Shiny Shiny

I just am popping in quickly today to show some of my silverware that I polished up the other day. I love how shiny it all is.  So so pretty and bright. 

My mum would be proud!

Everything in her house was spotless and well cared for.  

My place... not so much.

So pretty - can you believe it was like this before?

Although I like it both tarnished and shiny. It took me years before I was ready to polish this tea pot as I loved the old patina. Which way do you prefer your silver? Does anybody regularly polish silver these days or are we all too buys for these old fashioned household chores?  I have lovely memories of polishing silver with my mum on Saturday afternoons. Maybe it wasn't that often - just when we needed some pocket money or something!

I probably have polished it all wrong  - I used Silvo which I know a lot of people say is too strong. I bought all these pieces at markets over the years so I don't really mind the scratches and dings. If you have a good way of cleaning that's more gentle. I'd love to hear from you.

Have a lovely day.
Fiona xx

Restored, not painted

Don't fall off your chair... I decided to restore something and not paint it.  I picked up this divine 1920's silky oak cabinet from a couple who were moving to Brisbane and didn't want to take it with them. It was in a rough way, the timber way so dry and rough and there were lots of marks including red texta. A couple of hours of sanding and waxing and polishing and it looks stunning.

This is extremely smooth and if you buy it you won't be able to stop running your hands over it, I promise :)

Silky Oak 1920's cupboard

68w x 50d x 90h cm

$350

Fantastic storage with a shelf inside

Pickup Lilyfield

Don't fear I'm off now to paint a gorgeous sideboard I picked up last week. It's a stunner also.

Fiona xx

Sweet Chest of Drawers from a handsome English man

Sorry if you've clicked through to see a photo of the handsome English man but I only have photos of his drawers :)

During the holidays I saw these drawers advertised for more than I usually pay for furniture but they were so lovely and practical that I decided to splash out and buy them anyway.  When I got to the house I was pleasantly surprised by both the drawers and the seller. A lovely English guy was selling these drawers that he had brought out from England with him. They are modern construction but made from recycled tongue and groove boards.  The guy had a great eclectic mix of furniture - a lovely silver trunk that he had found on the side of the road that he was using as his coffee table. I showed him similar ones that are for currently on sale at Timothy Oulton, Coco Repluic for $4270. That certainly made his day. 

It's good to make a handsome English man happy. He even gave me a little discount on the drawers. Win win.

Shopping at high end big brand name stores always makes me realise what a bargain my furniture is :). Who wants to pay over $4000 for a coffee table? Who lives like that?

Anyway back to the handsome English guy's drawers. I wanted to paint them in a colour that paid homage to their English heritage so I chose ASCP Old White. One Instagram account I adore is Found And Favour - I can imagine myself happily living in Clara's beautiful home. She has an amazing large cabinet now that is off white and I covet. This was my inspiration for this much smaller piece.

I gave the piece two coats of white primer and then two to three coats of ASCP Old White. When painting with white chalk paint I always prime to help with coverage as I like opaque paint. Wax makes the paint a little more translucent so you always need more coats of paint than you think. 

I gave this piece two good coats of wax and gently distressed it by hand. I do lots of sanding on my furniture to make the finish beautifully smooth. I think it's worth the effort. 

I just love painting furniture.  It really makes me so happy, giving new life to these pieces. 

This piece is sold pending but if you are interested in being next in line then just drop me an email. 

Great storage anywhere in your house. 

100w x 45d x 83h cm 

$550

Have a great day and thanks so much for your lovely comments always

Fiona xx

Gorgeous Painted Vintage Mirrors

My gorgeous girl started high school yesterday - homework already last night can you believe it! So proud of her in the beautiful uniform and how she takes everything in her stride with such grace.

I've been painting a few mirrors lately. I really love interesting old mirrors so when I can find them at a good price, I always buy them.  I think you all love vintage mirrors also as they always get snapped up so quickly.

