Versailles Vintage Wall Shelf

This rounded, vintage wall shelf came from an estate sale.  It is Syroco style and not made out of real wood, but it is sturdy and cute.

Before

After

I painted the shelf with the lovely, pale green hue of Versailles Chalk Paint. Then, I distressed all the edges, so the dark, faux wood underneath was visible. Next, I dry brushed Old White Chalk Paint over all the trim and applied clear wax, followed by dark wax, for an antiqued finish.  

The shelf is perfectly charming now and looks adorable hung on the wall!

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Chalk Paint on Syroco Mirror

I got home last night from my trip to Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is a wonderful city full of beautiful, old houses with amazing architecture.  I meant to spend a day taking pictures of houses to show you, but somehow I just ran out of time while I was there.  Nancy and I are having our monthly flea market at Loot this weekend and I am rushing to get everything done after being away for so long.  If any of you live close enough, I would love to have you stop by for our sale this Saturday and Sunday from 8-4.

Loot

3011 Main Street

Soquel, CA 95073

I just finished this mirror and it will be for sale at Loot this weekend and then on to my etsy shop.

I love Syroco mirrors and it makes me happy when I stumble upon one at a yard sale.  This one started out gold with pretty scrolling details.

I used Country Gray Chalk Paint and it had no problems adhering to the Syroco frame.

After painting the frame, I distressed it all over, so the gold underneath would show through in places.  Then, I used a combination of clear wax and dark wax to give the frame more depth.

I love the muted color of the Country Gray combined with the elegant scrolling of the frame.  

I am also pleased with the way Country Gray looks with dark wax over it.   I want to try this combination on a larger piece of furniture too.

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Chalkboards in Vintage Frames

I had several vintage frames laying around and I decided to make a few chalkboards to go inside them.  I bought some sheets of thin, smooth wood from Home Depot and Mr. Rubbish cut them down to the sizes that fit my frames.  I primed the wood and then painted four coats of chalkboard paint over it, sanding with fine grit sandpaper in between coats.

This vintage frame used to house a wild turkey print. It was dark and outdated, but I liked the distressed wood.

I painted the frame white and sanded the edges before attaching the chalkboard with wood glue.

I love the fancy, scrolling details of this Syrocco style, vintage frame.  

The frame was originally gold and black and had an old print with red, velvet trim. I removed the velvet border before making it into a chalkboard. This frame did not come with glass, so it was a perfect choice for a chalkboard.

I painted the frame a pretty shade of aqua, glazed it and applied gold Rub 'n Buff over all the edges and raised details.  

I painted the two small, vintage frames aqua and took them to the shop yesterday to help me advertise the sale in my booth.

Chalkboards are an ideal project for empty vintage frames, especially the ones that do not have glass.

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Turquoise Faux Rococo Shelf

This little shelf came from a yard sale where everytime I asked the woman, "how much?", she would say one dollar. Some of the stuff was probably worth a buck, but some of the things were worth a lot more. It did not matter to her because as far as she was concerned, it was all a dollar. It was like the dollar store of yard sales!

I painted the shelf with a couple of coats of turquoise craft paint.

This is what it looked like after two coats of paint. Better than before, yes, but still boring and doing nothing to bring out the scrolling details.

I turned to my old favorites, Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze and antique gold Rub 'n Buff, to bring out the details and add a little interest and depth to this piece. I think they worked their magic!

A shelf worthy of its (faux) Rococo title!

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Painting Vintage Syroco

Did I mention that I have found quite a few vintage Syroco items at garage sales lately? This mirror is really unique with three parts connected by hinges, so it can be hung on a wall or stood up on a dresser. It came with a matching wood shelf that has, the signature Syroco, scrolling plastic underneath.




First I primered, then I painted and lightly distressed them. This is how they turned out.







It is amazing how much Syroco looks like wood when it is painted. Even in person, it is hard to tell it is plastic.

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Syroco Revamped

Syroco or faux rococo, as Mr. Rubbish accurately calls it (he did take one interior design class in college), is a brand of vintage, wall decor made in the 1960's. The decorative pieces from the 60's were made of hard, scrolling plastic, but were made to look like carved wood. Maybe I am wrong about this, but I am pretty sure all the Syroco pieces from the 60's are gold color. I have picked up quite a few Syroco shelves and mirrors at yard sales and I love how they look when painted - it is hard to tell they are plastic with a pretty coat of paint.


Above is a photo of a Syroco mirror I recently repainted and sold at Blessings Boutique. It was a coppery gold when I bought it at a garage sale for only $2 (oops, I hate it when I forget to take a before photo). I painted it first with Bullseye Primer and then chose a bright, robin's egg blue acrylic paint as the final coat. After the paint dried, I glazed it with Ralph Lauren's glaze in smoke color. I used a brush to paint on the glaze and a damp rag to wipe off most of it. This was the first time I tried the glaze and I like how it made the details of the mirror pop out while giving it an aged patina. The last thing I did was rub gold Rub 'n Buff over the raised edges to make the detailing stand out more. This one sold quickly at the shop!

I got another Syroco mirror from my sister when she moved to a new house (yes, this is the large mirror we had to cram into the little car, amongst all of the other junk, on our roadtrip back from Utah).




I painted this one a creamy white and then sanded it to create a slightly shabby look.