Grain Sack Inspired Bench

Hi friends! I'm sharing a fun little project I did on Monday! I love when I have an idea in my head of what I want a project to look like and it goes smoothly and looks even better than I envisioned!

I've been wanting to do a "grain sack" inspired piece for a while now, actually over a year, but I just haven't had the perfect piece for it. But when I got this little bench/storage chest out of storage, it actually belonged to my grandma and when ever we went to her house to play it was always filled with toys and treasures, I knew it would be perfect for this treatment!

It was painted some time ago a white color, and the paint was peeling and looked a little "dingy" but I just went with it and decided not to fix any of its imperfections. I wanted it took look like it was painted decades ago and worn over time.

I took this picture during the middle of the day and the bench sits right in front of our sliding glass door so I was fighting the light with my pictures but you get the idea!

It was a pretty easy and quick project! I used my handy painter's tape, in two different sizes .90 inches and .70 inches. I used two pieces of the .90 inch painters tape side-by-side for my two thick stripes, so they are just under 2 inches wide each.  Then I left a .70" space, by using the thinner painter's tape, between the thick stripe and the thinner stripe which is also .70" thick. Basically I hate measuring so I used the painters tape to help me achieve somewhat straight lines without measuring ;). I painted the stripes and the words in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Aubosson Blue.

Next I painting on the words which I got from http://thegraphicsfairy.com, this site is amazing! So many free graphics and tutorials! This is the specific graphic I used http://thegraphicsfairy.com/transfer-printable-french-grain-sack-with-wheat-wreath/
I decided not to use the wheat wreath since I didn't have a good small paint brush for doing the detail work that would have been involved. But I still love how it turned out!

In order to transfer the image on to my bench I printed it out first on regular printer paper, and then rubbed the back of the paper using a pastel crayon. Next I taped it on the bench with the pastel against the bench and the image facing outwards. Then I pushed firmly around the edges of the letters with a ball point pen and finally I went in with my paint brush and filled in the lines.

Like I mentioned I didn't have a very good quality small paintbrush so my letters are definitely not perfect. But I just went with it! Sometimes you got to just work with what you've got! When I was all finished I gave the stripes and the letters a light sanding with my sanding block, just to rough it up and give it that timeworn look I was going for.

This bench is in the same area in my house the stripped dresser I just posted about it.

You can read about it here if you missed it. I've got a little navy blue theme going on in here, can you tell?! I'm excited to share this whole little corner of our home with you soon!

Linked up to:http://missmustardseed.com/, http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/, http://www.stonegableblog.com, http://cityfarmhouse.com/, http://www.thegoldensycamore.com,http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/, http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/,  http://www.craftberrybush.com/

Milk Paint "work in progress" Dresser

I typically don't share furniture makeovers that aren't finished but this piece is different, I need your help with this one...

With almost every furniture makeover, I hit a point were there are problems, the process doesn't ever go perfectly. Which makes the end result so rewarding! You feel as though you've conquered, I know it's sounds a bit dramatic but sometimes painting furniture feels like a battle of wills. In this case it was me verses an antique dresser and my weapon of choice, Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint!

I did it! I finally painted a piece of furniture with milk paint! I got a little practice first on a couple small projects I posted about previously...

The flag sign I posted about here. And...

My chippy chalkboard calendar I posted about here.

Here's a picture of the dresser before we went to war...

Not only was this the first piece I painted with Milk Paint it's also the first piece that I bought knowing I would be dealing with a lot of chipping veneer, usually I avoid these pieces.

After some hard work (and a little help from my hubby) I was able to remove all the veneer from the top of the dresser! And then I stained the top. I used a custom mix for the stain on the top but it came out a little to orange for my liking. So I went with a dark walnut stain. I was hoping for a lighter more natural looking top but I'm still happy with the results. I love the combo of a wood top with blue and white!

I mixed up a custom mix of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint with Linen, Lucketts Green, and Eulalie's Sky and I used this mixture to paint the body of the dresser. I liked the color but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, a bit too green, so I painted over it with a mixture of just Linen and Eulalie's Sky...

