In store

I hope you are having a good start to the weekend. It's such beautiful weather in Sydney although chilly at night but it's hard to believe it's the winter solistice. 

Sydney certainly is beautiful!

This week as well as several pieces of furniture, (that I'll share soon) I finished two coat hooks that will be used in Bella Emporio Rozelle to display scarves etc. The first one was a backing board for a cupboard and I love how shabby chic it turned out. 

The other coat hooks are ones I made a while ago from the side of a hutch that I pulled apart. Painted in Duck Egg Blue with white trim and dark wax. 

Neither of these, I was that keen to sell as I love them but we have no where to hang them in our hallway as our walls are old lime plaster and drilling into it is difficult.

I thought you might like to see some photos of my furniture in Meshea Lifestyle. 

Fingers crossed for some good sales though this avenue. It really does make me want my own space for selling and workshops! So many ideas in my head!! 

Have a lovely weekend, enjoy the sunshine

Fiona 

Congratulations to the winners...

Congratulations to Linda, Judy, Rebecca and Katie. I look forward to a fun morning with you and sharing some of my tips for painting furniture with you. Specific things I would like to cover are:

• good brush technique
• solving common paint problems
• achieving a velvety smooth finish
• waxing or other topcoats

Please bring a small piece of furniture with you (or let me know if that's too difficult and you can work on something I have here).

Morning tea and lunch will be provided.

I am excited!

Fiona xx

Painted furniture heading to Meshea Lifestyle

I thought you might like to see some pieces that I've taken over to Meshea Lifestyle in Leichhardt for sale. I love seeing how they style the pieces for sale and I'll post photos soon of them in the shop.

First up for sale is a fabulous chest of drawers with a lift top lid and removable tray. I adore this chest of drawers. The detailing is fabulous and I've painted it in ASCP Aubusson blue which is a muddy peacock blue.

The inside of the lid is beautiful also - lots of detail.

The colour was hard to capture in the sunlight - the below photo is a better indication of the true colour. A lovely peacock blue.

The before photo - the chest of drawers had been painted in a faux wood. so tan, so ugly.

My neighbour is currently renovating and had this Gaylard piece in her hallway. For the last few months they've been using their hallway as a makeshift kitchen and this piece as the bench so I stripped it right back and painted it in ASCP french linen. I distressed it lightly to show white underneath for a country look. This would make a great bench in a country style kitchen or work equally well as a hall console.

I've also taken to Meshea Lifestyle this sweet little french style secretaire desk. It has been painted in ASCP Paris grey with white highlights.

Love it!

I've got several more pieces coming up but it's been a busy week. I finally placed the medical secretary that I was recruiting and everyone is happy with the outcome so that job is off my plate. I'm also working on a couple of custom pieces and more for the shop. 

By the way, tonight I'm drawing the winners for the painting lesson with me. Have you entered yet?

Have a good week

Fiona x

Painted French Armoire

I really have to get better at documenting my painted furniture - lately I've been a bit slack in using my proper camera and have just been snapping quick pictures with my iPhone. It sometimes doesn't do the piece justice. Anyway today I wanted to share with you a beautiful very old French armoire. 

The armoire was in a pretty dirty rough state when I bought it. I am pretty sure someone had been using it in a shed or garage. Mint green oil paint was splattered on it and it was very grubby. I spent a fair bit of time scrubbing it cleaning, vacuuming it out (there was a little animal's (rats?) nest in the carcass, underneath the drawers) and sanding it. There are lots of borer holes but that is to be expected in these old French pieces and really they just add to the character of it. It also had lots of chipped veneer and broken handles but still very beautiful.

I am so inspired lately by Leslie Stocker of Colorways and love her layered paint finishes. They are very authentic and exactly what I felt this piece needed. I used ASCP French Linen, Old White and Paris Grey, mixed and layered. The inside of the shelving area I painted with ASCP Old White. I then used ASCP Clear wax and MMS Antiquing Wax to add the final layer of patina. I am so happy with the final finish.

When I say I used a layered paint what that actually means is for the first coat I painted a solid coat of  French Linen, next I did a couple of washes of various mixes of French Linen and Old White, I then dry brushed Paris grey, and then dry brushed Old White. Waiting for the paint to fully dry in between each coat. Dry brush in the direction of the grain of wood. With the washes, I brush on the diluted paint and then when it is semi dry I wipe it off with a lint free cotton rag. It takes a bit of experimentation and practice but if you hate how it turns out just paint over it.

I replaced all the handles as only two were complete with these lovely drop handles from Chippendale Restorations. 

