French Side-Table Makeover

Tags

Chalk Paint, DIY, Duck Egg Blue, French Side Table, Furniture makeover, Painting

I purchased this lovely little side table from craigslist.

This is how it looked like before I put some work into it.

The veneer was peeling up in multiple places. It had some deep scratches, and a few dents. Also a piece of the trim was broken off.

(I had forgotten to take before pictures of it, because I dived right into the project. However the person who sold it to me was nice enough to email me his craigslist photos. :))

This piece had beautiful details,  and was made of solid wood.  Thus, even though it was in a rough shape, I knew I could work with it.

Deciding to paint it was an obvious choice. I had to fill in multiple imperfections with wood filler, and I had to take off some of the peeling veneer, thus staining the natural wood was not an option  I managed to completely built up the trim piece that was broken off with wood putty.  So, after some good sanding to make sure it all blended in with the old, the coat of paint made it look as good as new.  I used homemade chalk paint to paint the piece, and it gave it a nice buttery smooth finish.

I then went on to clear wax it, and then dark waxed it around the details and legs.  The dark wax deepened the color a bit, and gave it a more vintage appearance. I didn’t want the paint to look too new, and not match the style and age of the piece. The hardware on this was absolutely beautiful; it had a natural aged patina which I did not touch.

I really love the color I chose. It is a blue/green, which looks different depending on the light. It is very similar to Annie Sloans Duck Egg Blue, which some may be familiar with.

Well that’s all for now. I hope you guys like my projects. I have another one that I just finished, and will talk about in the near future.

As Always,

Elza 🙂

Antiquing with Chalk Paint

Tags

Antiquing, Chalk Paint, Clear wax, Distressing, Home Made Chalk Paint, Metal Horse, Painting

I have been experimenting with different painting techniques lately.  I purchased this lovely little metal horse at a thrift store and decided to test my antiquing skills using chalk paint.

As you can see in the before picture, this horse is cast out of a shiny metal material. Though it was nice as is, I felt it was a little too shiny for my taste, and I wanted to see if I could make it look older and accent some of the intricate details a bit more.

To get this result I mixed up some grey colored homemade chalk paint and painted on a thin coat. After it was dry, I clear waxed it.

To accent all the little details, I tinted some clear wax with brown and black acrylic paint, and then stippled it into the details with a paint brush. Then I wiped it away with a dry rag, leaving the dark wax only in the crevices of the piece.

Lastly, I took some coarse sand paper, and sanded off the paint on parts of the horse, in order to reveal the gold metal underneath. This gave it a really rich gilded look.

I really love the final outcome. It matches my décor perfectly and looks like its a really old antique piece. I had lots of fun with this project. When I started painting that first coat of paint, I thought “Oh Boy, I’ve killed this poor horse.”  However in the end I am very pleased with the results.

Have a great day!

Elza

P.S.

Let me know if you want more details about homemade chalk paint and tinting clear wax.