Project Monday

Painted Furniture

                            after:

Years ago I painted this hutch (circa 1970-ish) black from sort of a creamy white. I wanted a glossy look and used oil, this was way before the chalk paint craze. One thing I didn't know about oil is that it has a propensity to chip. With several moves and attempts at touch up, it.was.time.

I started painting and realized I hadn't take a 'before' shot. 

I decided to keep the inside light, te outside color is Annie Sloan's slate gray and the inside is old white. After painting the white it was too bright for me.

I painted over it with SW Crushed Ice - which is a pale gray and the color I have used on most of the interior walls of my home. You can see it on the left of this picture. 

I got this far and had to put the brushes down to go visit these fellers in Washington state.

One week of lots of lovin'.

When I got back I used Amy Howard's technique of waxing and using dust of ages over it. See post here where I described in detail.

Clear wax, dark wax, dust.

Buff.

Oops!  With starting, stopping, traveling and working in different lighting conditions I missed this one door.  Good example though of the difference of waxing and dusting (left) and just painting. I've got 6 chairs and the table legs of the table to do so I will fix it.  :)

Hobby Lobby has a wonderful selection of door pulls and handles. I have lucked out each time I have gone looking for pulls to find them 50% off.

I found some to update the cabinet a bit. 

Difficult to get a good shot with the reflection in the glass.

All finished and cleaned up pretty well for an old girl.

♥

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Project Monday

Painted Furniture

A few weeks ago at the Atlanta Market I was fortunate to meet with 

Amy Howard - a beautiful furniture maker - who has a line of paint and finishes she markets as 'Amy Howard at Home'.  Go here to see my post last year about her and all of the finishes.

At market I was thrilled to take part in a hands-on demo which was great fun.

 It's taken me a year to finally get the courage to paint my grandmother's hutch, which is a solid piece of furniture in mahogany.  The s-curved glass with the leaded window pane is not something that can be found these days.  While beautiful in its day, it just isn't 'me'.

I thought I would 'practice' on a tea cart - that was grandma's too - to see how brave I am.

It all comes apart which helps for those hard to reach places. 

I'm using the 'One-Step' paint process which is a chalk paint that can be painted over any surface, no sanding or prep required. My fave for sure. It does not need to be sealed but I like to have a bit of depth rather than a flat finish.

One coat, I did long strokes. The paint can be a bit thick, a drop of water helps.

Two coats on everything.

A touch of gold adds so much; I taped off the top edge of both trays, then painted with 'guilding size' which makes the leafing stick and waited 20 minutes for it to become 'tachy'. 

Next, lay the gold leaf over, it doesn't have to be perfect (which is my nature) as it's nice to have sort of a crackled look.

After all the leafing is finished - using a brush - get all of the flecks off. 

That stuff goes everywhere and since my kitchen is my workroom, I'll be finding 'gold' for a while!

Next is waxing, clear and then dark. Soft wax is best, I had some Annie Sloan in the clear and bought Amy's dark. This is the hard part. The clear is great because obviously it cannot be seen but when that dark goes on it isn't as smooth. Both go on with a brush and then buffed a bit, the key is to 'off-load' the wax on a piece of cardboard or something similar to get the blobs off of the edges of the brush. Even with doing that there are dark spots that I couldn't smooth out. My perfectionistic personality really has to let go a bit.  

Amy likes to use this 'dust of ages' to get into the crevices (I would say best for pieces with highs and lows in the wood) which goes on after the wax and then buff with a soft rag for a pretty sheen.

Here's the top tray - you can see the darker spots - definitely need to perfect this technique a bit more before the hutch.

All in all, it turned out pretty well - I would prefer not to have the dark spots - but honestly they aren't as noticeable in person.

♥

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Project Monday

I bought this dresser and hutch a few years ago for my office from Christine's Creations in Woodstock, GA.  Christine's store is one of my favorite places to go to find fun things for the home.

My office is in dire need of an update so I decided I would pull out my paint brush and try a different colored chalk paint on this dresser and hutch. I use the dresser to keep paint fan decks, fabric samples and office supplies and the hutch has served me well for design books and catalogs from vendors.

  I chose Coco which is sort of a gray/brown. After removing the hardware, I sanded down the rough spots.

I painted the whole piece and thought I would use dark wax to finish. Oh my, didn't like it at all- too blotchy - so in keeping with my tradition of painting, not being satisfied and starting over, here I was again.

After painting with the coco as a base cover, I had in mind to try to make the finish appear like old wood.  I painted random streaks of raw umber craft paint and robin egg blue chalk paint.

You can see here how I worked the two together with a paint brush. This is one of those projects too where once I got into the compartments in the hutch I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into.

Sometimes a little dab of water was needed to get the paint to move.

I am pleased how I was able to accomplish a bit of a grainy wood look.

This time I used clear wax!  Obviously it doesn't show where it may not go on perfectly. "Mo bettah"!

All finished except for the hardware.  I'll keep you posted on what I decide as well as how the room shapes up. 

♥

Do you need help updating or creating new spaces in your home?  Call MD, we'll pull it together for you. Don't let distance be a barrier, we can design for you via the web!

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Project Monday

 I found this little table a few years back at the Historic Roswell Antique Market and knew I would do 'something' with it, as I'm not much for splatter finishes.

I like the lines of it and it's sturdiness. 

Ever since I got acquainted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I love using it as a primer and base coat.  Here I used white as the base.  I then used 'rub 'n buff' gold to add some accents. I 'wing' it as I  never know exactly what I am going to do next!    

Next I made a wash out of black latex I had but it made it a bit more gray than I wanted.  I always have 'raw umber' craft paint in my stash so I diluted it with some water and brushed over and it gave it sort of a grainy finish which I like.

Here's a close-up of the top.

All in all, pretty good! I did this for 'My Own One-Room Challenge'.

For those of you locals, Historic Roswell Antique Market is a fun place to go, I don't think I have ever left without something in my arms! 

♥

Do you need help updating or creating new spaces in your home?  Call MD, we'll pull it together for you! Don't let distance be a barrier, we can design for you via the web. 

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Project Monday

 There is nothing better than spending the afternoon with a friend and creating a little magic!

She bought this piece with a vision of what 'could be'!

Good old chalk paint, she started with Graphite and added the small container of orange (don't know the name) to warm up the gray.

She got busy this morning getting a couple of coats on so it could dry. Voila, already looks better!

She also got the 'Robin Egg' chalk paint...we each took a side and worked the blue/green over the gray, sort of hap hazardly. The paint is thick, so we each added a drop of water to our bowls! 

I made a 'wash' out of the gray. I like to dab the brush on a cloth after dipping in the wash to get off the excess and then work the colors together.  Annie Sloan has a brush that I call a 'feather' brush.  It's made with horse hair and has jagged bristles which makes all the difference when blending the colors.  After drying completely, girlfriend will wax and get the hardware back on. I will get the finished product posted soon!

❤

Do you need help turning you house into a lovely home?

Contact MD for design services.

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