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Monday, October 3, 2011

Painting furniture

It was such a beautiful weekend this past weekend and with the weather being not in the triple digits I got some furniture painted. There are a few ladies at the antique store that have been selling shabby chic furniture so I decided to give it try. Actually I have been collecting "practice" pieces for awhile and my OH wants his garage back. The final push was the fact that I got a new booth in Galveston and needed a locking cabinet to display small items. I didn't want new furniture (plus did not want to pay high prices) so my first piece was a old buffet top that had seen better days many, many days ago. I wanted 3 doors to open and to be able to lock. Of course the piece I had found had 1 door that opened and the two others were stationary. Enter my wonderful husband who can do wonders with woodworking. He cut the doors so I could have 3 doors and added locks. Then it was my turn. I have been wanting to paint furniture for awhile and was afraid to start, afraid to mess things up, just afraid to try something. But I needed the hutch so with brush in hand I dove right in. I didn't think to get a before picture but here is what we came up with.

We had to add glass to the centers of the shelves and all in all I am pretty pleased with the results. There wasn't a bottom so my OH also built a simple bookcase that I painted white and stained the top a golden oak. I wanted alittle more for the bookcase so I added blocks and put cutouts stained on the top. I think displays well in my Galveston booth.

Well...since I got over being afraid (my OH says he doesn't know why I always doubt myself) I can't seem to keep my paintbrush dry! Over the weekend I also completed a sweet little octagon table. Of course I didn't take any before pictures of this project either but hey...I was busy painting! Anyway, for both pieces I used primer first, then painted a light grey color latex paint. I then used a sander to add the distressed used appearance. After that I used a blue wash followed by a brown wash. Here is the top of the table after the brown wash.

The door of the table has great details which really show up after painting.

Of course before painting I removed all the hardware and while I had the items off the furniture, I spray painted a dark brown and highlighted with a copper metallic paint. The contrast is so pretty.

After everything was dry, I put a water based poly coat on the table since this piece would probably be used and I wanted to protect the paint.

Not too shabby if I so say myself...wait...I mean pretty shabby blue table!


Ok...now I am working on a twin bed that yes I remembered to take a before picture! I plan on shabby chic white for this piece. I really like painting old furniture and changing old, damaged, needing work pieces into new useable pieces.

By the way...I am having trouble posting comments on some of the blogs I follow...is anyone else having that problem and can anyone tell me how to correct that problem?

That's all for today...come back soon.

7 comments:

TinaTx said...

The hutch looks awesome! And that little end table - I have one very similar and hubby has been trying to get rid of it, maybe I should paint it!

Dreaming said...

I have some furniture I've been thinking of painting...but I've been afraid to start. Thanks for giving me the courage... at least to think about it more seriously! I need to have some rainy, cold days to get started on that project! There's just too much to do outside!
Your projects came out looking beautiful! Super job!

Faded Plains said...

Your hutch turned out great...and the table is super cute too.

Kim Clemons said...

I'm so glad you took this challenge to heart and started painting furniture. Especially since I get one of your pieces for my space at the Galveston antique store. Thanks for helping me out. You're the best friend!

Anonymous said...

You do a smashing job of making the old furniture new! Luv the rustic look! :D

Waggin at ya,
Roo

Faith said...

Hi Connie, I do thank you for stoppin in at my place and having a cuppa with me..The furniture painting is lovely...I see that you like The Ghost and Mrs Muir too! I liked the TV version also, but the B/W is the bomb.....Such a handsome captain, and beautiful woman in that lovely old house by the sea....ahhh.......nice...

Bono said...

It's always tough to paint and get good quality as you desire from your furniture. I have gone thorough your article and got really stimulation. I am really gonna paint my old furniture for matching my existing white painted furniture and really hope it will work. Thanks much for sharing this.