This solid carved mirror was part of a console set - the console is a bit broken so I haven't started painting it yet as I need to repair it first so I decided to split the set and paint and sell the mirror separately.  It is huge and ornate. I painted it in a custom mix of ASCP Chalk paint and distressed and waxed it. I think it looks gorgeous. BTW I finally sold the ornate console I painted before Christmas. Every one who walked in the house said they had thought about buying it but no one ever did... that is until friends of ours came over on the weekend and saw it. Sold and out of my studio now :)

A lovely client of mine is in love with the mirror over my dining room sideboard so when she found this old mirror she asked if I could paint it the same. A lovely chalky matte finish and some dark crevice detail showing through. She was very happy and this will hang over a sideboard I painted her a few years ago.  It's nice to have good customers - makes me very happy. 

This amazing mirror below is so heavy and solid oak. It was so dark and dreary so I gave it a light wash of grey chalk paint to highlight the beautiful details. This mirror is like nothing I've ever seen before and sold straight away - my clever buyers :)

I still have a mirror to paint in my lounge room. When I get a chance I will paint this vintage french mirror grey or perhaps white. Still undecided and not in a rush as I always seem to be busy painting items for other people.  I love how it reflects the greenery form the hedge.

I have a few more mirrors to paint in between other pieces so shoot me an email if you are looking for something special.

have a great day

Fiona xx

Turquoise Vintage Cabinet

After painting a lot of things white and grey lately, I wanted to splash out on some colour. I was delighted to pick up an old cabinet recently that had gorgeous details. I love little old cupboards and this one is no exception. I did think about painting this white but knew it would also look stunning in a gorgeous turquoise.

I could keep this one and Jonty has been trying to work out a spot for it as he loves it also but I think out house is now full :)

This piece had some little holes in the back of the top where a backing board would have been so I first filled them in and once the wood putty was dry I sanded the top and primed it. Vintage mahogany has a tendency to bleed so it's a good precaution. I then gave the piece two coats of this beautiful turquoise chalk paint and waxed, antiqued and distressed it. I love how it turned out.

I have a lady coming to see it today but if you are interested shoot me an email and I'll let you know if it's still available.

Details:

Lovely old cabinet. 

Solid timber, beautiful details and beautifully made. 

Two shelves inside. 

75w x 47d x 76h cm 

**SOLD NOW**

My studio is looking quite full of lovely things both painted and unpainted. I have a lovely old french sofa that I'm hoping to work on next week and today I should be finishing up a gorgeous set of drawers imported from England that are made from tongue and groove old boards. Just lovely.

Now to get my girl up and ready for her first day at high school. Her uniform is gorgeous - as is she :)

Fiona xx

The Weekend and Beachy Bedside tables

Hi everyone, thanks for the lovely messages after my break from blogging and painting. For my fellow Australians I hope you enjoyed Australia Day yesterday. We had a lovely lunch at neighbours of Barramundi sliders and a watermelon salad then we took the kids to see a movie (Goosebumps) in the afternoon. We don't often go to the movies so it was a nice relaxing afternoon. We also had the weekend up at Avoca Beach as my dad had the kids for a night while we stayed with friends close by. The kids had a great time with dad and his wife - lighting fires, cooking lamb cutlets over the fire, bushwalking, swimming and long chats. 

Such a lovely time for them, and Phil and I had a lovely time also - it's amazing how one night away can make you very relaxed and happy. My friends' parents have been slowly renovating a lovely old house on the coast and there is also a little cottage (a bedroom and bathroom) on the land which is where we slept. It felt like a proper long holiday! Bliss.

Lots of time to walk, read and catch up with friends.

I brought home these hydrangeas from my friend's garden. Just beautiful.

I've got loads of pieces of painted furniture to share and first up is some beachy bedside tables.  To paint this driftwood effect, similar to you see at shops like Wisteria and Restoration hardware I first paint the piece with two coats of ASCP French Linen (after the required prep work) and then white washed with ASCP Pure White.  I then finished with a liming wax. I love this effect and it really creates an interesting paint finish. 

