Upcycling brown furniture
Yes. You can see why I mentioned green paint just now. I’m in the throes of slathering it everywhere.
Were I really organised I would put in the time and do some research about green paint.
How addicted people were to the pigment in the past. Fleeting allusions to arsenic in the paint. Napoleon – was he poisoned by his particular green painted wallpaper in exile?
History of green. History of even this particular shade…
But no. It’s a gardening post and it’s very, very early in the morning. And I am only one cup of coffee into my day.
And I have a lot of physical tasks on my ticket today. Not sitting inside doing research.
In fact I have gardening to do.
And flower deliveries.
But one fine ‘too hot to go outside day’ this past month I decided to upcycle my china cabinet.
Actually I’ve been meaning to do it for ages. I painted the inside of the rather brown and not very treasured cabinet white a few years ago. It needed coat upon fine coat to get the paint to really stick.
And now it has had its final transformation.
(Unless of course I go into a mad ‘blue phase’ or feel the need to paint all my possessions a murky shade of purple some time in the future.)
Two coats.
A thoughtful moment of ‘will I do the undersides of all the shelves?’
Answer, no. I’ll save what’s left in the paint pot for a little grotty food safe I want to pimp.
And then the fun part of putting back all my treasures.
You don’t see the very bottom shelf when the cabinet is closed. So that’s useful.
Quick delve and I will tell you that I can copy and past from the Farrow and Ball website and give you this.
Sap Green is from our new Colour by Nature palette, created in collaboration with the Natural History Museum to bring the true colours of nature into your home.
Almost like gardening.
Oh, and I forgot that I had a few extra August flower bouquet photos dangling about my desktop.
The only reliable flowers in a drought stricken summer. (Bupleurum fruticosum.)
And yet another poorly staged bouquet plonked on a dining table. I promise to be more aesthetically aware next time round.
7th September 2022 @ 1:14 pm
The Sap Green has worked wonders on your cabinet, it looks great and really sets off your treasures. I think it would also look good for a silverware display. Isn’t it also the colour you chose for your London kitchen cabinets?
7th September 2022 @ 6:08 pm
Ah yes the mighty sap green.! The very same as the kitchen cabinets. How observant you are! when you find the ‘right’ green you tend to stick to it. And I have some silver hiding in the bottom shelf of the cabinet. It all badly needs polishing so I did the right thing – I just put it back, tarnished and sad, and shut the door.
8th September 2022 @ 2:00 pm
A good green is indeed a thing of beauty. You’re lucky that Sap Green looks equally good in English light and French light, which are so different. I’ve had nasty surprises… And if you don’t know it already, may I recommend silver foam (Goddard or Hagerty) for polishing silver. It is, as people say now, a game changer. But in France, oddly, people prefer silver with tarnish left on! So you could display it with pride just as it is.
9th September 2022 @ 1:43 pm
I’m obviously channelling my inner French tarnished silver ancestors. I shall add Goddard or Hagerty to the shopping list for my next trip to Blighty. (After the Funeral)