Beautiful sideboard in ASCP Graphite and Matte Sealer

Good morning lovely people. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Yesterday as one of those days just spent running around with the kids. Jonty has been learning the saxophone for a year now and we had been borrowing my nephew's but it has come to the time that we needed to get Jonty his own one. So expensive but wow what a beautiful instrument. He had better do lots of practice. Both kids then had friends over for a study session, we went for a quick dinner at my friends' for their son's birthday and then drop Sasha at a party then pick her up a few hours later. I did squeeze in time to upholster a french chair and I thought I was going well until i turned it around and realised I hadn't cut the fabric out properly and was a centimetre too short on one side so I had to untack it all and I'll start again another day. I am trying to not be frustrated by it - it's all a learning process isn't it.

I wanted to share with you a beautiful piece I finished and delivered last week. This sideboard has a lovely story. I love a good bit of furniture history.

 This sideboard had a heavy varnish that had turned quite orange so I gave the base a good sand and cleaned it all. I’ve painted the base in ASCP Graphite (three coats for very good coverage).  I then used a clear matte sealer (Rustoluem brand) to seal the chalk paint. I used two coats, sanding between coats and then waxed the sealer. It sounds laborious but you get a beautiful finish. The top was sanded back, stained a deep walnut and sealed with both the matte based sealer and dark wax for a durable finish. 

This sideboard was made by master furniture makers Bell Bros of Brisbane.  The family who owned this sideboard contacted me to see if I would like to buy it. It was custom made as a wedding present for their grandparents. So much love went into this piece as the family were good friends of the Bell Bros family. How nice to be able to make something like this for your good friends. 

I delivered this to the buyers Rebecca and Kieran on Tuesday and they just loved it. it was a real honour to go to their house and see all the pieces of furniture they have purchased from me over the years. This piece will take pride of place in their hallway next to a gorgeous wingback leather armchair that looks so good next to the walnut top.

Rebecca sent me flowers as a thank you.How beautiful are they and how lovely is she.

Here's the before photo. I had to soot in black and white as too orange for my sensibilities :)

Do you love this stately combination or do you think black furniture is too dark for your home?

I would love your feedback.

I'm off to the Kirribilli flying yacht squadron for one of my closest friends 50th birthday lunch today. So lovely to catch up with my beautiful friends (even if we are all getting OLD!!)

Enjoy your Sunday.

xx

Fiona xx

Lovely day and recent pieces

Good morning! I hope you are having a good week. I I had the nicest day of work yesterday - I went for a swim and coffee at the beach. What's the point of working for yourself if you can't be a little flexible?

I went to Shark Beach, Nielsen Park in Vaucluse. Just love it there for a calm swim and coffee. I even lay in the sun and read my book for a while. Bliss.

I have finished a lot of pieces this week already. The kids are out of the house from 7:45 or earlier and not home till 4 so it's really increased my uninterrupted working time. I still get work done after they are home but it's not uninterrupted and I think that makes a difference. To my sanity anyway :)

I have these lovely old bedside tables available - painted in a deep navy with a waxed finish. The gold handles really complement the finish.

Vintage Queen Anne 4 drawer bedside tables

46w x 40d x 71.5h cm
$600 the pair 
Pickup Lilyfield or please enquire about delivery 

I stepped away from my usual neutral palette for this piece below. I love how vibrant this paint in. I had some left over paint from a job I did for an interior design client so thought this console would be a great candidate for it.

This vintage demilune console table with a shelf below and a little drawer to pop your keys. Gently distressed and a little of my dark waxes to add a touch of patina. The photos are very accurate in regards to colour. (It’s actually the exact colour of my phone case) 
82w x 35d x 77h cm
$350

I also finished this gorgeous low vintage cabinet in a Porters Paint white chalk paint. It has already sold. The buyer  will use it to store her shoes in her bedroom. So stylish.

I'm off to look at some fabulous pieces of furniture today. Wish me luck.
Fiona xx

The prettiest side tables :)

Good morning - I am thankful for the cooler weather and the garden is thankful for the rain this morning. I have several side tables I wanted to show you today. The first are magnificent hand carved Italian large side tables. I bought these from a lady in Greenwich and would have loved to know their story. However when I went to pick them up, the lady had her baby sleeping in the front room so basically grabbed the money, shoved the tables at me and shut the front door. Anyway who cares as they are divine.

I wanted to really highlight all the beautiful carvings so I painted two coats of ASCP French Linen on the base and then dry brushed white over the top. I then waxed the bases. For the tops I have painted in a custom mixed white and then used a clear coat sealer over the paint for easy care. 

If you are interested in watching a video of me dry brushing these, you can watch it here. I share lots of tips as I'm painting so I hope you find is helpful. I've had over 3500 views of the video and 15 shares so far so I'm assuming people have found it interesting anyway. 

I also finished these little beauties yesterday. I painted them in a pale putty grey paint with white trim and they have been sealed with a satin sealer. I really enjoyed painting these. White painting all the trim white is time consuming I find it quite relaxing and delicate. I had a movie playing in the background and I just painted and chilled. 

And here is a little vintage French piece I didn't paint. It's absolutely gorgeous. I bought this piece from a couple who are downsizing. They have a beautiful large house full to the brim of amazing pieces. Jonty came with me to collect this and we were both blown away by the furniture. Jonty's been helping me a lot this summer, sanding, priming and also taking the handles off pieces. I pay him not for jobs instead of giving him pocket money and he just loves it. Reminds me of me at that age. I used to work in my dad's business and I got paid $6 an hour and I used to ask my dad to pay me every hour. He acquiesced for the first few days but after that he said I just had to write the $6 on a piece of paper every hour and then he'd pay at the end of the week. Nothing like earning your own money as a kid :)

Anyway saying that I had best get cracking :)

have a great day

Fiona 

(All these pieces have sold already)

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 :)

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.

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.

I am embracing using waxes to create a lovely soft patina. 

Here are the sweet bedside tables to match.

Do you like this look?

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

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.

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.

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

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 :)

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

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

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