Hand Painted Furniture Archives | Page 14 of 27

Hand Painted Furniture

Furniture Makeovers

the dresser with attitude & other things…

This is the dresser with the attitude. Last we saw her, she looked like this… I dealt with the red stain bleeding through by sealing it with Furniture Wax and applied a second coat. Now, it was decision time. Those vertical trim pieces were bugging me, so I decided to deal with it by adding vertical stripes to act as camouflage. I used some delicate surface Frog Tape to tape off some stripes… The trouble is I was just a wee bit too impatient before taping the piece. This isn’t a failure in the paint or the tape, but “operator error.” At first I had one of those oh-crap-moments, but then I stepped back and looked at the effect… The tape had pulled away just enough paint to create a chippy, smokey gray stripe. I really liked it. …so I added some more stripes in a sort of grain sack-ish

October 9, 2013 48 Comments

Before and Afters

Say Hello to “Trophy”

The dresser with attitude is finally finished and photographed! As a recap – this is what it looked like before… …this is what it looked like during (aka – the ugly stage)… …and here she is all finished! You can read about how I dealt with the bleed through HERE and the striping technique HERE. And if you’re the sort who is still aghast at me painting a piece of wood furniture, you can read my thoughts on the subject HERE. This piece is a great example of how you never know what to expect when you work on a piece of furniture. Sometimes everything goes as planned and sometimes it doesn’t. This piece gave me lots of attitude and pushed me into the design she ended up with. I love all of her imperfections and quirks…a declaration to the world that she was painted by hand, not a machine

October 9, 2013 62 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

Dealing with Bleed Through

When I bought this piece, I thought I might have some trouble with the stain bleeding through. Unfortunately, I was right. The piece looked like this… …I sanded it to give the surface some tooth… …painted it in MMSMP Trophy… …which is supposed to look like the color shown above – a tarnished silver sort of color. I left it to dry, came back and it was gray-ish purple. Not exactly what I had in mind. If you’ve painted even a little bit of vintage furniture, I’m sure you’ve come across it. You paint the piece, go make some dinner, come back an hour later and the color is not what you painted it. It’s turned more red or pink or yellow or orange. That is known not-so-affectionately as “the dreaded bleed through.” (This quirk that sometimes rears it’s ugly head when painting pre-finished pieces can happen with

October 8, 2013 73 Comments

Hand Painted Furniture

trophygallery

I shared this dresser on Facebook yesterday, stating that I would be painting it and I didn’t expect the freak-out that resulted. I didn’t feel like I needed to defend myself or anything, but I wanted to explain why I was painting it to educate a little and to keep wood-lovers from losing sleep. Here was my reply… “I had no idea I was going to cause such a stir with the dresser I posted a picture of yesterday! It’s now sanded and yes, ready to paint. Sorry! Here’s why – 1.) The wood grain on the top three drawers is lovely, but the bottom drawer looks a little strange, like it doesn’t belong. 2.) It has a very orange look about it and I don’t like orange wood. 3.) It’s a piece from the 1920’s at the earliest, so everyone can stop panicking about devaluing a high end antique. I’ve

September 19, 2013 94 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

Painting Wood | More Product Shoots | Trophy

September 19, 2013 No Comments

Before and Afters

Preserving a Family Heirloom

A few weeks ago, I shared by True Value on my Facebook and Twitter. I don’t know if any of you watched it, but it is a really beautiful clip about preserving a family heirloom. It gave me tingles and made me misty, because I’m really into that sort of thing. I love pieces with a story and soul. Pieces that have been patched, repaired, refinished, moved across the country and handed down through generations – all signs of a quality piece that’s been well loved. With the constant parade of furniture that goes through my house, there aren’t many pieces that have remained over the years. One piece that I’ve never even considered selling is the buffet in my dining room. First of all, it’s just my style. More importantly, it’s a piece that was given to me by my parents. They bought it from an antique shop when they

September 10, 2013 68 Comments

Decorating

Wax Puck Tutorial

I’m just getting in from enjoying the beautiful Collegiate Peaks in Colorado, so I’ve asked our MMS Milk Paint Primary Educator, Abbe Doll, to share a tutorial with you. I haven’t had a chance to shoot or write a tutorial on using Wax Pucks, one of our new products, so Abbe, who is a machine, made one for me! Enjoy! Let me just start by saying I love this little thing! It fits so perfectly in the palm of your hand and creates such fun effects. Here are some benefits of using the wax puck: You can create smooth, precise distressed lines on edges. If you want to expose color under color without sanding down to the wood, this allows you to control the amount of distressing you get It will allow you to expose or bring out the details of that great wear and tear of an old piece,

August 27, 2013 No Comments

Hand Painted Furniture

waxpuckgallery

August 26, 2013 19 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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