An elegant French piece

I love the combination of grey and white, particularly when used with an antique piece that has lots of mouldings to pick out.

So this French chiffonier, with its chipped veneers, was the ideal project to paint in these contrasting colours. First, I filled the veneers, before giving the whole piece a light sanding.

Then, after removing the, backboard, doors and drawer, I painted the whole piece in Annie Sloan Paris Grey. Two coats of this were sufficient to cover. I then masked up all the mouldings and dry brushed the carved mouldings at the sides and to the backboard with Annie Sloan Pure. Finally, I painted the moulded edges to the door panels, and drawer front in Pure.

Being unable to resist a blank space inviting a stencil, I added a music themed stencil to the backboard panel simply because I liked this particular script.

The dry-brushed carvings allowed the grey beneath to show through and enhanced the beauty and skill of the carving.

I decided to add crystal handles to the frieze drawer and to the doors to facilitate opening, while fitting a replacement lock to the doors below, complete with working key.

And voila, another piece finished ready to go into our shop in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. Please comment if you are interested in this piece.

My first Gold Leaf Project

Having bought a reproduction heavily carved chest at auction, I thought this would be the perfect piece to gold leaf,  though due to the ornate carvings, might prove just a tad ambitious as this was my first attempt at applying gold leaf. I always forget to take Before photos as I'm too eager to get started, but I took a quick photo of it in the auction room - quick being the operative word, hence it came out blurred!

First, I prepared and painted it in Fired Earth's Dragon Blood. I wanted a strong colour that would be a striking contrast for the gold leaf - and I wanted to get away from safe neutral colours for this particular piece, even though I know people will either love or hate it!

I was lucky to find a huge roll of gold leaf being offered on a Facebook Selling Site free, and simply had to pay postage. I already had gold leaf size in my craft box, so once it arrived, I got down to work.

There are lots of You Tube videos showing how to do this, though none that showed a similar project to mine, so it was largely thanks to trial and error, that I managed to finish it.

The first thing I soon learnt was that the size needs to be the right degree of tackiness. It wont stick if its either too wet or too dry, so after applying the size, leave it for two-three minutes so that it just feels sticky to the touch. I applied the size to small areas at a time and then burnished the gold leaf sheets to the mouldings and left them to dry for about 30 minutes.

After allowing about 30 minutes for the gold leaf to adhere, all the excess gold leaf is removed, leaving only that which has stuck to the size. 

I finished it with clear and dark wax, and then gave the gold leaf a final coat of sealer to protect it. And voila! This sad looking mahogany chest has been rescued, restored and is now resplendent!

Dressed to Impress

A  dresser, also known as a Welsh dresser or buffet, is a piece of freestanding furniture that consists of a sideboard with drawers at the bottom half and a shelf rack on top. Traditionally, it is a practical piece of furniture which was used to store and display a china service, beautiful copper pans, jelly moulds and other metal kitchen implements.

Slowly throughout the 19th century the purely functional role of the dresser was superseded with other functions, such as being the most beautiful way of displaying the best china service in the home. This led to the humble dresser finding its way into dining rooms, where it is now used as a sideboard and the rack as a place to exhibit your best china.

It is such a versatile piece of furniture and completes a home, I think. Equally at home in the kitchen, a dining room or sitting room, it adds a touch of homeliness that no other piece of furniture can match.

Not only providing storage but providing a home and display for favourite china or other personal effects,  in so doing, it reflects the personality of the one who dresses it. 

 Being on the large size very often, when they do reach the end of their 'shelf'' life (excuse the pun), they arent easy to dispose of, which is where I love to step in, when the owner needs to replace them. 

They then provide me with a blank canvas to get creative.

 Since we are in the business of selling on, I tend to alternate between neutral shades which sell well, and bright colours, which I love and I hope others will love too.

 Painted in two tones of Farrow & Ball Archive Estate Eggshell & Autentico Neutral Chalk Paint to the door panels, the backboard has been dry brushed for a more rustic look. 

A 20th C hardwood dresser painted in Annie Sloan Greek Blue and waxed

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint comes in some stunning bright colours which can be distressed and dark waxed, a perfect finish for antique dressers, while Farrow & Ball produce some lovely neutral shades to compliment pine.

19th C Oak Dresser with Geometric Mouldings painted 
in Annie Sloan Antibes Green

Decoupage to door Panels

Stencils and decoupage can be applied to add a vintage French look to a modern dresser

'Boulangerie' Stencils to doors and backboard

and occasionally the shape of a dresser can determine a theme 

Old Charm Oak dresser painted in Annie Sloan Louis Blue & Old White for a nautical look


While the funky and unusual reflect my own taste, I 'm very conscious of not losing sight of what most people prefer to compliment their homes, i.e. Neutral tones, and this dresser which Ive just finished is designed with those in mind. 

All these dressers have been given a new lease of life. Having provided many years of service from new, they can now provide many more years of both style and function, with a new story to tell from their shelf displays. 

What better way to dress to impress! 

For details of dressers we currently have available, you can go to The Owl Cottage Secret Cupboard, our Facebook Page,  for more details.

The Missing Piece - Restoring an Antique Workbox

Having succeeded in bidding on an antique rosewood work table at auction last week, I was disappointed to find on closer inspection, that one of the carved corners was missing. Unfortunately, its all too easy to bid in haste at auction and repent at leisure.

There was only one thing for me to do... Hand it over to my other half and hope that he could save the day (and quite a big investment!).

Using an original corner as a template, he cut the shape out and then used mahogany veneer, which was stained to match the rosewood. 

