Hand Painted Furniture Archives

Hand Painted Furniture

All Things Home

farmhouse white chair makeover

A couple of months ago, I picked up this sweet vintage chair from a local antique shop for $25. It was just the kind of chair I had been looking for to use at my sewing desk. I don’t typically sit and sew for hours on end, so it didn’t have to be super comfortable. My sewing desk is also vintage and smaller in scale, so I needed a vintage chair that would be sized appropriately to pair with the desk. I liked the idea of how the cutout in the back of the chair would stand out against the pine desk. It was a little grubby, though, and the paint could use a refresh, so I gave this chair a quick and simple makeover with Farmhouse White Milk Paint. I started out the makeover by wiping the chair down. It had clearly been stored for years and would benefit

October 14, 2020 23 Comments

a slice of life

milk paint makeovers in barga

The main reason for my trip to Europe was teaching at a creative retreat in Barga. For one of our creative sessions, we painted an antique chest from the Cordati house where we had our workshop space. We did this last year and it was a ton of fun and a great success. Not everyone in our group this year was a furniture painter, but it was a great creative exercise for everyone. It was a sweet spot for some and way out of their comfort zone for others. As a group, we decided to take inspiration from the painted panels on the doors in the room. The designs are beautiful and they have always caught my eye, so I was excited to paint a piece of furniture using those as inspiration. I took a few minutes to sketch some elements in my sketchbook and to test out swatches of

October 10, 2019 16 Comments

All Things Home

Hand Painted Mora Dresser | Part 2

In case you missed part one of this dresser makeover, you can check it out HERE. At the end of yesterday’s post, I said I would show how the dresser turned out as well as how I distressed and finished it, so this post is fulfilling that promise. And here it is… I did a light distressing with 120 grit sandpaper, just to “knock down the newness” of the fresh paint. I also wanted to soften the decorative painting. You can see how I did it in the video… I also replaced the broken caster, added new glass knobs, and finished the piece in MMSMP’s Hemp Oil… This piece still followed my tradition of scrolly decorative painting on drawer fronts, but I changed it up a bit by adding the folk art animals as well as some different strokes. I love the rabbit and I think I need to play

July 23, 2019 50 Comments

All Things Home

Hand Painted Mora Dresser | Part 1

Last week, I finally got around to painting a dresser that’s been hanging out in my garage since October! I put it off originally because the winter weather set in, but then this spring has been busy and it’s been out of sight, out of mind. Jeff cleaned out the garage a few weeks ago and I promised I would paint the dresser and get it out of there. Well, I finally did and I made a video of the process. So, here is how the dresser started… It’s a pretty little piece, but the finish was a bit dinged up. A part of me wanted to sand it all down and do some kind of a whitewash or bleach the wood or something, but a reader of me asked if I would paint it specifically for her. Since I was just going to sell it, anyway, I was happy

July 22, 2019 23 Comments

All Things Home

green art cabinet makeover | part 1

When I bought this piece, I knew I wanted to freshen it up a bit. It didn’t need dramatic plastic surgery. It just needed a little makeover, so it could look its best. Before we even brought it in the house, I put wheels on the bottom and my mom and I gave it a good scrub. I also hunted for and ordered some pulls to replace the mis-matched ones. I know there is a charm to it as it is, but just wait until you see the makeover… The pulls arrived over the weekend and, earlier this week, I took some time to remove the old hardware. What I found was not what I was hoping for… Someone had painted over the hardware. Bummer. This isn’t such a big deal, except it left some unappealing beige paint exposed and the new pulls weren’t going to fully cover it on

February 8, 2018 32 Comments

Before and Afters

hand painted robin’s egg blue dresser

If you like a good old-fashioned Miss Mustard Seed makeover, well, I think it’s safe to say that you will like this post. Today was a great day in the studio. It was busy, but I was able to finish two pieces and photograph a third. I love the sense of accomplishment I feel when a piece is finished and the process of styling and taking pictures is one of my favorite things about my business. So, I was in my element. The piece I’m sharing today is this antique dresser I found on craigslist. It had a sloppy coat of black paint on it, but I knew I could work with that. I usually like to buy pieces that are wood, so I have a “clean slate” so to speak, but black can look almost like dark wood when it peeks under a coat of distressed milk paint. It had

May 3, 2017 45 Comments

Before and Afters

the landscape wardrobe

There are some pieces that are screaming to have a landscape painted on them. This was one such piece. And how can I ignore the pleas from an old piece of furniture? One that’s been around the block, but has a lot of life left? I can’t. And I didn’t. I have been terrible about taking proper before pictures with the most recent pieces I’ve acquired, so here is the best before shot I have of this wardrobe… I found it on craigslist at a nice price, but like most of my finds, this one had some, shall we say, problems. There were some odd modifications and it had clearly been exposed to some moisture. So, we unmodified the odd modifications, cleaned it up, repaired the damaged parts, and added some shelving to make it a more functional piece. We (and by “we”, I mean my dad) also installed a

February 17, 2017 53 Comments

All Things Home

Hand Painted Stencils

“Where did you get that stencil?” I’ve been asked that question so many times when I share one of my hand painted pieces. And that has led to people asking if I ever planned to come out with a line of stencils. I have always loved the idea of it, but as someone who works in a freeform way, I had a hard time figuring out how to translate my patterns into stencils. It probably wasn’t as hard as I was making it, but I got stuck on it for a long time. I also wanted to find a way to make my stencils unique. I finally decided to just paint some designs and see how they looked as stencils. Some worked and some didn’t. I worked with a stencil manufacturer who did a fantastic job of guiding me through the process, though, and the result was stencils cut from my

January 30, 2017 31 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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