Photography by: Gina Fabish
It’s almost as though this blanket chest was plucked straight from a fairytale. The intricate, hand-painted detail is breathtaking, particularly when paired with the rest of the colourful bedroom.
Artist Hayley Elliott-Kernot and her husband Andrew Piselli are the creative minds behind the chest, as well as many other projects in their Waitara home in Taranaki. They took a second-hand treasure and transformed it into a piece of art.
“My first project with these paints was this blanket chest,” says Hayley. “I couldn’t resist purchasing it when I saw it for $30 in a second-hand store. It needed a bit of fixing up, but even after simply painting it white, it was transformed. I love what paint can do!”
The chest, like the rest of the room, was inspired by folk art. “This was different than other projects,” tells Hayley. “We love the garden and anything old, vintage or historical. Folk art-style plants painted on old furniture combine these.”
The dream materialised through an array of Resene testpots. Of the dozens that Hayley and Andrew own, the testpots used for the chest were Resene Norway, Resene Wax Flower, Resene Touche, Resene Cream Can and Resene Saratoga.
“I find lots of colour makes a space feel happy, so our rooms tend to be full of colour and patterns,” tells Hayley. “Greens and sunset colours are my current favourites, which is why they are the main colours on the box.”
The hope is that the rest of their house will one day be given the full artistic treatment.
“Each room has quite a distinctive style,” says Hayley. “We have called our next room the Sherlock Holmes Room and we are doing it up in a Victorian-library style. That’s where Andrew keeps his rather large number of medieval weapons, so the room will suit that style.”
Hayley says that 90% of everything in their home is second-hand or DIY.
“In the bedroom, only the baskets and duvet are new – everything from the bedframe to the rug was secondhand and refurbished.”
She credits her husband with being a huge help with the refurbishing. “We do everything on the house together. Nothing would get completed without him!”
