September 18, 2011

a little armoire re-do

Actually there is nothing little about it. It's a pretty large piece of furniture.


Last week I showed you this black armoire that was in our bedroom. What was I thinking when we bought a whole set of black furniture?! I have no clue. I was young and newly married and a first time homeowner and I really didn't know what my decorating style was. We just thought you were supposed to buy a matching set of furniture for your bedroom. That's what grown ups do, right?
It's taken me 6 months to convince my husband to let me paint it. 

Before 


After


I painted it with Annie Sloans Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue, distressed it and then brushed on one coat of Annie's soft wax. I really love the way it came out.

I kept the original hardware. I like it against the blue.


This is the only the 3rd time I've used ASCP. So I am still very new and learning all the tricks. If you haven't used it, it's different than other paint and takes a little getting used to.


I learned a new trick this time that I thought I would share. I planned on doing 2 coats of paint on this piece since I was painting over black. But this is a huge piece of furniture and needed painting on the inside and out. About halfway through I started to worry I might run out of paint. I saved the drawers for last and knew there was not enough paint for two coats. So in an attempt to get really good coverage with only 1 coat I tried this.


A small foam roller dipped in a small amount of paint and then spread as thin as possibly over the entire piece (see above pic). Then I did a regular coat with my paint brush just like I always do. Something about that first thin layer made such a difference in the coverage and only used a tiny bit of paint (much less than you would use doing 2 full coats). It also made painting large, flat surfaces easier and faster than just my paint brush alone. I will definitely use this technique again, even if I have plenty of paint.

Above pic is right after I used that method. Great coverage for 1 coat, don't ya think?
Professional painters are probably laughing because I'm sure this is not the proper thing to do, but hey whatever works!

Here is the inside. We are currently using it as more of an entertainment center.


I knew I wanted to paint some of the inside, but I thought painting the entire inside might be too much. So I decided to line the back with a patterned fabric.


I used this technique and although it was a little messy I like the results.


So one piece of black furniture down. About 4 more to go!


Linking up with:
and

8 comments:

  1. It looks great, I love it even more this way .I really like that you put the fabric in the back, it offers a little bit of interest and keeps it from being "too blue" like you said.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh.....what an absolutely beautiful French looking armoire now!!!! LUV LUV LUV it!!! Soooo much better than black - but it sure gave you a wonderful base to work with and distress! :)

    xoxo laurie

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOVE! i'm adding it to my post tomorrow!
    http://beachhouseinthecity.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. completely UHdore this piece. i have lots of pieces to paint so i will definitely be referencing your site in the future!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the color and you are right now with the paint stretching technique.. you can do the same with another color of ASCP and get the same outcome with a second similar color.

    Maddie

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had to laugh when I read about your matching bedroom set. I did the exact same thing when we got married. I was young and I didn't even know what my decorating style WAS yet. Thank goodness we moved into a house recently with a smaller bedroom and had to sell the entire set, so I got a do-over!!! Thanks for the tip about the paint, I will definitely be using that technique on my next dresser!!

    ReplyDelete

I would LOVE to hear from you! Comments, suggestions or just a simple hello are welcome! :)