French Style Console table and one of those mornings.

Good morning! It's not that I'm having a bad morning - in a lot of ways it's a great morning although  my kids started fighting as soon as they woke up. Last night I stupidly agreed to them sharing a bed (I never let them do that on a school night) but Phil was out playing basketball and they pleaded with me so i caved in. So this morning Sasha's trying to get up and Jonty's half asleep and not moving and so of course they start arguing... So I decided to ignore it and make them babycinos and hot chocolate to hurry them up. I also stayed up late last night baking sourdough bread with the Mother I brought back from Lara's in Brisbane, so we had homemade toast and hot drinks for breakfast and the kids had stopped arguing and it was just lovely.

Then I realised I have cracked the screen on my phone literally the day after getting it fixed. OMG I am hopeless. It's $160 each time to get it fixed. I can't believe I dropped it and that it broke even through the glass protective screen. I think I'm going to buy one of those LifeProof phone covers.  Then Sasha called from the tram stop to say 'you know that lovely lunch you made me, well I've left it on the kitchen bench' so I'll drive it over to her at recess in an already too busy morning.  Anyway it's all good. No yelling from me at least :)

I have a pretty little console table up for sale. I love the shape of this one. So unusual, so pretty, even better in real life. I have painted it in the palest of greys with white on the details.

90w x 42d x 78h cm
$300
Pickup Lilyfield 

I also finished (and sold) this lovely mirror last week. It's pale grey with a lime washed finish. I'm heading out later today to see a similar mirror so let me know if you are interested.

I best get cracking the paint cans open. I have a lot to finish today.

have a lovely day
Fiona xx

Magnificent French drawers - ASCP Graphite

This piece makes me really happy. I saw it a few weeks ago for sale but I passed on buying it as it's huge and I had a full studio so I thought it would be too much on my plate. Then all week I kicked myself for not buying it. I went back and it was still available so I decided to just make it happen. I had to pay for someone to bring it to me as it's so huge but it was worth it. I listed it on my facebook page as available for custom painting. Lexie bought it and asked for it to be painted in ASCP Graphite. It's a piece I could have sold many times over so I am glad I went back and got it. 

I needed to do a lot of work on this piece. It was really dirty to I cleaned it thoroughly.  I then took all the hardware off  and lightly sanded out the majority of the scratched on the drawers. I then wiped it down with ESP. I painted it with ASCP Graphite and used two types of clear wax to seal it. I am really happy with the finish on this piece.

Magnificent isn't it.

I am always asked if I spray paint my furniture because of the smooth finish and lack of brushmarks. No, it's all hand painted with a paintbrush. I don't really have space for spray painting and love a hand painted look. My tips for achieving a smooth finish are over on the tutorial page.

Here is the before photo.

Today I will be finishing up some beautiful black bedside tables. So much black furniture. On trend :)

Fiona xx

Little Black desk and a skin cancer check

Quick post this morning as i'm heading off to North Sydney for a skin cancer check. I spent most of my youth sunburnt on a beach - often nude but I won't share those photos :). A beautiful childhood and lots of fantastic memories but probably not great for a fair headed and fair skinned Aussie kid. Phil had a little skin cancer burnt off his arm last week so he made me an appointment as I have lots of "things" that need checking out.

 Excuse the quality of this but these are from an album my dad put together for my 21st birthday. I was nearly 3, taken at the sand dunes at Collaroy. I love this album Dad did for me - lots of hand written notes, photos, drawings, awards and letters home from boarding school - a real compendium of my childhood. 

I finished this lovely little desk yesterday. Painted in ASCP Graphite and the interior of the drawer in Mezzie and Frank Fremantle (a soft duck egg).

I love the carvings and moulding on this piece. It's so nicely made - old solid oak. I'm pretty sure it's already sold - a few people asking after it on Facebook but email me if you are interested.

cheers

Fiona xx

More Black Bedsides and a beauty

Good morning, I'm a bit late writing the blog today but I have cleaned the house, gone to the supermarket, sorted dinner out already - I know I'm feeling very pleased with myself ... and to top all that domesticity off, I also have sorted through a huge mound of paper work. All my tax stuff, that I've just been throwing on my desk is now sorted and filed. Who am I?

