Ages and ages ago my Dad and I made this trunk.
The idea was that I was going to paint it inspired by something I’d seen in a magazine, but I never got around to it.
Then late last year Farrow and Ball emailed me and asked if I fancied undertaking a project painting a piece of furniture and writing about how I did it. I love Farrow and Ball (almost the whole house is painted in it) and so of course I said yes please!
I found this image on Pinterest of a painted trunk, sent it to them and they sent me back their best guess on the colours needed.
And then nothing happened. Farrow and Ball sent me a couple of polite emails asking me how I was finding the paint, but I just didn’t knuckle down. And then suddenly I did.
I opened up the paints having completely forgotten the design I’d opted for….was surprised….dug out the image I was inspired by and got going.
I chalked a design a bit like the one from the photo on the side as a guide. I say a bit as the original image isn’t great quality so you can’t really make all of it out, plus I’m too slapdash to be totally faithful.
And then I got going. Probably a mistake but I started with the front.
Then the sides.
Inside lid.
And finally the top and back.
And that’s it really. It’s not that neat, or symmetrical and I kind of approached it as a doodle, just adding bits as I went. However, I think the overall effect is good!