Please tell us a little about you and your business. We’d love to hear about how long you’ve been involved with what you’re doing and what inspired you to take this career path and when.
I'm Kayla, a Perth mum of two girls aged 1 & 3. I work part time in education, I run a small business making dried floral arrangements and also create content on Instagram. I've always had a passion for home décor and styling, I love a good DIY and working in education I knew I wanted to create a magical space for the girls to play and learn. I knew we needed lots of storage and space for the kids to store all their toys etc. but also wanted to somehow include a desk for drawing and activities, which is where we started our playroom project.
How long have you been using Gilly’s products and how did you first come across them?
We have known of the products for a while now, my mother in law actually introduced us first, they have a huge property where they love building their own furniture and they use all the Gilly's oils and helped us out a lot with choosing what would work best for us. We were first introduced to Mezzie and Frank by a good friend when we reached out on Instagram asking for some paint recommendations.
Is there any particular product you prefer to work with and if so, could you explain why?
We used Mezzie and Frank chalk paints in the colours Sandbar and Port Fairy, we had some old furniture from Ikea that needed some personality. We then sealed the paint with Gilly's Pure Hemp Oil, which gave it a beautiful finish. We absolutely love texture so the chalk paint was a huge win for us!
Could you tell us about what you are working on right now and give us a step by step guide on how you are making it. How you are using the particular Gilly’s product(s) that you have chosen for the project? We love to hear about different techniques.
Our process was pretty simple, we had some old Ikea toy storage units and we brought a solid pine board to create a desk effect, we didn't need to sand or anything due to it been solid pine, we gave everything a wipe down and clean up before painting. We used a roller to apply the paint for a smoother finish. We did 2 coats of Sandbar and 3 coats of Port Fairy for that solid finish. After a few days we applied the Pure Hemp Oil with an old sock which sealed everything in and gave it a beautiful finish.
Do you have any tips and tricks pertaining to Gilly’s products that we haven’t included in our own material? We often have people contacting us with some really innovative uses of our products!
Overall everything was so easy to use and apply. I would definitely recommend using a roller over a brush if you want more of that full coverage and matte finish. Also using a sock over our hand to rub on the oil was a great idea and made the process quick and easy.
You can find Kayla on Instagram here: Marli and Moon - The Floral Fairy and here: Our Little Story
Comments
Hi Margaret, thank you for your interesting story about how you use the Lemon Cream. We are very happy to hear that you are able to purchase locally and love our products so much!
I’ve long used Gilly Stephenson waxes and polishes since I started making my own furniture. I attended evening classes at Balcatta High School and learned to use industrial machinery provided for the day time students and apprentices. That was in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I have continued to use Gilly’s products ever since. As well as polishing my furniture, I’ve started to use the Lemon Cream beeswax polish to finish the pages of collage work in concertina sketchbooks. With the use of matte and gel mediums, pages can still be sticky years after creation and I’ve found a thin layer of this beeswax polish inhibits the stickiness. Applying a thin coat of polish and leaving open for 24 hours, I can buff off any excess wax and the pages no longer stick. I’m buying from a local Farmer Jack’s store, so keeping local and family integrities alive. I never met her, but Gilly is always in my heart as I apply, polish and buff furniture and creative work.