How to - gild the lily (desk actually!)

I am totally in love with this project .... gilding is fun, a little messy and quite time consuming on bigger pieces BUT .... the end result is fantastic! (well I think so anyway!!!)

 STEP 1

Decide on your piece to gild.... maybe start off with something small till you get used to it ....or jump in the deep end!

This is my desk, quite a nice piece, well made....why am I tampering with it you may ask.... because I have had it for about 15 years (still in good shape isn't it?) and I was considering selling it because it wasn't fitting in with my bedroom...in fact it really jarred every time I looked at it. You can see it here in my bedroom but ever since I got my new turquoise bedside tables it hasn't looked right.

Anyway back to step 1, apart from wiping it down to remove any dust.... I did no prep!!! I told you many times now, I am lazy and look for the easy way out! Now the real way of doing this is if you are gilding an item in gold (or the more commonly used Dutch gold - which isn't really gold at all but a much easier and cheaper product) you should paint a base colour of red tone to give the gold more warmth. If you are gilding in silver (again not real silver but aluminium) you should base it in an undercoat of blue for the cooler tones.

Well I didn't... I just thought I would see how it went over the varnished surface. I wasn't sure if it would stick but I experimented for the sake of all of you who are lazy like me - IT WORKED! Yippee... I didn't have to sand off and start again!

What you need
- silver imitation leaf (or gold) - I used Ever Bright leaf 100 sheets 14 x 14cm 1 and 1/2 boxes
- gold size (just the special glue for either gold or silver) 125ml bottle by X-PRESS-IT water based
- white cotton gloves
- soft paint brush dry for handling gold
- and brush for painting on the size
- your fav varnish to finish

 STEP 2

Word of warning at the start! This is not overly messy more "pretty" messy with lots of little pieces silver floating around... you may like to put down a bigger tarp than I had and keep a vacuum cleaner nearby!

Start on the flat surface first till you get the hang of it, it is really quite easy. Paint a small area at a time with the size and allow to dry for 5-10min - you will see it change from a milky consistency to clear, see above.

Once it has changed put on your cotton gloves or as I do, I wear a glove on my right hand and have a freshly washed and dry left hand (to get rid of oils). I find it a little clumsy with two gloves as the silver sheets are so incredibly fine. Each sheet has a tissue intersheet which you can use to lift the gilt sheet then let it float gently down into position on the top. Don't panic if it doesn't go down completely flat, lay a few more sheets down and then start smoothing them with a clean dry brush and watch the magic happen!! If there are little cracks, pick up some of the silver droppings and place them into the cracks, you will be amazed how it all meshes together!

 STEP 3

Once the top is finished, you can work on the legs... now this is time consuming it doesn't all have to be done in one go, in fact I went to bed and left a part I didn't realise I had coated and it was still tacky the next morning so I was able to continue gilding.

It is a little harder working vertically but you should have the hang of it from working on the horizontal surface. Now a little hint on working on detailed areas like carving or in my case the turning on the legs - if you let the gild sheet float above the area and then blow lightly on it, it will land against the area and mould itself around it. You will need to tamp it down still with your brush and where it cracks, pick up your silver tailings and dab them on.

 STEP 4

Once the gilding is all finished make sure it is all smoothed down by wiping over with the cotton glove, then vacuum up all the tailings so that you are able to varnish safely. The varnish is needed to protect the finish. If you decide not to varnish your piece will wear and tarnish with use. You may wish to antique your gilded item, do this carefully before you varnish. I decided leave mine and have the lovely bright silver! If I ever want to tone it down I will give it a coat of antique wax.

The finished product with some new knobs...all set to party!!! Just needs some accessorising!

Linking to parties at

Mod mix Monday

Before and after - the dog!

OK...not a real before and after! It's just scruffy mutt!! I have been very busy with lots of projects this weekend and this was my first one.... my little scruffy mutt...Ben. He was well overdue a hair cut but it is so expensive... $70-$75 a time, so time for a bit of DIY. While I was out and about collecting supplies for varies projects, I picked up a pair of dog clippers. "Can't be too hard, can it?!"

Cute and scruffy, he is a maltese shitzu cross

Not sure if he can actually see where he is going

Instructions on the clippers said he must be washed, dried and brushed out before clipping.... not happy!!

Relieved that the ordeal is almost over, it is winter so I clipped him on the second biggest comb so that he would still have a fairly long coat.... not quite as easy as I thought it would be!

