Hand Painted Furniture Archives | Page 9 of 27

Hand Painted Furniture

the victorian settee & more

Our days in the studio lately are mostly spent painting, since we’re getting ready for the Chapel Market. We crank up the music or sometimes chit-chat about life, mix up some milk paint and work on one piece after the other. We’re making good progress, but there is still a lot to do and I’m feeling a bit behind since I was under the weather a couple of days last week. I’m feeling so much more energetic now and I’m ready to tackle our to-do list. The last time I shared the victorian settee with you, Kriste was putting a thin coat of Tough Coat on it to prevent the original red stain from bleeding through. This has worked for me before with a yellow stain, but I hadn’t tried it on the “dreaded red stain”. I was really putting Tough Coat to the test, because I want to paint

October 5, 2014 16 Comments

Before and Afters

jelly cupboard reveal

I always enjoy getting ready for a show, so I have a reason to work on a lot of furniture! I finished the jelly cupboard this week and I finally get to reveal it… This is how the jelly cupboard started… It’s an old piece…most likely mid-to-late 1800’s. I always love working on old pieces that have been neglected for a few decades. This piece had been painted a rather sad brown and was really dirty. The hardware was broken and had been repaired, but the repairs weren’t holding. It was sturdy and had great bones, so I was excited to bring it back to life. You can read the process of how I painted it HERE, but in a nutshell, I painted it in Artissimo MMSMP, then used the Wax Puck as a resist, applied a coat of Flow Blue, distressed with two different grits of sand paper and

October 3, 2014 28 Comments

Hand Painted Furniture

the jelly cupboard | distressing & antiquing

As a recap, this is how the jelly cupboard started… It looks like wood grain, but it was actually painted brown. I painted it in MMS Milk Paint Artissimo without the bonding agent added. The previous coat of brown paint wasn’t glossy, so I expected the milk paint to adhere pretty well. It chipped in just a few places, which was perfect. The jelly cupboard had amazing texture on the finish and I wanted to bring that out by using two different blues and distressing. To make the distressing process easier, I rubbed the surface with our natural beeswax puck. You can use any kind of beeswax or candle wax you have on hand for this technique. I also rubbed the edges of the piece, where the paint would naturally wear away. When using the wax puck between layers of paint, it acts as a resist. It makes it easier to

September 30, 2014 28 Comments

Decorating

process of styling

I’ve been asked to share my thought process for styling a photo shoot, specifically with a piece of furniture, and this post is in response to those requests. I think styling is something that is hard to teach, because it is an art in itself and is based so much on personal taste. As I walk you through my thought process on styling this piece, you might like one of my “rejects” better than the one I liked and that’s okay. I’m hoping that through sharing my thought process, it can help you think through your own process, so when you’re styling shots you can be more intentional with your choices. The first thing I learned is that I am much happier with my shots when I take my time. This means putting the camera on the tripod and connecting it to my computer. This is known as shooting “tethered”.

September 18, 2014 24 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

hand painted empire buffet | take two

I showed yesterday how I styled the hand painted empire buffet as a piece for a nursery or kid’s room. In this post, I’m going to show the piece styled as a buffet… Kriste and I grabbed what we had around the studio…pieces in the studio “prop stash”, things waiting for tags for the Chapel Market and things that are listed in the online shop. I’m learning how much of a “prop stash” I had at my house and I need to bring some things over to the studio! When the famous “cow head” from my kitchen came available again on Decor Steals, I bought one. I knew I would want to put one in my studio space, since it’s become such an icon of my style. (Yes, I ordered a boxwood wreath, too.) We needed something on the wall in this arrangement and this was perfect. Kriste and Leslie (the

September 10, 2014 12 Comments

Before and Afters

hand painted buffet makeover

I have always loved sharing my furniture makeovers here and I know they are what put my blog on the map, so to speak. Now that I have this new space to work in, I’m more inspired than ever to work on pieces in my stash and it feels good. I started working on this empire buffet a few days ago. I shared the refinishing, painting and waxing process HERE. And here’s the end result… I envisioned the piece being very light, with a faded quality. I don’t know why I saw it that way when it started out so dark and heavy, but that’s how I pictured it! I was planning to use the original knobs, but the brass piece that held the glass looked really dark against the pale gray milk paint and “bleached” top. I used some new glass knobs that disappear a bit more and allowed the hand

September 9, 2014 61 Comments

Hand Painted Furniture

empire buffet project | white waxing

I spent some more time today on the empire buffet. If you missed what this piece looked like before and how it got to this stage, check out PART ONE. So, we last left the piece with the top stripped off the finish and the body painted in one coat of Shutter Gray MMS Milk Paint with the bonding agent added in. Since milk paint is thinner than most modern paints, the coverage can be streaky in the first coat if the paint color your using is drastically different than the surface you’re painting. In this case, I was painting a really dark wood with a medium gray paint, so it wasn’t going to cover in one coat. This is the stage where some people lose heart… As with most multi-step furniture painting projects, it looks worse before it looks better. I’ve said it many times; do not give up

September 8, 2014 47 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

empire buffet project

Last week I started to get pieces ready for the Chapel Market (on October 25 in Pike Road, AL). I have a pretty nice stash and a plan in my head and now that I have space to work, I’m ready to go! I want my space at Chapel Market to have a cohesive theme this year. Last year, I brought mostly leftovers from the Lucketts Spring Market, so it wasn’t as pulled together as I wanted. It still looked like me, but wasn’t cohesive. I’m planning to work on photo shoots for the second MMSMP look book while I’m working on pieces to sell, so they are going to have a shared theme. And the theme is… French Blue | Farmhouse White I’ve used this theme before for curated collections, but I had to revisit it for a look book. Those who are familiar with me and my style are

September 7, 2014 25 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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