Time for a coffee and to write my blog before getting stuck into some painting. Today I am working on this beauties. An absolutely massive serpentine chest of drawers. I have never seen a piece like this and I spoke to a few of my antique dealer friends and they also haven't seen one either. Something really special. I have already cleaned, sanded, wiped down with ESP and done one coat of ASCP Graphite. This have already sold and I'm hoping to finish them tomorrow and get them delivered as they take up a lot of space.  You can see in the photo how dirty the drawers were.

It seems that lately everybody wants black bedside tables. I have done so many recently and have some more that are about to be painted black and shipped to Melbourne. 

I painted these for Colette and they are being picked up this morning and shipped to Newcastle. The original finish was a yellow faux wood look and very dirty. I have to really work hard to get these looking this good.

The ones below were that dated red high gloss varnish - probably from the 1940s. Dineen furniture and solid cedar so they always come up well. These have also already sold.

A beautiful sheen and minimal brushstrokes.

The bedsides below are my next project and will also be painted black. These are being shipped to Melbourne.

Lots of black paint :)

have a good day

Fiona xx

Just a pop of colour on this one

I was very excited to buy this beautiful little cabinet. It's an old converted radiogram. I've had a few of these before and I really love the designs on the doors. Originally fabric would have been glued to the back of the door and that's where the music came out. Luckily for me this one had already been gutted and turned into a cabinet. It's usually a tricky, messy job converting them. 

The oak on this is gorgeous and so I decided to just paint the interior and just refreshed up the timber on the exterior. I lightly hand sanded the timber and then used ASCP Clear wax to feed the dry timber and bring it to a shine.

There are a couple of deep scratches on the top of the cabinet and I decided that they would just have to stay and show the history of the piece. They were too deep to sand out and as I am leaving it timber I couldn't putty them. The interior I cleaned (it was very grubby) and primed with a tinted primer then painted in Dulux Duck Egg in a satin finish. 

A perfect little cupboard to use as a lamp table (it stands 90cm high) and it sold immediately to one of my lovely customers, Emma. 

I also wanted to share these beautiful oak single beds. A friend of mine bought these and she'll be using them as a queen bedhead, mounting them onto her wall. They are part of the matching bedroom set of the limed oak chest of drawers I did recently. Aren't they lovely?

Fiona xx

Beautiful Bedsides and a weekend in Brisbane

Good morning! hope you all had a great weekend. I know it's Tuesday already but I had a 4 day (well 3.5 day weekend) away in Brisbane with good friends so I'm only getting back into the swing of things now. We had some frequent flyer points so Phil suggested I fly up to Brisbane and stay with friends of ours. It was so good to slow down and catch up.

My friend Lara is a real domestic goddess so we baked bread, cooked, drank coffee (and champagne) and wandered around antique shops. I loved it all.

I'm in love with Lara's pantry.

 Lara bakes her own sourdough several times a week and sells it to a few friends - how professional does it all look. 

Katherine at the Cottage Garden Nursery above and below Di's booth Botticelli House at Paddington Antique centre.

I was also taken to lunch on the river by my good friends Cath and Dan which was glorious. So good to catch up with good friends and sit in the sunshine and chat. And I also caught up with another long time friend, Jenny. A really special weekend.

I also wanted to share some beautiful bedside tables I painted last week. I painted them in layers of whites for a soft muted look. I'm really happy with this old European look although I was rushing to photograph and they have already sold so I haven't taken the best photos that show the finish.

I'm back into it all this morning and loads of work on my plate. Such a good problem to have :) 

Have a great week

Fiona xx

Limed Oak Drawers - how to achieve this look

PIN IT for future reference

Good morning lovelies. Well at least I know there's still a heap of people reading my blog :). thanks for all the emails yesterday. What happened was I was waiting for a friend at our local cafe and she was running VERY late so I thought I'd draft a blog post on a new app I'm using on my phone.  The app is BlogTouchPro if you are interested. It's fantastic but I am really new at using it and instead of saving as a draft, I must have published my post instead. It wasn't until all the emails started arriving that I realised.  So today, here are the photos and the full story (hopefully all edited correctly, with no mistakes... but I won't guarantee that especially if you are a Grammar Nazi). 

