I am not particularly happy with the outcome of these pictures. I tried a couple of different approaches to how much light I was letting in, but it still isn't an ideal result. I will have to keep playing and trying to tweak a bit with future pieces. So I apologize for the less than amazing pictures (not that my previous pictures were that much better! - they just had a prettier backdrop).
I don't usually work on armoires because they are not my favorite style of furniture, but I came across this piece as part of a matching set with the piece I finished in navy and gold (here) and figured I may as well take on both.
I knew I wanted to do something using my vintage Eaton's wallpaper which I have used on the inside of a few pieces, but I haven't really used on the outside of one yet. I just love this paper - both the colours and the design are beautiful. It is a pre-pasted wallpaper (yay!) so it was so easy to apply.
I custom mixed up a blueish green to match one of the colours in the wallpaper. In the jar it looked more greenish, but surprisingly it came out a little more blue on the piece. I know this because my good ol' neighbor caught sight of it and said ' now you can't tell me that one isn't blue!'. If you have read this blog for a while, than you have met this neighbor before with some of the funny blunder comments he has made (I still like him despite this).
I knew I wanted rustic with heavy distressing on this piece because I haven't done a piece like this in a while and felt like getting a bit whimsical. I have done a similar piece (here) many months ago, but I was ready for another turn.
I distressed heavily and wonderfully the wood grain poking through has a great 'orange' colour to it which ties in perfectly with the orange on the paper. I also highlighted with light blue, mint, white and yellow. A whole wash of colours mix up to make this piece special.
I wanted some extra height, so I added the legs - not the most traditional on an armoire like this, but they are removable, so if they aren't to everyone's taste, they are easily removed.
I used chalkpaint on this piece, and I sealed with polyurethane as I have been doing a lot lately. The original hardware was spruced up with a dab of rub n buff!
I did a lot of heavy distressing, as well as some whitewashing on the side.
Here is a close up of the great paper!
And the before!
Love it and I love the legs added and the paper!! Beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteWow! you did a great job and I love the colors!
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