Hand Painted Furniture Archives | Page 2 of 27

Hand Painted Furniture

Furniture Feature Friday

step-back cupboard reveal

I shared my progress on the step-back cupboard yesterday and here it is all prettied up! As a reminder, here is how it looked before. Well, it had part of the first coat on the top, but this angle better shows what a mess it was! My goal in giving it a makeover was not to make it look new, but to retain it’s age and charm and lose the pencil scribbles, grease spots, spray paint, and definitely the cobwebs and dirt. It didn’t need an extreme makeover, but a little attention to bring out the beauty of the inset door panels, hardware and utilitarian shape. Again, I painted it in a custom mix of two part Eulalie’s Sky to one part Layla’s Mint, both from the MMS Milk Paint line. The back and inset panels were painted in Linen. I finished it out in matte Tough Coat. And isn’t

January 27, 2017 29 Comments

Before and Afters

Angie’s Landscape Dresser

Let me start by saying that I rarely accept custom work, but this one just felt right. Angie, the client, said I could just do what I do and her only request was that I “add critters”. She also wasn’t in a rush, so I was able to work on it when I had time and as inspiration struck. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Farmhouse White to give a blank white “canvas” for the landscape. I decided to paint this one almost entirely with milk paint. I have been mixing acrylics into the other dressers I’ve done, but I wanted to keep these colors very soft. I also wanted to do the landscape primarily in blues and green/blues. I used Eulalie’s Sky, Shutter Gray, and Farmhouse White for the clouds, Flow Blue, Trophy and Shutter Gray for the mountains, Boxwood, Lucketts

November 20, 2016 37 Comments

Before and Afters

landscape dresser no. 4 reveal

I finished “landscape dresser no. 4” yesterday and had the chance to style and photograph it today. The prop-pickings were slim in the studio, but I love how everything came together to showcase this piece. As a reminder, here is how the dresser started. It really was pretty as it was, but I’ve learned that even pretty wood pieces don’t usually sell for me, so I went ahead and painted it. I would call this a “mixed media” dresser, since I used two different kinds of paint together to get the finished look. I used about 90% MMS Milk Paint and 10% Liquitex artist acrylics. I used those acrylics to add some more intense color where I wanted it and for mixing with the milk paint. I used the milk paint like watercolors, so I allowed them to be translucent and to run and bleed, especially in the sky. You can check

August 31, 2016 47 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

landscape dresser four | part one

I’m realizing that I should probably start coming up with clever names for these landscape dressers! Well, for now, this one is “number four.” I was originally going to try watercolor over MMS Milk Paint, just to see how that worked out, but I tried it on a sample board and I didn’t like the look of it. The things I love about watercolor just didn’t happen. What looks soft on paper, looks much more intense when painted on milk paint. So, I decided to try something else. I tried using milk paint over milk paint, but more like it’s watercolor instead of milk paint. Are you tracking with me? Kriste lightly sanded the dresser and painted it in two coats of MMSMP in Farmhouse White to prep it for me. Now, it’s more like a blank canvas. I mixed up a smorgasbord of milk paint colors and squirted a few acrylics

August 25, 2016 15 Comments

Before and Afters

soft milk paint landscape dresser | reveal

The “soft landscape dresser”, as I’ve been calling it, is finished! I had to struggle my way through it a bit, but I’ve learned that’s often the way it is with new creative endeavors. My first venture into sewing, my first refinished dresser, my first blog post…they were all a learning process. And let’s not even talk about the first time I attempted upholstery! Anyway, I pushed through and I really love how this one turned out. And I like how the chippiness brings some softness and a sense of age to the paint. You can find the details on the before, colors used, and how the landscape progressed in these posts… part one part two part three I have purchased a few blank canvases and I feel like I might be ready to finally put a brush to them. Furniture feels a bit safer to me, if that makes sense! When

July 24, 2016 No Comments

Before and Afters

soft landscape dresser | reveal

July 24, 2016 33 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

soft milk paint landscape dresser | part 3

I loved reading all of the feedback and suggestions shared on my post yesterday. Some of you overestimate my abilities, I think! All of the different suggestions were an encouragement to me, though. Each one of you had a different vision of how it could be finished and isn’t that just how art is? And there are no wrong answers. Just different interpretations. (My brother suggested I add robots, which made me laugh.) In the end, I did decide to add to what I shared yesterday. While I liked the simplicity of the barn, it felt unfinished to me. (Kriste said the barn had “doorways to the depths of the barn’s soul” and it needed some doors!) So, I added barn doors, a mountain ridge, a fence, a couple of bushes, and a couple of sheep. Here’s a video showing the process… And, if you didn’t notice, I selected the

July 22, 2016 No Comments

Furniture Makeovers

soft landscape dresser | part three

July 21, 2016 26 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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