Lovely tall solid timber bedsides given a washed limed look. 

$380 the pair. 

Glass available for the tops. 

Great storage as the drawers are lovely and deep. Perfect for coastal or rustic decor. 

44w x 33d x 73h cm

Last day of school holidays here which is full of excitement as Sasha starts high school tomorrow. Good luck toy our kids also if they are starting a new school and wishing them all the best for the year ahead.

Fiona xx

PS I recently painted these white bedsides below for a lovely client but when my client got them home she realised they were too big for her space so is selling them and buying other ones. If you are interested in them, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with her.

Welcome back - 2016

Happy New Year. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and managed to squeeze in a break from all the craziness of life.  We had a lot of guests over Christmas which made it lovely but also busy and a bit tiring. Lots of beach days and enjoying Sydney's beautiful outdoors.

A drink at the Oyster bar before a play at the Opera House with the kids, Phil and Nana.

A big swell at Clovelly - still clear  enough to find lots of Blue Gropers

Little Bay

 playing tourist in my own city

magnificent view and evening with good friends for NYE

and lots of lovely times at home with friends also, enjoying being in our house.

I haven't been blogging because we've had a lot of guests to stay over Christmas and January as my computer is in the guest room/study so I didn't want to intrude on our guests to write my blog. The break has been good anyway. The other day was actually the 5 year anniversary of my blog. That's a lot of furniture makeovers and a lot of furniture painting advice I've shared.  Sometimes I don't know if it's worth it to keep blogging as how long can people remain interested in painted furniture and what I do but a lot of you still seem to like it so here I am for another year.

I have been busy painting a lot of lovely pieces already in 2016 and will once again share them here on my blog as well as facebook and instagram if you want to follow along. 

Thank you for all your support over the years.

Fiona xx

around home and a few new bits of furniture

Hi gorgeous people, How are you going in your Christmas readiness? I am usually very last minute but because we have friends flying in tomorrow morning from America, I have been extra ready for Christmas. I have two small presents still to buy and then I'm starting to wrap everything and get it under the tree tonight. I don't think I've ever been so ready :)

I had the last of my furniture pickups for 2015. Finally sold the gorgeous blanket box and also a round table.

We have two guests coming to stay for a few weeks; my friend Linda and her almost adult son Joel. We met Linda and Joel when we were in Yosemite about 5 years ago. It was snowing and we kept bumping into them at various fireplaces/lodges and chatted and chatted and finally decided we needed to be friends so we used to meet them at night for a drink after going our separate ways in the days hiking etc. I've been to LA a few times in the last few years to see them but it's the first time they have been to Australia. We are all so excited to have them here.

Joel will be sleeping in our guest room and so Sasha and I set up my furniture studio as a lovely guest room for Linda. I put some unfinished furniture in storage at a friend's shop and then used what I had to make a B&B room for Linda. It''s a bit hodge podge but I think she'll be comfortable.

All the furniture will be for sale after New Year (and once I've finished the unfinished pieces). It's pretty handy having extra furniture laying around :)

This morning the kids and I have had a quite time at home. They are still not even out of their pjs yet. We've done some of my technical lego that I got when I was 9 and made the dough for the chocolate sugar cookies we have every Christmas.  I have also sanded and primed this gorgeous dressing table below. I was just going to use it as is for Joel to put his clothes in the guest room but the varnish was in a bad way so i thought I'd get it painted before they arrive tomorrow. 

It's the sweetest teeniest little dressing table you have ever seen with the prettiest handles. The top of the mirror only comes to my shoulders. I will be painting it a soft white and lightly distressed. It will be for sale in the New Year so if you have a little girl keep an eye out for this one. It's ADORABLE!! 

I'm hoping the rain clears up soon as my friends aren't going to be happy with a wet old Christmas. 

have a great day
Fiona xx