Wednesday, January 31, 2018

French style bedroom set with lots of patina

Good morning, I feel like a can breathe a huge sigh of relief this morning. Both kids out of the door for a full day of school by 7:45am and I can do an uninterrupted full day of work for the first time in months. Hallelujah :)


using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

I finished this chest of drawers yesterday and the matching bedsides the day before. I painted them with white chalk paint and added lots of wax to give them a healthy dose of patina. I love this look especially on pieces with lots of carved details.

using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

The set actually had one missing handle so I replaced the handles on the drawers with a vintage set I had saved from another piece. I didn't sell the bedsides and the drawers together as a set but the same lady bought them all anyway. She doesn't mind that they have different handles.

using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

I am embracing using waxes to create a lovely soft patina. 
using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

Here are the sweet bedside tables to match.
Do you like this look?

using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life

using wax to create patina on painted furniture  french look Lilyfield Life


I ended up having loads of computer problems as i was writing this post so it's taken me forever to post :)
Fiona xx

Monday, January 29, 2018

French cabinet with wire panels

Good morning! I'm sitting here so hot because yesterday we went to the beach and I missed putting sunscreen on my chest. I lathered it everywhere else because it was such a burning day but I must have got distracted and completely missed a whole section. So now I'm bright red and like a little furnace oven. Not fun. Although the beach was absolutely beautiful and we had such a lovely relaxed day together.  Love this sign - and there were no blue bottles in the water that we saw but nothing stops us Aussies :)


I wanted to share a lovely old cabinet I worked on last week. It's an old French cupboard that someone must have repaired in the 1970's. They had replaced the original glass with yellow glass with circles on it and had covered the shelves with red floral contact. Not a good look. I did a live video on Facebook on how to remove the contact easily if you want to watch it you can find it here.


lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily


I painted the cabinet in a custom mix of Fusion mineral paint - it's a very soft grey and the interior is a Dulux sea foam colour.  To replace the glass I removed all the trim and then cut wire panels, pained the trim and reinstalled it. Fiddly but it looks great.


lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

lovely french cabinet by Lilyfield life and how to removed contact easily

I have someone coming to see the cabinet this morning but if you are interested please contact me.


I have loads and loads of furniture in my inventory at the moment - some really lovely pieces so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into my painting.

Have a great day
Fiona xx

Saturday, January 27, 2018

White vintage meat safe

Hope you all had a good day yesterday - we spent the day with a few other families, our good friends, down at Rodd Point with a picnic, our dogs and the kayaks. Such a relaxed beautiful day...despite the humidity :)

white painted vintage meat safe, Lilyfield Life

I have a sweet old meat safe I painted this week available for sale. I bought this from a builder who was working on a house in Mosman and had the job of clearing out the house as well as demolishing it. He had a few interesting pieces but most of them needed too much work or were too big for me so I just took the meat safe. I painted this a lovely soft white and gently distressed it.The wire mesh on the sides is in lovely condition as well.

Available: A gorgeous piece of Australian history : an original meat safe complete with wire mesh sides and mesh under the drawer to keep away those pesky flies. (And how bad are the flies this summer!!)
Original lock and vintage key, dovetailed drawer with hand carved screws on the backs of the handles. Nice little details that get my heart racing at all beautiful craftsmanship.
Hand painted in a custom mix oyster white chalk paint. Interior original timber, cleaned and waxed. Gently distressed, super smooth finish and a waxed top coat.
84w x 38d x 106h cm
$485
Pickup Lilyfield or ask for a delivery quote


white painted vintage meat safe, Lilyfield Life

white painted vintage meat safe, Lilyfield Life

I also have to introduce you to the best kayaker in our house - Charlie! he is so cute, as soon as you go to push the kayak into the water there's charlie at the waters edge. He sits between by legs as I paddle and doesn't fuss at all. So happy and absolutely loving it all. What a joy this dog is.


cheers
Fiona xx




Friday, January 26, 2018

Vintage sideboard Reveal - a washed paint finish

A few weeks ago now I shared some inspiration for a sideboard I was painting. The sideboard is now painted sold and delivered. I have been very slack at sharing pieces here over the holidays. my dad asked me if it meant I hadn't been working, but no. It meant I've been madly juggling holidays and kids and no time for blogging. So I'm up early this morning sorting through emails etc. We are hoping to go kayaking with friends but the weather isn't looking too good this Australia Day.

For the sideboard below I decided on a washed paint finish.  This involves painting a solid base colour and then washing another colour of watered down paint over the top and wiping it off. The second colour settles into the crevices and creates a lovely soft look.



This is such a stunning vintage sideboard with a beautiful and slightly sad story. I bought this from a guy in a lovely old house in Greenwich. When I was initially dealing with him I thought he was very gruff, almost rude. When I went to pick it up, I started chatting to him and realized he wasn’t rude at all, he was just so sad about letting the sideboard go. This was his parents (now both dead) and they’d had it custom made for their wedding present by master cabinet makers. His wife absolutely HATES it and was making him sell it, so he was really sad. In fact his wife hates anything old and is making them leave their beautiful old house in Greenwich and move to a modern apartment. He asked me what I was going to do with the sideboard and I tentatively told about my business. I assured him I’d do a good job painting it and someone would cherish it as his parents had done. I wanted to tell him if things didn’t work out with Modern Wife I could definitely match make him with someone who loves vintage, ha ha 

Anyway the sideboard is divine.