After.... well maybe I could do with some more practice... he still looks a scruffy mutt but at least he can see!

I had more luck with some of my other projects.

Bedroom inspiration

Yep....been cruising around on Pinterest again and thought I would share some great bedroom ideas....

I am loving turquoise and it is the "it" colour of the moment!

This is a gorgeous mix of colours and patterns

Again very soft turquoise blue offset with white....fresh clean look

I have always been a sucker for rooms in the roof line, how cosseting is it with all those lovely angles. And just check out the view through those windows....what a dream!

The drama of the dark graphite gray walls with the fresh white, very romantic without being too feminine. A man could feel comfortable in this room.

A very calm room but you would have to like waking to the light....no blinds!

I could imagine this room in a lovely country retreat...just watch your ankles as you get out of bed!

Still trying to figure out what it is I love about deer heads....if they were real, I would not be feeling the love at all!!! And here they are combined with a lovely soft turquoise again.

Yep...more turquoise...and combined with splashes of yellow...how fresh. Love the lamps!

A little more blue than turquoise but a lovely combination with the cream.

Again a room that a man would feel just as comfortable in as a woman.

I love the walls here, I am not sure if it is wallpaper or stencils but it is georgous! When you have something as detailed as the walls here, keep the rest of the room simple so that they don't fight with each other.

All these images can be found on Pinterest

7 sins - WRATH - hanging them high!

WRATH = Decor mistakes

OK....this is a biggy....something that every designer hates....something inexplicable....hanging pictures TOO HIGH!!! It's not hard really, I generally hang paintings with the middle at eye level...yes I know that we are all different heights but if it is your house, hang it at your eye level!

There is a rule of thumb you can use if you are still confused, measure from the floor to the middle of the painting it should be around about 1500mm (about 60inches). This gives you a fairly generic way of hanging.

There are other ways I also use to hang paintings, a lot of it is by eye, sometimes if I am hanging a really large painting, I may use the top line of an architrave, or near enough....

Both the mirror and the large painting have been hung with the same level, in line with the architrave, while the smaller painting by the door is hung at eye level.

These photo canvases all relate to each other, they read as a story by hanging them in a close grid patten which makes it a lot more interesting. The spacing in between is about 25mm (1 inch approx) this is a measurement I often hang pictures apart. See below as well.

Sometimes you want to hang a gallery of paintings or photos of different sizes and shapes, the best way to do this is to lay a large roll of paper on the floor and lay the pictures on it, till you are happy with the arrangement. Once you think it is right trace around the pictures and mark the point where the nail goes then tape the paper up on to the wall and just hammer your nails through or mark a place where you need to drill and plug. Pull the paper away carefully so that you will know which painting goes where!!!
 

via pinterest

This is a wonderful gallery arrangement above, it works because of a number of reasons.... they are all black and white images, the frames are all the same colour, the mounts are all the same colour and they are all close together..... so they read as one story.

When you are hanging two pictures together either vertically or horizontally don't stagger them it looks awful... if they are the same size line them up, if they are different sizes try aligning them both from one edge.

Three different arrangements that work because they relate to each other.

Hanging wrong....just looks hokey!

So.... go on, be brave and stop sinning! Re-hang those pictures.....

Girl's weekend!!!

I miss it already! I think what every woman needs is a weekend away with a group of old friends (yeah...the boys need their time too but we all know that it's us girls who need it more!!!).

So off to the beautiful Blue Mountains we went....I have to add the beautiful and very cold Blue Mountains, by the way for those who don't know them, they are called the Blue Mountains because from a distance the haze from all the eucalyptus trees looks blue.

We stayed at a lovely guest house, the Kubba Roonga

It is a typical old character mountain home with a lovely fireplace for us to camp in front of during the day and night whilst we took turns in having a very relaxing and welcome massage!

Yes we made a mess as we drank wine and coffee, ate chocolate, read papers and books and talked a lot, we also went shopping (we wouldn't be girls if we didn't!). This is one of my favourite antique shops.... it's in an old theatre.

I managed to find some more milk glass for my fledgling collection I mentioned here. You can't quite see the slight big accident I had with the little compote bowl....nothing that a little glue couldn't fix!!! We also went out for dinner at a great 1 hat restaurant called Ashcrofts which if anyone is heading up that way, I highly recommend.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to the mountains, without a walk taking in the wonderful sights....

Checking out the new houses....

and the old....

and of course the iconic!