Now Stocking - Decor Furniture Transfers

We are pretty excited to be stocking Decor Furniture Transfers and have our first shipment of the smaller ones just arrived. Larger ones are due in November. Here is a video to show you how we use them. Transfer Tutorial

Contact us for more info or go to our online Online Shop

Free Chairs are Good Chairs

Friends of Friends were moving and hubby was helping them move some stuff. They were going to a smaller place and had a bunch of stuff for the dump. He spied this chair and bought it home for me, it was a bit sorry in the beginning.

She sat around for a while as it had this stick on vinyl on the seat and I had no idea how to get it off. Once I got to her I sanded and cleaned and decided for a more rustic finish in case I could not get the seat perfectly flat.

Painted up in Annie Sloan Graphite and stencil in AS Pure White, she turned out lovely.

Aquamint - Current Favourite Colour

Don't you love it when you try a new colour and then seem to have a roll of wanting to do everything in it?
So true for vintage paint colour Aquamint, it is a soft neutral with just a hint of mint. I started off doing an old homemade rimu piece in it as a display cabinet for paint in the gallery. 

The starting place

All loaded up as our paint display

Aquamint Swatch

Then I came across another Hutch, this time pine and very battered and unloved at the Sallies. This also got the Aquamint treatment. Different woods and starting colours will always change the look of a piece. One was on raw wood and the other I painted over a horrible dark stain. Both now have their own unique hint of mint look.

Antique Market - a new favourite stencil too!

Check out that dark "before" stain

Church Pew - Favourite Custom Job

I love any church pew, they have so much character and such a beautiful history coming from such a peaceful place as a church.

Here is the pew that my lucky customer had come across abandoned in a storage shed.

My client had a clear idea of colour for her pew and went with Annie Sloan Country Grey. A beautiful deep dirty cream once painted. We then added a moulding to the top, distressed it to show wear over time, clear and dark wax. The dark wax really highlighted the original marks, dents and details that you didn't notice beforehand. 

This was a massive piece, just over 3metres long and to date my biggest custom job. I loved working on this vintage piece and my client loved the finished result, so a great outcome.

Rattan Back Dining Chairs - Before & After

I was lucky to come across a set of amazing rattan back dining chairs. Once home I found 3 were perfect and 3 needed cane replacements.  Here is the before, worn, faded and grubby, but gorgeous backs and shapes.

I decided to do two for the Villa dining room, to use as charger chairs at the head of the table. Here are two I have refurbed so far. As I only have one good one left until I find someone who will replace the backs, I have to decide what way to do the last one. Thoughts?

White and Floral

Grey and Stencilled

Happy Painting!

American Style Tallboy in Antique White

I won this piece in an auction as I could see it had really good bones. It was shabby and neglected but with some sealer, antique white vintage paint and semi gloss poly she is now transformed:

 This is how she started off, and check out those weird drawer runners! If anyone knows about these please let me know as I have not come across them before.

And back to some great refurb photos again...I love the the combo of blue and white always!

Duck Egg Blue with White wash finish Sideboard

I have been trying different paint finishes with the Voodoo Molly Vintage paint to see what different looks I can get with it. This week I completed this lovely old sideboard, which had a pretty boring, no-body-wants-me look to it when I picked it up. Here she is.

I knew she would look good in a colour but as she was a sideboard which could end up in any room I wanted her to have a neutral look as well. Here is her after pic.

I did 2 coats of Voodoo Molly Vintage Duck Egg with light sanding in between. No sealer was required as her original finish was in excellent condition, lucky me! Then I used a mix of 2 parts water to 1 part Antique White vintage paint and used this as a wash all over her. I worked in small areas, painting it all over the dry duckegg paint , then getting my clean cloth, wiped it back. This created a very subtle wash, very even so she ended up as a soft Duck egg with depth. I think this colour suits and I am very happy with how easy this was to do with the vintage paints.

Once completed she has some lovely detail showing through that was lost when she was mahogany colour. I did a little distressing to highlight this and then kept it very simple with vintage metal hardware and a poly finish so she was durable.

Have a great week everyone