Baking pizzas in the village bread oven. Getting ready for winter and another little painted table.

Good company, good food, good wine and amazingly good weather. What more could one want?

Things are beginning to show the first signs of Autumn in the garden and the stack of logs is growing  to keep us warm this winter.

A few views of the countryside surrounding the village where we live.

And inevitably another small painted project using Paris Grey and Aubuson Blue, clear wax and also used Aubuson Blue mixed with clear wax on the top to give it a cloudy look, the blue is not quite so strong in reality

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My first commission - very stressful but satisfyling

It's one thing doing a makeover for oneself but quite another for someone else. Especially when the colour and finish requested was chosen from quite a small spindly piece that I did before.

I love it and I hope she does too. Annie sloan paint mix with clear and dark wax. No before photos but the items were pine. All being well there are some more items to do in the same finish.



Fireplace

Well here are more of the finished fireplace photos, well not quite finished but you get the idea.

and here a few more of the before the Annie Sloan makeover

and this is what it was like when we moved in

So another project completed but restoring an old house is never ending so many more opportunities for impoving our skills.

AS paint to the rescue on the fireplace.

This fireplace has been  a bit of a nightmare since it was at some time years ago painted in yellow gloss paint, underneath that is brown varnsh and who knows what else. I had started to use paintstripper but all that did was to make the paint soft and distribute the paint into all the stonemasons carving marks. We also tried sanding - no joy. I eventually just sat there for hours with a small pickaxe chipping away at the paint. However, over the centuries, apart from the gloss paint there was also some fire damage and long term soot and smoke exposure. So the stone which is Pierre de Bourgogne looked more black than stone coloured. Well, we thaught about having it sand blasted but were concerned with the damage already done and also the mess. Anyway having messed about with all my AS paints I eventually made a colour that I thaught would pass and here is a little preview as I have not finished it yet.

This is the transformation

from this.

More to come when finished.

I seem to have come to terms with Annie Sloan dark wax at last.

Just a little old pine stool that had seen better days. I used the same Lavender colour I made from Scandinavian Pink and Aubuson Blue plus Old White. I then clear waxed it and highlighted (lowlighted might be a better description) with dark wax.

Quite sweet I think and I like the colour, I may have to use that on something bigger soon.

Also want to show you what the other half has been up to. A stand for the hi fi units, including a drawer for cd's and at the bottom space for LP's. Was not allowed to use ASCP, spoilsport!

And now ready to rock and roll!

He does have his uses.



In your face stencil on AS painted chest of drawers, cannot be ignored!

This is not actually what I had in mind when I started this. Normally when I stencil anything it is very subtle and rather in the background. This is something different for me and strangely enough I do like it. What do you think? Now be honest I can live with some constructive critisism although it's too late to do much about it now!

The paint is a mixture I have used before, 2 chateau grey, 1 scandinavian pink and 4 old white. Clear waxed.

The stencil is from the Stencil Library. This is the before state, not particularly noticeable but you can no longer say that!



Will post further pictures when it has found a place in the house.