I love it when a project goes to plan and the piece of furniture gives you no grief. Almost every piece of furniture I paint has something that makes it difficult: maybe it bleeds, or the drawers need sanding down to make them slide smoothly or I can't get one of the handles off. This piece however was an absolute dream to work with.

This English oak dressing table was looking a little worse for wear when I bought it. There was a large split in the timber top and lots of water marks. I decided to remove the top which was easier than I thought as there was no glue, just big old screws. I then sanded down the edges and re glued, clamped and used metal melding plates to rejoin it. There is a slight split at the end but most of the top is perfectly joined again. I then sanded it all smooth removing all the old varnish completely. Because the oak was very dry, I knew it would be a good candidate for limewashing. 

I forgot to take a before photo but I do have just the one poor old photo - taken once I had rejoined the top and sanded all the old varnish off the top. You can see the original finish on the backing board. I can tell you that that was an absolutely paint to hand sand.

The most important thing to remember when limewashing is that you need raw timber ... so that means getting off every last piece of varnish. Do not be tempted to skimp on this step, otherwise the old varnish will stop the limewash getting into the timber grain and you will be left with a patchy streaky mess.

Once I had sanded the piece down and cleaned it, I used watered down white chalk paint and brushed it on evenly. Working quickly, I brushed on, then wiped off. You want to make sure your watery paint is evenly absorbed into the raw timber. Once you are happy with how pale the timber is, let the piece dry. Once it was dry, I then further enhanced the timber grain with the application of white wax. This will also seal the timber and give your piece a nice sheen when you buff and make it very smooth to touch.

How fantastic does it all look. 

And those gorgeous old handles. 

If you are interested in learning how to lime wash also read this blog post I wrote a few years ago.

How to LIME WASH

and also pin the graphic below (or the one at the top) so you can find this article again easily.

have a lovely day

Fiona xx

French Console, brass deer and some homewares

Good morning! Hope you had a good weekend. I spent a lot of time painting some custom work that I'm hoping to finish tomorrow but we also had a nice family weekend, baking with the kids, playing dominos and doing some gardening (and of course the kids sports). Very quiet and relaxing.

I have been painting a lot of consoles lately and have one remaining unsold. It's such a gorgeous piece, painted in a neutral bone chalk paint and waxed. If you are interested please let me know.

Available: 

Lovely serpentine french style console. 

Solid timber, three drawers and painted in a bone chalk paint and waxed. 

Would also work well as a small writing table. 

90w x 40d x 77h cm

$485

Pickup Lilyfield within 7 days

I also finished this French style chair. These are great for a hallway or for a desk. Very comfortable to sit on.

French style chair freshly painted in an off white chalk paint and antiqued. Lovely carved details on sides and top. Rattan in perfect condition. New upholstery in designer fabric "Willoughby" from the drawing room collection by James Dunlop.  Lovely for a desk or bedroom chair.

$175

Pickup Lilyfield within 7 days

I have a few more of these bowls and troughs I ordered from a great supplier in Perth. Sean has some beautiful pieces and I am very happy to stock his homewares.

Perfect for Mother's Day. Resin troughs: gorgeous for fruit, greenery or flowers. Postage available or pickup from Lilyfield.

40x22x15cm

$110

AVAILABLE French provincial style bowl. Timber look. 

Perfect for fruit or faux topiary. 

31cm diameter, $100.

Pickup Lilyfield or postage available

🌟Stunning vintage brass deer🌟

This is such a special piece that I bought from an estate sale. 

Heavy and solid. Slight tarnish but otherwise perfect. Approx 50x50cm

$325

Pickup Lilyfield or postage may be possible

I'm really glad to be able to offer some smaller pieces to decorate your homes.

(and lots more furniture coming up)

have a great day

Fiona xx