Thursday, August 30, 2018

Beautiful American cedar drawers

I was so thrilled to buy these drawers and have them in my studio. They were a joy to paint and I truly loved every minute of them. They are the sort of furniture I see on American blogs all the time and wish I could get my hands on. Well dreams do come true and I got my hands on these.



They were in fairly nice condition when I bought them and I even contemplated not painting them but the top was very marked and the timber was very dry. I have them a good sand and painted which was quite easy as the timber had zero shine on  them and the paint soaked right it. I did three coats of this lovely warm taupe grey chalk paint then clear waxed and a little black wax for extra patina.


The drawer interiors were pristine and the timber is beautiful so I decided to not paint the interior. I also left the handles as they are so lovely. 


These drawers were not perfect: a little bit of the right front leg was missing. I did have a think about how I could create a mould then create a piece to glue on this missing leg. I even watched a few YouTube videos but in the end I just decided to ignore it and just point it out to the buyer and say this is old and this is how it is.

They sold in 2 seconds flat with a few people interested so I assume you all agree with me and embrace the imperfections of age :)


And before:
I know sometimes you see these pieces painted very fancifully but I really love everything neutral and plain. I love “quiet elegance”. Personally I’m not elegant at all but I like my house and decor to be elegant. 

It’s like that joke: 

The house looks good :)
Ha ha

Fiona xx

Monday, August 27, 2018

A french sofa and inspiration for reupholstering

Good morning! I am looking forward to a good week ahead. I have some gorgeous pieces to work on. This morning I wanted to share a gorgeous old French sofa. I actually sold this to Jemima of Saddler and Co in Dubbo. She has an upholsterer work for her so she was going to recover it.  It’s so beautiful as is but will look even nicer with new fabric. I wish my upholstery skills were better: actually I sway between wishing that and hating how hard upholstery is on your hands so maybe it’s better I don’t tackle these big projects :)









I thought I’d share some inspiration for recovering old French sofas. I’m really partial to the heavy bold stripes. Sorry about photo quality of these: all sources from Pinterest .





















This sofa below is my favourite of all time. So beautiful 









What’s your favourite ?
Fiona xx


Sunday, August 26, 2018

Hamptons style furniture for Matthew

Matthew rang me and asked if I could paint his old pine furniture to fit in with some new white furniture he has bought in the Hampton style. Of course I can :)




He wanted a satin bright white so I used Porters Paints satin water based enamel in their brightest white, Snow White. It’s such a great paint, yes you have to prep and prime but the finish is so hard and durable. Great for a modern finish.




The nooks and crannies of the wine rack took me ages. I spent hours cleaning them as they were really dusty and primed them first with Zinsser BIN and then I actually sprayed a few coats of white to get a good coverage and then hand painted the final coat. The rest of the piece I hand painted.




Because Matthew wanted a Hamptons look which is quite clean I recommended he take out the stained glass and replace it with clear glass. A cheap option that I think really makes the pieces look less country. See below for a comparison.




Matthew was so happy with the piece and appreciative of the process. I also painted a little side table for him in the same paint.




Here are some progress photos; I’m including these as I think the first coat can be so ugly and people when first painting furniture can be really discouraged. My advice is always to just keep on painting as each extra coat makes it look better:



















I also replaced the handles as these cup handles suit the Hamptons style much better than the Asian style ones originally on the piece. 

So much white paint, so much effort but a very happy customer

Fiona xx

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Weekend and some pieces

Good morning! Whoops I found this blog post in my drafts and had never hit publish a few weeks ago. Sydney looks amazing in the photos and the furniture is nice also 😘😉 so I’ll update and share it even thought it’s a bit overdue.

 We had a lovely weekend (a few weekends ago now), dinner out Friday night at out favourite Italian, Mammia Mia 2 movie (fabulous), Sunday brunch with family, and a big walk around South Head on Sunday afternoon. The weather was glorious. 






 
We ended up at Bondi Beach and it was just beautiful. 
So good to be in the stunning parts of Sydney. Good to get out and about.

I also finished these pieces.

A sideboard dating from 1920 now fresh in jet black paint and gently distressed. This piece ended up getting shipped to Brisbane and my buyer is just thrilled with it. 
thanks




I also restored this beautifully made antique oak dressing table. I should have taken a before photo but believe me, it was a mess. So dry, filthy and very marked. I’m so happy with how I restored it.





I am painting a little secretaire today. It’s so old and gorgeous and I found some very old money and notes in it. I’ll share tomorrow hopefully

Fiona xx





Monday, August 20, 2018

French bombe style bedside tables

Good morning, thanks for the emails and comments. I really appreciate being in touch with you and I’m glad to be back blogging again. Ha ha I’d better not jinx myself 😊

Yesterday I finished and sold these gorgeous French bombe style bedside tables. I don’t usually buy previously painted furniture as I don’t like dealing with other people’s paint work. These are so lovely  and practical that I decided that it was worth the extra effort and hassle. 


I gave them a very good sand to get rid of any paint drips and other imperfections and then a really good clean. I then painted them with Fusion Mineral Paint in Champlain. 2-3 coats for full opaque coverage. I then sanded them smooth and gave them a waxed finish...and screwed back on the hardware, styled them, photographed them, listed them and sold them straight away. It always makes me happy when that happens. 

 
The drawer interiors are a pale taupe. Great storage in these pretty bedside tables.




I also used FMP Champlain on another piece recently; these vintage bow front drawers. The drawer interiors were painted a lovely bluish grey. So elegant.




It’s such a lovely off white without too much yellow. 

I’ve got some fantastic pieces at the moment; loads and loads of drawers coming up so make sure you’re on my FB or IG pages as I always list their first or drop me a line and I can notify you when I’m about to list them.

Cheers Fiona xx