Wednesday, March 13, 2019

A few chalk painted vintage dressing tables

Good morning! Look at me go with my blogging, three days in a row ha ha! I have done quite a few dressing tables lately. While I’m actually painting them, I’m always thinking “Not my favourite pieces to paint” to be honest but I absolutely love them when I’m finished.

Here are some I have painted over the last few months and below a couple of tips for you if you find yourself with one to paint.

This one below was bought by a lovely customer in Lake Cathie. She also bought some little mismatched bedsides I painted in the same white. Such a pretty set.

Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table

Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage bedside tables

A friend of ours saw the one above and asked me to find her one similar. It took me a while but I ended up finding her this one below.

Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table

She wanted a stool for it and I managed to find an amazing vintage Italian one.


My friend was going to give this to her daughter but now says she’s keeping it herself and her daughter can just inherit it in years to come. high praise indeed. 


I have painted this vintage piece in a beautiful ivory custom mix and clear waxed it and a touch of dark wax in the details and the drawers’ interiors are painted FMP Putty. 


Then just before Christmas I sourced this vintage serpentine dressing table and a few weeks ago I finally got around to painting it. 


Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table


Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table


Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table

Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table

This piece has now sold to one of my regular customers Alanna (who now swears she can’t buy any more of my furniture as her house is FULL!! Ha I have heard that before. 
But another customer Lauren wrote to me and said “I have almost the exact same dressing table and can you paint it the same and find me a seat”. Here’s the one I did for Lauren.


Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table


Lilyfield Life Hand painted vintage dressing table

How cute is the stool. I made this stone coloured ticking slip cover : so proud of my piping efforts ha ha. I’ve been scared of making piping for years and honestly it’s easy! Sometimes you just have to watch a couple of You Tube videos and get cracking :)

So my tips for painting dressing tables:
Take them all apart: mirror off, mirror holder off, drawers out etc.
Clean / sand / prime
A lot of these dressing tables are very shiny cedar and I believe need sanding and pruning: up to you though :)
Turn the base upside down and paint underneath and the legs. Much easier if it’s inside down.
Turn right way around and paint. I also like to paint and deal the interior of the drawers for a professional look. 
I almost always will do three coats of a water based sealer for the top so it’s spray and wipeable and can handle makeup spills.

Which dressing table is your favourite? Are you a fan of them? 


Fiona xx


11 comments:

  1. These are stunning, as is all your work. Thank you for the tips. I will sand down the vanity I ruined & stuck in storage, and follow your instructions.

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  2. Love all of them, great finishes.

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  3. Fiona, immaculate finish, not a fan of dressing tables but love these....would be great to see you at work on you tube! Many thanks, Maria

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    1. Thanks Maria! No time to video while I paint. Too busy for that:)

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    2. That doesn’t surprise me!

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  4. Love all of the pieces! I also love the blue chairs!!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Sorry if you have trouble commenting, you can always email me at lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com