Hand Painted Furniture Archives | Page 3 of 27

Hand Painted Furniture

Furniture Makeovers

soft milk paint landscape dresser | part 2

I will fully admit that I still feel out of my depth with this whole landscape painting phase of mine. I’m inspired by it and moderately terrified all at the same time. I waffle between loving this milk paint landscape dresser and wanting to put it on the burn pile. This may be how I always feel, but I hope this internal conflict goes away as I gain some confidence and discover my style. Or at least it isn’t so in my face! If you want to know the milk paint colors I used for the base coat, you can find that info in part one. The milk paint is chipped in some areas, which I think will end up giving this piece a really unique look once it’s finished. It wasn’t “the plan”, but I’ve learned that some furniture pieces like to have a greater say in how they

July 21, 2016 No Comments

Furniture Makeovers

soft landscape dresser | part two

I will fully admit that I still feel out of my depth with this whole landscape painting phase of mine. I’m inspired by it and moderately terrified all at the same time. I waffle between loving the piece I’m working on and wanting to put it on the burn pile. This may be how I always feel, but I hope this internal conflict goes away as I gain some confidence and discover my style. Or at least it isn’t so in my face! Here’s how the piece is looking as I left it this afternoon… If you want to know the milk paint colors I used for the base coat, you can find that info in part one. You can see that the milk paint is chipping some, which I think will end up giving this piece a really unique look once it’s finished. It wasn’t “the plan”, but I’ve learned that some

July 20, 2016 73 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

soft milk paint landscape dresser | part 1

I came into the studio on Monday morning like a tight ball of stress. The studio is my “happy place”, but I was struggling to step away from the “businessy” things and create. I finally had to force myself. I needed it. I needed to mix some paint, dip a brush in, watch a transformation in progress, feel myself relax with each stroke. I pulled out this little pine dresser and decided to start a new landscape on it. The last one I did had vibrant, playful colors. I wanted this milk paint landscape dresser to have a soft color palette. The MMS Milk Paint colors I mixed up are (from the top, clockwise) – Layla’s Mint + Boxwood, Eulalie’s Sky + Shutter Gray + Farmhouse White, Farmhouse White, and Layla’s Mint + Lucketts Green. I loved the palette just sitting on the table. I was already enjoying the benefits of a

July 19, 2016 No Comments

Furniture Makeovers

soft landscape dresser | part 1

I came into the studio on Monday morning like a tight ball of stress. The studio is my “happy place”, but I was struggling to step away from the “businessy” things and create. I finally had to force myself. I needed it. I needed to mix some paint, dip a brush in, watch a transformation in progress, feel myself relax with each stroke. I pulled out this little pine dresser and decided to start a new landscape on it. The last one I did had vibrant, playful colors. I wanted this one to be soft. The MMS Milk Paint colors I mixed up are (from the top, clockwise) – Layla’s Mint + Boxwood, Eulalie’s Sky + Shutter Gray + Farmhouse White, Farmhouse White, and Layla’s Mint + Lucketts Green. I loved the palette just sitting on the table. I was already enjoying the benefits of a creative endeavor. Since it’s easier to show

July 18, 2016 16 Comments

Before and Afters

second landscape dresser reveal

Tha second hand-painted landscape dresser is finished! And, would you believe that it’s sold already! Someone came to pick it up Saturday morning. Sometimes I like to enjoy my pieces for a while, but I was really glad this one was scooped up right away. The buyer loved it when it was just a chalked sketch and I love that she trusted my vision enough to ask to buy it before it was even finished. Anyway, here it is… Here is how the dresser started… I honestly loved the wood and initially finished it with Hemp Oil to bring out that pretty grain and patina. It didn’t sell, though, and I needed something to paint. I kept eyeballing it and I finally gave in and painted it. That’s just what happens when things sit around in the studio for too long! If you’d like to see the dresser each step

July 4, 2016 32 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

second landscape dresser | part three

I really should’ve thought of a better name for this dresser than the “second landscape dresser”. Well, I’m still working on getting those creative juices flowing. This happened after Lucketts last year as well. I was just totally drained and it took a while to fill that reservoir back up. It’s filling, though… Slowly filling. Anyway, I faced my fear. The cows. I almost chickened out and left them for Katie, who is an amazing artist, but I knew I needed to do it myself. It was a hurdle I needed to get over. I had started them out as white cows, but realized that was going to be a bit more challenging and I liked the idea of adding some warmth with brown. (Really, I just wanted to avoid eyeballs and nostrils.) Here is how I set up my palette… I usually use top-notch, super-professional paper plates, but I’m fresh

July 2, 2016 25 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

second landscape dresser | part two

I avoided the landscape dresser for the better part of the day with great success. I busied myself with e-mail, phone meetings, writing a post… I was pretty convinced that I was going to mess it up. That’s just the truth. Even though I felt inspired to do more landscape painting, I was really intimidated by it as well. I finally put my paints on a palette and started. It’s just paint. It’s just paint. It’s easier to show the process in a video, so here it is… It’s not finished, yet, but I procrastinated so much that I ran out of time! Here’s how it looks so far… I need to do the details on the cows, work on the windmill, and fix a couple of other things. It’s coming along, though! Jeff asked what the pile was under the tree. “It’s a bush!” If it requires explanation, I

June 30, 2016 41 Comments

Before and Afters

the hand painted landscape dresser

The theme for the space at Lucketts this year is Farmhouse White, yes, but that doesn’t mean that everything will be white. A lot of things will be white, as you may have noticed, but we don’t want to neglect the “farmhouse” side of that theme. After some creative brainstorm sessions, we decided one way to bring that in was the use of landscapes. And, of course, I immediately imagined a landscape on the front of a dresser. Here is how the dresser started… And how it looks now with it’s sweet, folk-art landscape painting… Now, I can’t take full credit for this one. It really was a collaborative effort between Kriste and I. We had a highly technical conversation about “blobby little trees” and “blobby sheep” and “brush stroke-ish grass”. I painted the base colors, did the distressing and finishing, and chimed in now and then with some thoughts for

March 9, 2016 84 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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