This was then glued and fixed in place. While not an exact match, this minimised the adverse effect of having a corner entirely missing and added value to my purchase hopefully. 

This will be going into our bay at Lifestyle (Hitchin) this week. 

Memories Are Made of This

Today was the culmination of our local NHS hospital's shopping expedition to Lifestyle (Hitchin) last week, when they purchased many items to create two Memory Rooms for dementia patients. These rooms would provide an ambient environment full of nostalgic memories inspired by items from a past era or of vintage style.

Naturally, our emporium in Hitchin was the first choice of the room designers, offering as it does a huge eclectic mix over two floors of vintage and retro items, perfect for the creation of the Memory Rooms.

Having purchased most of the furniture items from both our bay and from The Nest upstairs, it fell upon us to deliver all items purchased. So with two vans loaded by mid-day, we were on our way.

It also fell upon us to unload and transport all items up to Dementia Ward on Floor 9. With hospital porters busy transporting patients too and fro, with the help of nursing staff, we loaded all small items into cages, and with the aid of our home-made flat bed trolley, succeeded in getting everything to the 9th floor safe and sound. 

We, at Owl Cottage Vintiques and at The Nest, are delighted to be the contributors to such a worthy and innovative scheme. 

All Change

Wednesday is stock change and delivery day for us. With two dressers to take out of our bay at Lifestyle (Hitchin) for delivery, we were replacing these with two more, plus a few smaller items.

Dodging the showers, we managed to do the swap over within an hour or two, and I found time to pop into our local Farrow & Ball stockist for a tin of Estate eggshell in a neutral shade called Archive. I like to alternate between primary colours and neutral shades, and thought this would make a distinct change from the Antibes Green dresser Ive been working on for the past week.

We did one delivery this afternoon and have one to do tomorrow to a local Care Home, but more of that story tomorrow.....

With the football season in full swing, I'm happy to spend match time of an evening working on smaller projects and trying something a bit different, while hubby coaches the teams from his armchair.

These metal drawers were given the industrial treatment during last night's match thanks to some numerals from Shabby Chic Stencils. The drawer fronts were first sprayed with PlastiKote Chrome Project Enamel, the numbers stencilled with Annie Sloan Graphite, and then, when dry, I sprayed all the drawer fronts with CarPlan Crystal Clear Lacquer to seal. I decided to leave the outer body in the original black as a contrast.  These will go into our bay and it remains to be seen if Hitchin is ready for the Industrial Look yet!

One piece completed and another now takes it place.

We finally finished our refurbishment of the 19th Century Oak Dresser today. It is now ready for its public debut and will be going into our bay at Lifestyle (Hitchin) tomorrow.  We also have a Facebook selling page if you would like more details at The Owl Cottage Secret Cupboard. Please take a look and we hope you will Like our Page at the same time.

The dresser needed a number of repairs including replacement inserts of new timber mouldings, so lent itself to being painted. The top was stripped of its old oak veneer and re-stained in Liberon Dark Oak Wood Dye, and finished with dark Briwax to match the oak backboard. I'm quite pleased with the result and love this dramatic shade of Antibes Green Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan.

Jacobean Oak Dresser painted in Annie Sloan
Antibes Green Chalk Paint, with Dark Wax

The rest of the day has been taken up with labelling small items to go into our bay, a time-consuming but essential part of the business, while my other half sizes up his next project, one that will definitely NOT be painted.

This beautiful 19th Century rosewood work table boasts a beautiful grain and is in good condition. However, one of the hazards of bidding in haste at auction, is repenting at leisure when one finds an important moulding is missing. Now, how is he going to get round that without incurring the expense of a professional carpenter I wonder.

I'm having a clear out of a number of chairs Ive bought over the past year, with the intention of either painting or restoring them. Today I sold 6 Ercol 20th Century Fleur de Lys chairs, and with 4 more going into our shop this week, I am gradually getting through my glut of chairs at long last.

Our van's loaded with new stock to take into Lifestyle tomorrow. All that remains is to wait in anticipation to hear what we've sold there today, when it closes at 5pm.

Refurbishing an ancient oak dresser and other things.

I rescued an ancient oak dresser, which had clearly seen better days,  from the auction room a couple of weeks ago and  wanted to preserve its ancient look -  while making it more saleable of course.

Some massive TLC and imagination was called for which demanded the attention of both hubby (to make it sound and functional) and me to give it some wow factor. Some of the joints were loose and there were splits and bubbling to the top, though its saving grace was that it had no woodworm.

I decided I would paint it in Annie Sloan's Antibes Green and finish it with dark wax, which made a dramatic contrast to the original dark oak backboard. I wanted to retain this as the grain was beautiful on the backboard, not having had so much wear. Unfortunately, while most of the dresser was made from solid oak, the top was veneered. The veneer had bubbled and chipped so, with the aid of a hot air gun, we removed this, to reveal a light pine beneath.

Uh oh! The challenge was now to stain it dark to match the oak backboard.

Clearly, this dresser was not going to be finished today. I had already spent 2 days painting and waxing it. While hubby continued with the woodwork and staining, I decided to tackle a job I have been putting off for months.

It was a dull rainy day and I felt drawn to painting in primary colours to brighten up my day. I fished out 4 Victorian scullery chairs that had been languishing for months and spent the afternoon transforming them into a harlequin set of 4. Voila! Ready to go into our shop to accompany a pine table already there.

Thats enough work for today. Now to catch up on Channel 4 French Collection, to get some inspiration.