewhite.com/2014/11/painting-fabric-velvet-with-annie-sloan.html


Lamp Shade

Why not try painting a dated lamp shade -  Annie Sloan suggests to always paint with the light bulb on so you can see the brush marks you are creating, and to make it opaque. Don't electrocute yourself...

Plastic

I've painted plastic mirrors - works brilliantly. Just paint normally.  I think from memory this mirror was plastic. 




I know a lot of people paint their kitchen cabinetry with it - personally I wouldn't because I don't want to have a waxed surface in the kitchen or bathroom but if you want to do it then there are loads of people who have done this and love it. I also heard some crazy people talking about painting their car with it, or painting their carpet with it. really? I think that's stretching it. I'm a fan but not fan gurl crazy :)
I recently got kicked out of a facebook Annie Sloan forum that is run by american stockists for advising a lady not paint her skirting boards in Annie Sloan. Who wants to wax all their trim and skirting boards, and can you imagine how dirty they would be if left matte. Apparently those american stockist can't take any realistic feedback. Even when I said I love the paint, love Annie Sloan and paint around 300 pieces a year in ASCP. Those crazy American fan gurls.
Anything else you've painted with ASCP?


Anyway such a great paint.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

A little French style sideboard and some vintage paintings

I recently listed a load of furniture on social media unpainted but available for custom painting.  Fiona bought this lovely old sideboard and asked for it in a pale grey with white trim. I've done this look so many time before and I always absolutely love it. 


french style sideboard painted in ASCP chalk paint by Lilyfield Life

The interior is painted a beautiful duck egg (Dulux semi gloss for easy cleaning).

french style sideboard painted in ASCP chalk paint by Lilyfield Life

and before I painted it - beautiful condition but way too orange for my liking. 

french style sideboard painted in ASCP chalk paint by Lilyfield Life

I've decided to sell some beautiful artworks that I've been collecting. I'll generally be listing them displayed above furniture that is for sale or that's been sold and custom painted rather than hosting an art sale only. Today I have a lovely oil painting - beautiful poppies. Field of Flowers by Lyn Hess, oil on canvas on board, signed by artist.
49.5 X 59.5 cm
$150
Pickup Lilyfield 

Poppies vintage artwork Lilyfield Life

Poppies vintage artwork Lilyfield Life

I have a beautiful collection of vintage paintings - there's a couple I think I will want to keep for a while at least. Stay tuned.  Have a lovely weekend.

Fiona xx

french style sideboard painted in ASCP chalk paint by Lilyfield Life

Friday, November 25, 2016

Furnishing a florist shop


I recently had the honour of furnishing a florist shop in Haberfield that a long time blog reader, Catherine, was opening. Catherine took a leap of faith recently and left her corporate risk analyst role to follow her love of floristry. She has opened a beautiful shop in Haberfield called Flowers at Haberfield. (right near Dolcissimo on Dalhousie Street for you locals). She's doing wedding flowers as well as general floristry.

She rang me a few months ago and said she wanted to furnish her shop all with Lilyfield Life pieces. What an honour for me. When she went through the list of what she was looking for I said I actually have those pieces unpainted at the moment! Talk about serendipity.  She popped over and fell in love with the pieces, I mixed up some sample colours to suit her theme for the shop and then got painting. 

This sideboard is on her back wall and holds vases etc.  All these pieces are painted in custom mixes of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 



This huge french style drinks cabinet is a beautiful piece now gracing Catherine's front window, full of candles and other gifts.



Catherine sourced this beautiful table on eBay and I painted the base in a custom mix green grey.


Adding patina with dark wax.


all set up at the florists.


I also painted a lovely little next of tables that I forgot to take photos of but you can sort of see below in the photo - I did them in the same colour as the table base.


Some more photos of Catherine's beautiful arrangements and my furniture in the background.



You can find Catherine's details on her Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/flowersathaberfield/

So good to see someone following their passion so I'd love her to be super successful. Go buy some flowers from her :) or have her do the flowers for your event.