Here is a close up of the painted finish. While you can see brush marks, I have sanded it very well and the armoire was silky smooth to touch. Waxing your painted furniture gives such a beautiful finish.

I showed the before photo on my facebook page and within minutes had four buyers lined up with their interest. Samantha was third in line but ended up being the successful buyer and she came and picked up the armoire on the weekend and will use it to store her linen. She was so happy with hr purchase and that makes me happy.

Fiona xx

sharing at MMS

The controversy of painting antique furniture

This antique Australian Western red cedar dresser is probably the most controversial piece I've ever painted. So controversial in fact that it's taken me several months to blog about it. It nearly turned me off painting for a while and the controversy over it on my facebook page really made me consolidate my thoughts on painting valuable old furniture. 

I thought I might share my thoughts with you but I'm sure lots of people are going to disagree with me. While I'm more than happy to hear and learn your thoughts and perhaps even be persuaded otherwise, I'd appreciate your politeness and kindness. I've had enough rude comments and it's just not appreciated. I think people at the time forgot that I was PAID to paint it and the decision to paint it was not mine.

So my feeling about painting antiques or beautiful timber is unless it's in an actual museum, realise that you own the piece and you can do what you want with it. If that means painting it so you love it, then understand that you may possibly be decreasing its value but if you are okay with that, then go ahead and paint. It is yours, do what you want with it. However my advice is ensure that you do a good job of refinishing it. You won't want to regret your decision.

Cate inherited this piece from her beloved grandmother. Cate has strong memories of this piece and her nana's house and playing hide and seek around it and she really wanted it in her house, now her grandmother has died. Saying all that, Cate did not want it unpainted in her house, she has floorboards that would clash with that red timber. Cate wanted the piece to be a dramatic black and planned to have the piece as a statement piece in her dining room.

Here is how the piece came to me. It's obviously been sitting in dusty storage for a while. 

I spent ages cleaning it up. Dust is the enemy of a good paint job. This piece is very old and has lots of signs of age but wow it came up beautifully with a good clean. 

I almost started to doubt Cate's decision to paint at this point because the timber is obviously beautiful and Cate and I had long discussions about what her vision was and why she wanted it painted. She said she would love this piece painted and even though she was potentially decreasing the value of it, she didn't care as she's never selling it as she loves the memories of her grandmother it brings. The only value of it for Cate is sentimental value. And Cate wanted the dresser black!

We even discussed the potential value of the dresser, a thousand dollars at auction possibly, but Cate wanted the dresser to treasure forever so selling is not an option.

So I started painting. I used ASCP Graphite and it made the piece very dramatic and definitely a statement piece. Love or hate it, it doesn't really matter as Cate and her husband loved it so really that's all that matters.

You'll have to forgive my photography of this piece I never got to take proper photos of it, just iPhone snapped not in the best light.

It now sits in Cate's dining room, pride of palace and brings much joy to Cate every time she walks in the room. 

So I think that if you have a piece that you absolutely love and treasure but you want it painted, then get it painted. Just make sure it's definitely what you want as it's almost impossible to strip the paint off and restore the original patina and finish.

While I was reading about painting antiques I read this comment in a forum "There is no point in living with something you don't love - and just because it has been painted won't take away the fact you still got it from your great-grandmother." So true.

If you are painting an antique to resell, then I'd definitely get an appraisal and possibly choose less valuable pieces. It's funny though if a French woman painted a piece of furniture 150 years ago then people would be horrified if someone was going to strip off the paint. You just can't win sometimes.

If you are going to love it "ruined by painting" then that is OK!

What are your thoughts?

Fiona x

Win a furniture painting lesson: take your painting to the next level

As I get busier with the furniture painting I am more and more grateful to all of you who follow my efforts on my blog, via email, facebook and Instagram. It really wouldn't be possible without you all. 

As a thank you and a gift to you, I am offering two people via Facebook, one person via Instagram, and one person via my blog the chance to win a three hour painting lesson with me. Hopefully this will take your furniture painting to the next level and fill you with some good techniques and fresh inspiration.

The lesson will be held Thursday 24th of July starting at 10am. Venue will be in Lilyfield, Sydney.

You can enter three times - enter on my facebook page by leaving a comment on this post and sharing that post. Enter on my Instagram (Lilyfield Life and find the above photo in my feed) or leave a comment below with your name and email address. If you subscribe via email, just email me back so I know that you are interested.

I'll draw names on Thursday 19th June at 8pm.

Good Luck!
Fiona x

New Venture for Lilyfield Life

I'm very excited to have been asked by Larissa of Meshea Lifestyle in Leichhardt to stock my hand-painted furniture in this beautiful shop.

