Aubusson Blue Vanity

I picked up this vanity last summer.  My husband was a little grumbly about it.  I had recently hit an estate sale and we were pretty overloaded with furniture at that point.  He did not want to bring home yet another piece.  But it had good bones and was structurally sound.  No repairs were needed.  I had to have it!

Yet, I had no thoughts or ideas as to how I would refinish it.  The finish was VERY orange in color and I knew right away that it had to go.  I sat on this piece for a long time waiting for inspiration to hit me.

One day I just randomly grabbed a can of paint from the shelf and started painting.  The color I chose was Annie Sloan's Aubusson Blue.  I liked this color, but I had never used it on anything before.  As I began to paint, I decided that I wanted to see wood against the Aubusson Blue.  I stained the drawers and the vanity top in Minwax Dark Walnut.  Dark Walnut is one of my favorite stains and I use it quite often.  

This piece is lightly distressed and finished in clear wax.  I replaced the large wooden drawer pulls with distressed bronze knobs and pulls.

I have to say, I am thrilled with the results.  I love all of the little details and character in this piece.  It has become one of my favorite pieces.  So without further ado, here is the final result!

Are you a fan of two-toned furniture or would you rather see the piece completely painted?

*************************************************************************

Linking up to the following parties:

   

****Be sure to follow The Painted Chest on Facebook!****

Antique Drum Table in Florence

My husband picked up this lovely little table at a local estate sale.  I kind of have a "thing" for drum tables.  This little lady had great details!

She had good bones, but her finish was a little worse for wear.  The apron was really dry and had chipped in a few spots and there were water rings on the top.

  

I sanded and stained the top in Minwax Dark Walnut.  One of my favorite stains!  Then put two coats of wipe-on poly to seal it.  The base of the table received two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ in Florence.  I lightly distressed and finished it with clear and dark waxes.

And another before and after picture!

I'm really loving the color Florence lately.  Can you see this color in your house?

Antique End Table

The new owner of the antique empire wardrobe picked up a neat little end table and asked me to refinish it for her.  It had previously been painted red with a heavy dark stain on top of it.

My client wanted the red paint removed and to have it repainted in Old White with some distressing.  I decided to try something a little different this time.  Instead of using a chemical stripper, I used the Wagner Heat Gun.  It was such a time saver and definitely less messy.  It does come with its own quirks though.  You need a lot of ventilation (outside is best) because the smell of burning paint is not pleasant at all.  You also need to keep the heat on the paint as you are scraping.  Now this isn't too hard on a flat surface, but it was a little tricky on those legs.

Here is a video of the heat gun in action!

And this is what the little table looked like after I removed all of the paint.  The top was pretty rough.  It had a good sized split and lots of bumps and bruises.  But those legs...those legs were just gorgeous!!

Old White chalk paint is a little tricky to use.  It is a little thin and I'm going to say 90% of the time you will have bleed-through when using it.  Something about the chalk paint really pulls the tannins out of the wood.  It makes your paint look like it has a pink fungus growing out of it.  So before I put even thought about painting this table, I put a coat of poly on it.  Poly is the only thing that will block the tannins from leaking through.

I still ended up using 3 coats of Old White on this piece.  I painted the inside of the drawer in Antibes green.  Then I finished this piece off with a new to me wax, CeCe Caldwells clear wax.  It is made of all natural ingredients and safe for the environment.

 I just love the way it turned out.  Old made old again!

What great pieces have you found lately?

Facebook / Twitter / Bloglovin' / Pinterest / Instagram

***********************************************************************

Linking up to the following parties:

 

Antique Empire Wardrobe

I recently finished a piece for a client.  She was looking for a neat older piece to house her craft supplies.  I had just the perfect piece for her.  An antique empire wardrobe!

Cosmetically, it was in sad shape.  After all, it was made in 1919.  The old wood veneer was chipping and peeling off and someone had painted a white latex paint on it without using any primer.  Normally with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® there is no prep work required.  However, the latex was peeling badly all over so that required stripping and scraping this piece.

Pretty scary, huh?

I call this piece "The Beast" because it is so big and heavy and required so much work.  The wood was fairly damaged under the paint. We did our best to sand and fill what we could.  I painted with a lot of texture in an attempt to camouflage all of its bumps and bruises.

My client chose Paris Grey for the exterior and Provence for the interior.  It was finished in a clear wax without distressing.

Per the client's request, we added shelves to the wardrobe compartment.  She is going to have tons of storage space between the shelves and all of those drawers!

So what do you think?  Do you like the grey and turquoise combo?  I always love a fun color on the insides of a piece!

This post was featured at Redoux Interiors!

Be sure to "like" The Painted Chest on Facebook!

***********************************************************************

Linking up to the following parties:

Duncan Phyfe Chair Makeover

I have a problem.  I am obsessed with Duncan Phyfe and pressed back chairs.  I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame.  I don't know if it is those great curvy legs, the lovely design carved into the seat backs, or the endless fabric options for the seat cushions.  I just know that I LOVE them!

I recently finished a Duncan Phyfe chair for a very special cause.  A local family recently lost 4 of their children, their home, and all of their belongings in a tragic fire.  The community has really rallied around this family and they are having a huge fundraising benefit for them this weekend.

I refinished this chair to donate to the silent auction.  I'm hoping the trendy chevron and the yellow and grey combo will attract many bidders.  This chair was painted in Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan in Paris Grey.

I just love all of the detail in this piece.  From the fun swirls in the back to the channels down the fronts of the legs.

A light distressing and a fun yellow chevron print fabric make this piece new again without forgetting where she came from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our thoughts and prayers go to the Owen family during this very difficult time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking up to:

Waterfall Dressing Table/Vanity

I wanted to take a moment and share more pictures of the waterfall dressing table that I had completed.  The pictures in the original blog post were taken in my office/painting room and the lighting was very poor.

Have another look at this beautiful piece!

This piece was painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the colors Paris Grey, Old White, and Arles.