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Ok, enough teasing...I've finally finished the makeover of my old timber mirror. Here it is now:
I love inlaid furniture, and when I looked closely at some of the originals, I realised that my mirror was the perfect candidate for a faux finish. The curvaceous shape was just right, and more importantly, I was really sick of it! If it didn't work out, no problem, I'd just silver leaf it. Those of you who've read my blog for some time may remember what it looked like:
I discarded the decorative pieces in the corners, and then undercoated the frame. The most time-consuming part of the whole exercise was the placement of the pattern - it needed to be fairly symmetrical to look convincing. Once that was done, all that was needed was a steady hand and lots of patience! It took much longer to do because I had to be in the mood to sit and paint - and it really can be quite theraputic to work on such a repetitive pattern! By the way, although it's not obvious in these pics, the pattern is painted in different mother-of-pearl tones, to give that lovely shimmer.
So, what do you think - could it pass as a reasonable copy of the real thing? I'm pretty happy with it, but there's just one problem....I think I've created a monster. I'm looking at some of my old furniture in a whole new light...
So...now that my ceilings are all white and wonderful, I've organised for my mate Bill to cover those last few brick walls with gyprock, and I'm telling you, I cannot wait to be rid of them. But as Bill has a holiday booked and will be away for the next couple of weeks (very inconsiderate of him, don't you think?) I'll take this time to plan my decorating theme for the dining area. At the moment, I have a large timber-framed mirror on the wall, and a sideboard, and I'll be giving them both a facelift with a fresh coat of paint. These are a few of the images I've saved, and of course there's a definite theme emerging here:
As usual, I'm drawn to the idea of painting the mirror either black or white. I could, of course, silver leaf it, which I'm sure Kerry would recommend! And I'm quite liking the touches of gold that have found their way back into vogue in recent times, but my house is a little too rustic and rough around the edges for it to work.
I'll be back tomorrow with some pics of my pretty new ceilings, and also the mirror and sideboard in question. In the meantime, feel free to give my your opinions - your ideas are always so inspired. Ok, must go - I have a game to watch!
...ok, quite a big secret, actually. As I've mentioned before, whoever built our house had quite the love affair with timber. Oh, and exposed bricks, but that's for a whole other post. So, as I was saying, we have timber everywhere. I've just covered a whole lot of it when I painted my kitchen cabinets, and the difference is amazing. But now that the kitchen is a lovely, glossy, gloriously bright white, the surrounding areas look a little, shall we say, shabby in comparison.
We have cathedral ceilings in our kitchen/dining area, and while I love their loftiness, I'd love them a whole lot more if they looked like this:
Sadly for me, my ceiling looks nothing like these beauties. Yet. But it's now firmly on my soon-to-be-tackled list, as I can't stand it for much longer. Ok, just between you and me, this what my ceiling actually looks like:
oh dear!! and don't worry, the lights are on the hit-list too
in accordance with blogger workplace health and safety regulations, the size of the above images has been kept to a minimum, as enlargement may cause serious eye injury
Ok, so I thought I knew exactly what to do - paint everything a clean, crisp white and live happily ever after. But then, the lovely Jules from A Diversion Project (of course you all know about her most excellent blog, don't you? If not, you need to get on over there stat...as soon as you're finished reading here, of course!) threw a spanner in the works. She posted this image:
Aargh! I'm now torn between a complete whitewash, and these dramatic charcoal numbers! What to do? Do I stay true to my original vision, or do I go with something like this?
Ok blog buddies, I need you to set me straight. Is it black or white? Or something in between? Each and every piece of advice will be gratefully received, I'm all asunder! As I've said before, i find it so much easier to make a decision for someone other than myself.
Have a great day everyone, and please feel free to send your opinions my way!
oh, and unfortunate images of ugly timber ceilings by me!
Just can't help myself...had to post just a few more images from my inspiration folder. Little pieces in these rooms helped form the design of my big makeover. Sorry for being such a terrible tease, but all good things take time, so by my calculation this project should be roughly three times as good as I first thought!
I'm madly trying to finish some artwork for a client, so today I thought I'd take a few more snaps of my studio. Of course, as I'm in the middle of working the majority of the room looks as though it's been ransacked, but I managed to find a few corners that were still photo-worthy!
One of the things I enjoy most about what I do is being able to paint and decorate with colours I may not otherwise choose for myself. Some of my favourite jobs have been commissions where I've had set colours to work with and I've had to then design works to suit the space.
These black and white paintings were done for a styling job I worked on last year. I like to keep a stockpile so that when the need arises I can quickly pull a scheme together, without searching high and low for just the right piece.
this old linen press holds all of my art materials
a small part of my collection of vases and jugs
and some cushions to match
As much as I'd like to stay here and chat, I'm off to do some work. I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I've been up to.
