China Cabinet with Secretary

I picked up this china cabinet from the flea market recently for a great price toward the end of the day. It is really heavy and I could tell the man selling it wanted to get rid of it, so he didn't have to haul it back home again.

I love the doors, trim moldings and metal wire fronts on the cabinet.  The man that sold it to me also gave me the orignial old skeleton key that locks all the cabinet doors.

This cabinet is really special and even has a secret secretary in the center, disguised as a drawer.

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I mixed a batch of Chalk Paint® using equal parts French Linen and Old Ochre.  The resulting color is a soft and pretty, warm grey.

I clear waxed the entire piece and applied the dark wax with an artist brush only along the edges, grooves, and molding to bring out the details on this lovely piece of furniture.

The upper cabinet was dark inside, so I lightened it up by painting the interior with Old Ochre Chalk Paint®.

This amazing cabinet did not last very long at Loot.  This is one that I would have kept for myself, had I the space for it. Besides being easy on the eyes, it is also a very functional piece.  I love the amount of storage it has and the added convenience of a little desk, which is an ideal place for sitting to write letters and/or pay bills.

Henrietta Chalk Paint® Bookcase

A client recently brought this me this bookcase and asked me to paint it for her daughter's bedroom.  I was excited when she asked to have it painted in Henrietta Chalk Paint® because I had not used this pretty hue yet.  

The bookcase started out as light pine, complete with tacky decals.  To prevent the knots in the wood from eventually bleeding through the paint, I applied a coat of shellac to the bookcase before applying the Chalk Paint®.

I painted the inside with two coats of Old White Chalk Paint® and the outside with Henrietta.  This color is so soft and pretty.  The whole time I was painting, I kept daydreaming about eating berries and cream.  I guess that is what Henrietta reminds me of.  

I used Annie Sloan Clear Wax to seal and protect the paint followed by a touch of dark wax along all the edges and grooves to add depth and enrich the color. 

I am happy that, after being a Chalk Paint® user for three years, I can finally share a Henrietta piece with you!

Grey-Washed, Oak Chest of Drawers

I found this solid oak dresser at the Santa Cruz Flea Market recently.  It had a worn, orange finish, but beautiful hardware and lovely details.

I love painting oak furniture with Chalk Paint® because its open grain looks beautiful peaking through the paint. The technique I used on this piece is called dry brushing.  I applied one light coat of French Linen Chalk Paint with one of Annie Sloan's fabulous, natural bristle, oval brushes. Using very little paint, I worked it in and blended it with the brush to get a very thin coat, allowing the wood grain to show through.  In the past, I have used Chalk Paint® thinned with water (a wash), to get this effect, but I prefer dry brushing because sometimes the wash is uneven and does not adhere as well to furniture with a shiny finish.

One Coat of French Linen, Before Waxing

After letting the paint dry, I applied Annie Sloan's Clear Wax and then Dark Wax to enrich the color.

After Applying Clear and Dark Waxes

I also dry brushed all the hardware and applied dark wax over them for a beautiful patina.  The paint and wax really brought out the details on the drawer pulls.

This finish is easy to achieve, and although simple, it really accentuates the beautiful craftsmanship of this well-built piece of furniture.

French Chairs a la Ticking Stripes

I found a pair of beautiful, vintage chairs at a yard sale recently. The chairs looked like someone had tried to strip the paint off and they had a lot of texture.

Because the chairs had so much texture, I decided to layer on the Chalk Paint with a two-color distressed technique. I painted a Pure White base coat and I custom mixed the top coat with equal parts Pure White, Paris Gray, and Louis Blue to create a soft, powdery blue.

I heavily distressed the chairs with 220 grit sand paper, exposing the white base coat and the wood beneath it.

I love the simplicity of ticking stripes and I was happy to find pale blue, ticking stripe fabric at my local fabric shop.

The ticking stripes are the perfect complement to the rustic, Frenchy-blue finish of these chairs.

With the extra ticking stripe fabric and some cream colored burlap, I made this ruffled table runner.

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