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

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Peonies, oak drawers and a lovely weekend

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.  

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. 

  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.

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

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.

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

Cocktails anyone? and a few other pieces

Good morning! Phil and I woke very early today so we went for a long walk in our local park and had breakfast not just coffee at our local cafe. Such a nice way to start the day - I feel like we've gone on a date:) Back home, the kids are still sleeping so no doubt we will have a mad rush to get ready for school but it was worth it.

I recently painted and sold this cocktail cabinet - Painted in a divine French green grey. A beautiful chalk paint, white trim and a little antiquing. The interior is painted in Dulux duck egg satin.  I just love this elegant piece.

It sold to just the loveliest lady. She is using it in her bedroom. Her whole house is so lovely: a small elegant Paris style apartment. I feel honoured to have a few pieces of my furniture there. 

A mirrored interior.

I also have available these lovely old timber drawers. They were in a bit of a state so I didn't mind painting them. They are very old and have a few little dings showing previous life but still beautiful. I have painted them in a subtle robin's egg chalk paint. Hard to describe but a lovely elegant muted colour. The photo colour is accurate. 5 drawers as top left drawer is a double depth. Beautiful old piece. 

100w X 43d X 98h cm

$395

Pickup Lilyfield

So pretty. Message me if you are interested. 

Have a great day. I'm off to look at a whole lot of beautiful furniture. I'm hoping I can afford it :)

Fiona xx

Beautiful French Armoire and Vintage Mirrors

Some pieces need a lot of work and some not so much. I left the original paint work on this French style armoire and just gave it all a clean, a light sand to smooth out the surface and a french coat of wax. It's pretty magnificent as it is.

It's a lovely bone similar to ASCP Old Ochre. A great way to hide the tv away in you live in a house with french style decor. The doors fold right back flush with the sides. The shelf inside is adjustable and removable and if you wanted to use this as a linen press then you could easily add an extra shelf. If you wanted to use it as a wardrobe you can add a handing rod. I can help you do either of these options. 

105w x 70d x 170h cm
$1000
Pickup Lilyfield or delivery can be arranged

How beautiful is that carved detail  - and my favourite is the fretwork inside.

If you are interested pop me an email 

I also have a few beautiful mirrors available. These are all very old and came from the same estate in Point Piper. 

Incredible ornate vintage mirror: make a statement in your room. This mirror is very old and lovely, absolutely gorgeous condition . Ready to hang.
90w x 80h cm
$385

This mirror below has already sold -it was actually part of a matching pair which would have been fantastic but the other one has a brown mirror so i will turn it into a chalk board. I love that the mirror shows through in all the gaps on the edges. So special.

This mirror below would be fantastic over a mantle. There is some wear to the gilding on this but the details are fantastic. Beautiful beveled mirror.

116w x 64h cm
$250

I am very squashed in my studio at the moment with a lot of custom painting and a sideboard that I have already sold but have to still paint. I have my work cut out for me at the moment and am watching the muscles in my forearms as they are feeling very tight from painting and sanding. Busy time of year for everyone isn't it.

If you are interested in any of these pieces then let me know and I am happy to arrange viewing or delivery.

Fiona xx

Secret compartments and massive gold frame

It's great when a piece of furniture offers something that you didn't know about when you buy it. I found a little book case recently and it wasn't till I started cleaning and sanding it that I realised it had a secret compartment. The seller didn't even know about it.  Under the bottom shelf this old bookcase has a secret metal lock box. Shame it didn't come stuffed with cash, just two American dimes. The whole piece is very old and hand made. I really debated what colour to paint it - I was tossing up between stately black or beachy taupe. In the end I decided to go with the black and a pale grey interior.

Love this handmade piece. The piece has already sold

I also have for sale a massive gold carved timber frame. This is a perfect piece to turn into a blackboard or mirror.  Also perfect for a shop or events planner.

85w x 125h cm

$245

Today I'm out looking for new pieces for my inventory and also I will spend some time painting to finish up a lovely cocktail cabinet. 

enjoy your day

Fiona xx