Can you see a bit of my first coat peeking through?!

After I applied my second coat I broke out my hair dryer to dry the paint quickly and hopefully get some crackling and chipping since it wasn't happening on its own. That turned out to be a big mistake! Not only did it not give me the results I was hoping for it, the heat actually caused some veneer that wasn't peeling off, to start peeling!

BIG OOPS!

At this point I decided to move on to the drawers. They were painted an off white color with a funky wash on them when I bought the dresser. So I painted over it with with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Linen. I was hoping for a bit more chippyness on the drawers.

A bit of chipping did happen on the top drawers which I love...

But the middle drawer is another story, the paint peeled but not in a good way!

And and in some places the Milk Paint just wasn't covering the previously painted drawers, despite several coats!

But I do love how most of the dresser turned out!

And I loved using the Milk Paint, it gave me great coverage and such a smooth finish! And since it's not a custom piece, I'm not in any hurry to finish it, I decided to bring it in my house and put it to use (storing some school supplies) while I decide how I will fight the next battle with my opponent :)

Any suggestions?!?! I need your advice!

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French Provincial Dresser Makeover & Tutorial

I just finished a dresser I've been working on for awhile and I'm so happy with how it turned out! Here's what it looked like before...

I've been wanting to paint a dresser like this one for years! I love the curves and feminine look of this dresser, as well as the recessed details. I've seen a few on Craigslist but they are always so expensive. So when a friend of mine approached me about painting a dresser for her and she showed me a picture of this French Provincial number, I jumped at the opportunity! There's only one problem... I have to give it back to her! Seriously though, I don't want to! Here's how it looks now…

Unfortunately, I had trouble getting any good shots of this dresser, the lighting was not cooperating with me! But you get the idea.

 

It was so fun painting this piece! When I met with my friend about what she wanted to do with the dresser she said, "let's paint it the color of your wall in your kitchen!" I was so excited! The color is from Behr it's called Spearmint Stick. It's a blue-green color that I love! In some lighting its more blue in other lighting its more green and sometimes it just looks white. Here's the wall in my kitchen…

Here's a quick overview of what I did to this piece. To begin I sanded down the entire piece with my electric sander. I spent quite a bit of time getting rid of residue left from what looked like packaging tape (but it could've just been stickers) on each of the nine drawers!!! I used Goo Be Gone and a lot of elbow grease! I didn't sand down to raw wood but I did sand quite a bit to get rid of the glossy texture that was on the piece originally. Next I primed the dresser with an oil based white stain blocking primer.  I don't usually prime with oil based paint. But this dresser had a very shiny texture to it originally (similar to laminate) and I wanted to make sure the paint would stick.

Here's the primer I used along with my secret weapon (baby wipes!) whenever I paint I always have them near by. They are a perfect way to clean up occasional drips and here's after I was done priming…

Next comes the fun part! I painted two coats of my Spearmint Stick. I used a combination of a roller and a brush on this piece since I knew I wanted some texture to work with.  I painted all the recessed areas of the dresser in a cream color. After painting, I distressed it using a combination of my electric sander and sand paper. After distressing, I coated the entire piece in Annie Sloane Clear Wax and then I began to experiment a bit. I was hesitant to use dark wax on this piece since it's such a light color and I didn't want to darken it too much; instead I tried something new! I mixed a custom stain (basically 4 parts grey stain to1 part walnut stain) and then I mixed in some mineral spirits to thin it out a bit. Next I rubbed on my mixture with a cloth and then rubbed in off fairly quickly with a clean cloth.

I'm really happy with the results of my experimenting. I felt like this technique was a bit easier to control than when I use dark wax and it gave me the subtle results I was looking for. I will definitely be using this technique again! I sealed this piece one more time with my clear wax to add even more durability.

That's all for now, I have another French Provincial Dresser waiting for me along with a few other pieces! Thanks for stopping by!

Linked up to:http://missmustardseed.com/, http://tatertotsandjello.com/, http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/, http://www.lizmarieblog.com,  http://www.jenniferrizzo.com