My friend Pete, of Pete's Shed fame, has had his furniture stocked there for many years and originally Pete and his wife owned the shop. However with business booming for Pete down in the Southern Highlands, he can no longer juggle stocking Meshea as well. So Larissa, the new owner, has asked for my furniture to be sold in her store. I'm just thrilled as the shop is beautiful and also close by.

I will still be selling furniture from my blog, Facebook and just Instagram  directly as well. 

So now I'm madly painting to get stock ready for the weekend!

Wish me luck!!

Fiona xx

Graphite French Cabinet with Marble top

I could call this gorgeous cabinet a boomerang, but actually it never even left me in the first place. One of my lovely neighbours wanted to buy it for the bathroom she is building in their renovations but after checking with her builder, she realised it won't fit where she wanted it. So regretfully she passed it up. 

I was quite happy for it to sit by my bed for a while longer.

It's a gorgeous marble topped cabinet. The marble just lifts off so you could easily just use the cabinet without the marble if the tan stone isn't your thing. I was very tempered to paint the marble either to match the charcoal or paint it like carrara marble but in the end decided that someone would like it how it is.

The marble had dark marks all over it but when I got it home I realised that it was just grime and possibly some paint so I scrubbed it all off with Gumption. Love that stuff.  The doors have those funny French hinges that have a rod at the top of the door and then a lever at the base and the doors stayed ajar like in the photo below so I sorted that out with a little magnetic catch.

So much attention to detail on this little piece.

I painted the cabinet in a lovely charcoal and then gave it a couple of different topcoats for a beautiful even matte sheen. I love the carved mouldings in the front of this cabinet. The cabinet is part of lot of furniture I bought from an importer of antique furniture. I've had some lovely pieces from him and I hope to get more pieces soon. Actually wait till you see one of my new pieces. I've shared it on facebook so if you follow me there you will already know.

This cabinet is slim like a small bookshelf and would be perfect in a bathroom or hallway. A lovely customer, Louise who already owns one of my sideboards, dropped by this week and bought two pieces for her new house. She initially came to buy the white hall table but when she saw this charcoal cabinet she said she would just have to buy both.

So off it goes to someone else's house.

Round and round the furniture goes...

Fiona xx

Recent custom painted furniture

I've been painting lots of furniture on custom jobs - where people bring me their tired furniture and I attempt some white paint resuscitation (well not always white paint but it does work wonders).  Mary Anne contacted me recently asking if her furniture was worth painting. She had a lovely vintage pot cupboard and a pine chest of drawers and wanted them a soft white to make her bedroom seem larger and to complement her new slate grey upholstered bed head. 

We chose Porters Paints Chalk Emulsion in Cornflour which is a gorgeous colour that I've been using for several pieces lately. Actually I think I started a run on it as Porters mentioned to me that they've had a lot of requests from all over for Cornflour Chalk Emulsion which isn't actually one of their standard colours. Someone even contacted them from Canada saying they wanted the paint Fiona used on her blog - so Hooray for the internet and blogging. 

MaryAnne's furniture had had a bit of a rough life - wax on the top of the drawers from a candle, some deep scratches and water marks.

With some good preparation and the right primer and paint and lots of sanding as well as new crystal handles, Mary-Anne's furniture turned out nicely - all new and ready to go in her newly decorated bedroom.

There was one scratch right across one of the drawers that was just too deep to sand out completely so I just painted over it. It's barely noticeable now. Can you see it?

And below is the reality of my painting life. You can see why I can't wait to get my own studio!

When Mary Anne dropped the furniture off to me to paint she said she could easily have bought new furniture but she'd rather spend her money supporting me as a craftperson/artist. I love that. Thank you Mary Anne for your support of my little business.

I'm painting lots more things white this week and have also bought some beautiful pieces this week that I can't wait to share with you.

Have a good week

Fiona xx

Thank You

I get loads of people thanking me for the inspiration and advice for painting furniture that I provide but I want to say that every... single... day I have a heart full of gratitude for you all - for stopping by my blog, for giving me such lovely feedback and encouraging me and for purchasing my painted furniture and asking me for custom paint jobs on your own furniture. 

I can't tell you enough...THANK YOU!

A few things have happened lately that make me incredibly grateful for my life, my health, my friends and family and for you all. Each day is a blessing, especially when you love, are loved and
get to work on something you absolutely love. 

I had a couple of exciting conversations yesterday about the future of Lilyfield Life and possible opportunities for my business so I can't wait to share things with you as they are confirmed.

...exciting times!

I hope all is well with you also, my lovelies.

Fiona xx