Fiona xx


Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Marble consoles, sideboard and drawers - super lovely

I have been so happy painting lately - loads of energy and happiness. I'm taking some extra time to take care of myself and it's rewarding me tenfold. Not that I don't always have high energy but I feel like I'm on fire lately. Keep it coming, I say :)


hand painted furniture Lilyfield Life


Here are some lovely pieces I finished this week already. I hope you still enjoy seeing my painted pieces. 

This beautiful sideboard sold from the before photo. Danielle bought it and wow, what an easy customer she was - she basically showed me photos of her bedroom and asked for a taupe/grey. I mixed up this beautiful colour for her using Annie Sloan chalk paints. This piece needed a few little repairs and lots of sanding but it's so beautiful. Check out the details on the legs.


french sideboard ASCP lilyfield Life

These drawers will be used as a change table for the baby Cristina and Rob are expecting. First child for them so lovely times ahead.  The drawers are so beautiful, very old. The handles were nailed in so it was challenging to get them off but it makes painting that much easier and more professional to not paint around handles. I will always removed handles if possible - even when I have painted handles on the finished piece I will remove them so I get a nice clean brush sweep across the drawer front.


vintage white drawers chest Lilyfield Life


vintage white drawers chest Lilyfield Life

I bought this console below yesterday and had it painted and sold last night. This sort of piece is one I could easily keep and then we wouldn't be able to move in our house as it would be too full of furniture so I need to sell these asap so I'm not tempted :)
The slab of marble is so beautiful. I painted the table base in ASCP Graphite and then touched the ormolu with gold to give it a little pizzazz. The mirror sold also. All so beautiful.



french style marble console Lilyfield Life


french style marble console Lilyfield Life


vintage gold mirror lilyfield life


Aren't I lucky to love my work so much. I have a couple of friends who aren't loving their jobs at the moment (corporate) and I feel so blessed to have left that city life and be doing my own thing. Such a leap of faith but so good if you can make it work.

Fiona xx


Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Black and timber contrast


As soon as I picked this cupboard up I knew exactly how I wanted to paint it: there was no deliberating on this one. I knew I wanted it matte black with a timber top. I've been painting a lot lately in black and am definitely ready to paint some lighter coloured pieces but this one just had to be this way. 



How beautiful is the vintage water colour painting I have styled it with. Both the painting and the cabinet have sold already. I could have kept the painting  - Phil was quite disappointed also that i sold it but it's going to an old friend's daughter for her 21st birthday so i think that is lovely.




I love the matte black and timber contrast. So classy.



Monday, November 21, 2016

Peonies, oak drawers and a lovely weekend

peonies Lilyfield Life

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a quiet one but it was so enjoyable. Farmers markets, kids sport, house cleaning, gardening, pottering, seeing friends and a little work. Sounds perfect to me. We even went and saw a movie on Saturday afternoon (Fantastic Beasts which was great fun). I love it when you go to a movie that you haven't heard anything about so have no expectations and it ends up being so good. 


Phil's older sister came to dinner last night which was lovely especially as Phil cooked (roast chicken).  Food always tastes better when someone else cooks.  After dinner we walked through Callan Park and the kids threw tennis balls for Charlie and it was just a perfect evening.  

callan park

cavoodle dog charlie

callan park

jacaranda in callan park


The farmers markets flower stall was full of peonies  - $25 for two bunches so I splurged. I absolutely marvel at these flowers. So frilly and pretty. All that effort to attract bees. Nature is so good. 

peonies Lilyfield Life

  I had fun using them to style up a chest of drawers I sold on the weekend.  A lovely old oak dressing table - I removed the mirror and just sold it as a chest of drawers.

french linen oak drawers by lilyfield life

Painted in a base of ASCP French Linen then several wash coats of lighter greys and whites. finished in clear wax.

peonies Lilyfield Life

Here's the before photo. I would have liked to keep the brass handles unpainted on this piece but they were nailed in and impossible to removed so i made life easy for myself and painted them.

vintage oak drawers

I stayed up painting last night till 11pm so i'm feeling a little tired this morning but I have a few pieces heading out tonight and wanted another coat of paint on them for it to dry overnight before waxing them this morning.  Coffee is good :)

Hope you had a good weekend also.

have a lovely day.
Fiona


peonies Lilyfield Life

peonies Lilyfield Life

callan park lilyfield