Sweet Pickins Milk Paint!! Have you tried it yet? If not you seriously must! It is the creme de la creme of milk paint, amazing to work with, has the sweetest colour range and is for sale in our shop. I love using milk paint and adore the chippy goodness only milk paint brings. Unfortunately not all surfaces are chippy friendly (porous surfaces and raw wood generally mean no chipping). If you have a surface that has a polish, varnish or shiny smooth finish then you are nearly gauranteed to get the chippy look to varying degrees. So how do you get ‘that’ chippy look when your surface is porous ..read more

Pigeon holes are so versatile and handy .. I love those little cubbies where you can store all sorts of goodies & knick knacks and have them on display. Recently I came across a large raw wood pigeon hole display that I think may have been used as a hardware storage rack in a shed. It was a great size, solid and a blank canvas. Being raw wood it was very plain and needed a bit of rustic charm. So I ran a dark walnut stain over the entire outside surface area. I wanted this dark colour to serve as my base for the distressed paint overtop. Here is where Sweet Pickins Milk Paint comes into pl ..read more

I hope I am not starting to become predictable here, but I am totally crushing on old workbenches at the moment!! So when I find one that is unusual and needing some lovin I just can’t leave it behind. Enter this old beauty! Not over sized which is great, love the support pieces on the angle underneath too. Not much needed to get her back to some rustic glory and full of original character, what more could a girl want!! Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Window Pane is the perfect solution for a candidate like this one. It is a bone based white, my favorite white and just so vintage, I knew it would ..read more

There is nothing like a visit from the ‘parcel man’ to put a grin on my face because it means that he is dropping off a big box of Sweet Pickins Milk Paint! And this delivery was no exception because amongst all those pretty bags of milk paint is the latest Sweet Pickins colour release First Crush!! We have been so excited to get this new colour in, if you haven’t heard about this colour release let me just take a minute to fill you all in. As you can see above, the latest colour release is a soft vintage pink. It is not a fleshy toned pink and does not have coral undertones but rather a tru ..read more

As you may have noticed, things have been a bit quiet on the blog and social media since we closed our shop front in Smythesdale in January this year. I have had a few people message to ask if we are still creating and curating and the short answer is YES we are!! Here is the latest custom piece we have just finished.. as well as a gorgeous pair of refinished bedside tables which have found the perfect new home!   On closing the shop in Smythesdale we decided to take a short break to catch our breath and recoup as well as give ourselves the time to reinspire creatively. Seeing as we have ..read more

  Parting with special pieces is never easy. I have told myself that I would never sell this piece and for good reason, it is big and beautiful and such a unique display piece. It has served me so well in the shop as a shelving display and it would look fabulous at home as a book case or even an open shelving in a kitchen or lounge-room / study. I could even see it as a beautiful linen press or storage in an artist / craft room, sooo many possibilities really. Here she is all bare and beautiful on her first day ready to be loaded with goodies. Well the long and short of it is that I hav ..read more

As I am typing this blog update, I can’t believe how fast this year has flown! Especially the last three months, and no wonder, in the last 3 months I have had in the family a wedding, a funeral and a brand new nephew!! We have some exciting RUSTIC BOUTIQUE news and that is that we have opened a gorgeous stall in Castlemaine, VICTORIA. Our stall is a lovely little space located inside PLATFORM NO.5 (right next to the Castlemaine Vintage Bazaar) and is a carefully curated collection of our favourite pieces. The stall will have changing quarterly themes, that way it will always be evolving and b ..read more

I have been really missing painting lately. Winter is a really slow time for me, when the going temperature is no more than a top of 12 – 14 if you are lucky then painting for me is a no go as my undercover paint area is NOT heated and no paint is at its best in those kind of conditions nor is it fun painting while your fingers are ready to drop off or if you can’t feel your limbs. I must’ve been feeling brave because depsite the chill, I decided to dig out and paint an extending dining table. This dining table was pretty sad. She had a very dark maroon mahogany finish and was a definite ugly ..read more

Hello on this winters afternoon! I am a bit excited to share my current transformation with you all as it involves a rocking horse form!! I have received a number of messages asking how I achieved the weathered concrete/stone finish, so I thought that I better get cracking and do a blog post / tutorial on this gloriously fun and effective finish. Be warned – this tutorial is photo heavy and includes words like “blob”, “smear” and “splat”!! Here we go…. Last weekend the hubby and I stumbled across the most amazing but very sad abandoned project rocking horse. Now let me tell you that we didn ..read more

Hello to you all on this chilly but lovely winters day. I thought I would write a short post today updating you all on all things Rustic Boutique for winter. Treats & Luxury Goodies We have been doing lots of research (aka many hours wasted invested scouring pinterest and instagram) to find some locally made luxury / indulgent ranges to add to our current ranges at the shop. Being winter we just couldn’t pass up Grounded Pleasures!! Made in Ballarat this scrumptious range of fair traded hot drink blends are absolutely delicious. And they have a fantastic range too choose from. Craig ..read more