Happy Australia Day -hope you are doing something lovely with friends and family to celebrate this wonderful country we live in.

Fiona xx

Friday, January 12, 2018

Inspiration for my next sideboard

Good morning! I hope you are feeling happy and productive this week. I was out with a girlfriend, Sarah, last night and she commented she was starting out the year feeling a bit flat. I said I was similar and she responded that she has a name for it - Miserablergh. Ha! Exactly how I started back at work also. Well I'm not actually miserable but definitely not the energizer bunny I usually am :)
Sarah makes me laugh  - she said "I'm so miserablergh I don't even care that I'm miserablergh". Maybe it's the strange weather we are having or that everyone is still on holidays and not buying much at the moment so work is quiet. I don't know but I'm looking forward to feeling on fire again.

Anyway I've been looking at way to get all inspired again. I've been listening to business podcasts and also have started painting again - slowly:)  I have a beautiful sideboard in my studio that is all sanded and primed and ready for painting and I've been unable to decide how to paint it. Last night I was flicking through some old photos and decided to do a washed grey finish on it. The same as this sideboard I sold to Kim of Kim Gleeson Interiors for her beach house north of Byron Bay.  I realised I never shared photos of this sideboard when I painted which is surprising as it's one of my favourites.

Grey washed french style sideboard by Lilyfield Life

Grey washed french style sideboard by Lilyfield Life

I love this finish - so soft and subtle.
This sideboard was very dark timber but I liked the storage options and the carved details. I wanted to really lighted it all up and give it a new life hence this Driftwood Inspired Sideboard: pale grey with layers of white and wax, distressed and sanded for a rustic light finish. Silky smooth and beautiful. 

Grey washed french style sideboard by Lilyfield Life

Here's is a photo that Kim took of it all styled up in the hallway of her beach house. Just the look I'm going for the sideboard in my studio. I'll post photos when I'm done. 

Grey washed french style sideboard by Lilyfield Life

have a good day. 
Fiona xx


Thursday, January 11, 2018

French Country style painted cabinet

Good morning! This is my 1001st blog post. A milestone I think. When I was assembling my past work for my updates portfolios I came across a photo of a sweet little cabinet I painted years ago. it was just the inspiration I needed for a piece I had in my inventory.

The cupbaord below that was my inspiration is painted in ASCP French linen with clear wax. I painted it before you could get ASCP in Australia. I had gone to America for a holiday and visited Michele of Not Too Shabby in Glendora just out of LA and bought some ASCP to bring back to Australia with me.

french country style cabinet by lilyfield life

For the cabinet below I painted it in a custom mix of chalk paint. This colour is slightly paler thans ASCP French Linen but has a similar green undertone. I colour matched this off my favourite piece of furniture ever - an amazing antique french cabinet.  I am still wishing I'd bought the cabinet.  Is it wrong to be in love with something you saw briefly years and years ago? :)

Anyway below is my finished piece. This little cupboard is from a NSW country homestead. Such an old piece.  White top and trim.

french country style cabinet by lilyfield life

Available: A little antique cupboard painted in a French country style. This is from a beautiful old homestead in country NSW. Such a handy piece for your hallway, tv, dining room or bathroom. Great for a stylish kids room to hide their toys.  One shelf inside painted same as exterior. Waxed finish, gently distressed and added patina. The back of this is unpainted as I wanted to showcase the pit sawn timber. . 
93.5 w x 38d x 79h cm. 
$395
Pickup Lilyfield or ask for a delivery quote

french country style cabinet by lilyfield life

french country style cabinet by lilyfield life

The pit sawn timber on the back dates this to the 1880's. I left it unpainted to showcase it.

pit sawn timber back


If you are interested in viewing or purchasing please let me know
cheers Fiona xx


Wednesday, January 10, 2018

BLUE GREEN - Painted furniture Portfolio

Good morning! hope you are having a good week. We are back from a weekend away and back into work - juggling the kids on school holidays as well, so it means some late nights for me. I have spent some time these holidays working on my business rather than just in my business. Good to start the year feeling motivated and organised. 

One of the things I have finished, that I have wanted to do for a while, is create a better portfolio of my work. I ended up arranging my pieces by colour rather than by style of piece. 

If you want to take a look at the full albums have a look at my facebook page:
Lilyfield Life Portfolio Albums
 but here is a collage of the furniture painted in blue and green. This isn't all my work in blues and greens but it's a good representation. 

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green


here are some larger photos of my favourite pieces:

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Lilyfield Life painted furniture in blue, navy and green

Excuse the blurriness of that last photo. I can't find the original image as it's from years ago. I'll have to try my hand at a union jack again sometime soon.

Fiona xx