Weathered Armoire with Vintage Paper

Hi everyone, here is my latest piece!  NOW. Before I go into details I first want to say that this is the first piece that I took pictures of against my new 'staging wall' which is in the garage.  I love taking pictures against my black and white floral wallpaper, but Mr Chuckle's and I were getting a bit weary of brining every single piece into the house to take pictures of..So, I thought I would try something new.
 

 
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!

 

 

 

Weathered Teal 9-Drawer Dresser

Eeeek.  Im losing the light.  Daylight savings and the Earth's tilt are taking my good lighting away for pictures.  Its dark here now at about 5pm.  I think I snapped these pics at about 3:30 and it was already so dark that they look really grainy and my wallpaper looks pink instead of white.  So, apologies in advance for that.

I was really happy to do this piece after that crazy white mcm overhaul I did before.  This was a wonderful, textbook project.  I found this great Kroller piece which is solid wood and in fantastic condition.

 I started by sanding down the entire piece , cleaning it, and then painting on a couple of coats of teal chalkpaint.

Its been a while since I did anything whimsical, so I added some vintage wallpaper from Eaton's to the top square detailing.

I used a very light shade of blue to fill in the recessed rectangle trim to add a little bit of extra visual interest.

I gave the entire piece a super-duper heavy distressing.  I wanted this piece to look really aged and weathered.

A closeup at the recessed detailing and the hardware.



FOR SALE ON MY ETSY SHOP!!

THE BEFORE

A Tall Frenchman in Green

This dapper dresser was in dire need of some love when I picked him up. 

He belonged to a young girl who had a fascination with graffiti, named Brittany.  I know this, because she practiced those graffiti skills all over this poor dresser. My powers of deduction tell me Brittany liked The Back Street Boys, was in love with a boy named Brandon, and the stickers plastered all over the side indicate she enjoyed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 Needless to say, a lot of prep work was involved in making a blank canvas and undoing some of Brittany’s, (ahem), art skills. 

 I had mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to paint in green.  I custom mixed up this colour and admit that I tweaked it a bit with each additional coat to get a shade I was happy with. It was a bit of an evolving process to get the tone just right (not too bright, not too rustic) It reminds me a little bit of ASCP 'Florence'.

I topped with a touch of black glaze and did a light distressing because I felt it needed to be ‘aged’ up just a touch.

Here is a glimpse of just some of the creative flair young Brittany possessed.

Yellow and Gray Curio Vintage Cabinet

I painted this for a lovely girl who wanted to preserve the heritage of the piece, yet update it with some bright colour.  

This ornate little cupboard was a family heirloom passed down from her grandmother who received it as a wedding present many years ago.

She picked up the adorable knob at a market in NYC and thought it would look great, I think she is right.

It truly is adorable, and although it was cute before the transformation, I think it will be a show stopper now. 

I hope she likes the finished piece as much as I do.

Turquoise End Tables

Ah Turquoise.  My favorite colour.  Sigh.  I was lucky enough to find these guys a couple of days after I found their big sister (see my earlier post).  I finished them in my favorite colour :) and distressed and let some of the wood poke through.

I made a custom chalk paint for these, and finished with clear wax.  It buffed to such a lovely sheen.

Traditional Union Jack

For this Union Jack dresser, I decided to go for a traditional colour scheme, opting for a darker blue.  I began by painting the entire body of the dresser white.  Then I taped off the blue and red sections.

I painted the top the same blue as the front, and then I washed a dark glaze over it to further age it.  I used custom chalk paint for this.  Actually a combo - ASCP in Pure White, and Reetiqued chalk paint in dark blue and deep red.  :)   I used the grout recipe.

UPDATE: I have since bought a big box of DAP plaster of paris and I can say hands down that it gives a smoother finish than my grout did.

I used regular painters tape for my lines.  Taping the dresser out definitely takes the loooongest amount of time.  Fortunately I was painting in my kitchen (Mr. Chuckles LOVES when I do that!)  so my pal, the tv, was able to keep me amused during the dry times. 

I did get some bleedthrough, but I use little sharp edged artists brushes to tidy everything up.

I decided to keep the hardware, as it was so aged and burnished that it gave the piece a really rustic vibe which I think suits these dressers. Im not sure I could have cleaned it up even if I wanted to!

Overall I'm pretty happy with it! And so is the 12 year old One Direction fan who's room in now resides in.  Just below their hearthrobby poster!

Ariel the Mermaid

I love chunky bold colours and use a lot of teal, turquoise and shades of blue and green in my work. 

 I found this dresser and absolutely loved it, I used a custom mix of green and white to get the colour(s) desired. For the casing, I used ASCP in Florence, and for the drawer facings, I mixed some pure white into the mix to make it a bit lighter.  

Discovering it was too low the ground to be functional, I had Mr. Chuckles help me put these ornate and very delicate gold feet to add some height.  I love the result!   I call her Ariel the Mermaid because she reminds me of the deep sea.

I highlighted the facing trim with cobalt blue, some white and a bit of black as well.  It created a beautiful, time worn patina.

I love the contrast of that big sturdy dresser being held up by those delicate little feet.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

I loved doing this piece.  I had a vision that of a muted grey with a lovely diamond (harlequin) top.  I was inspired to use the diamond top by Crystal at THESHABBIESTCHICK and am so happy with the results.  

It has found its way as a feature piece in an expectant mother's nursery which makes me very happy.

I customed mixed the grey and used white ASCP for the diamonds.  I then gave everything a good distressing and a coat of clear wax.