i think it is fair to say, that our first project we did together
was a huge success.

its easily my new favorite thing in my house,
and it wasn’t all that difficult to do.

and, it changed my cc’s mind completely about painting furniture.
after we finally finished putting it back together last night he kept walking by it and saying how “rad” that looks” and “i can’t believe we didn’t do that earlier” and my favorite,
“so what are we going to do next?!”

i love him.

every time i have a man in my house catch wind that i want to paint something wood i can hear the cringing painful, “why??” before i even finish saying it.
most men i know like the wood stuff.

this was a beautiful piece to begin with,
but since i like the retro antique look and needed to lighten up our small space,
i went right on ahead and painted it.

this is a bit different than the shabby chic look,
this is definitely more of a vintage antique feel.   
the secret to antiquing is a good glaze.

i like this one martha stewart makes, {they come in all kinds of colors}
or you could technically make your own out of paint and thin it out with some water.
i have seen really pretty yellow and blue antique-ing too…

we chose to spray paint this one for 3 reasons:

a) it is so much faster its ridiculous- look at the detail on that thing!

b) when going for the vintage antique look, spray paint over the layers of finish already on the wood helps to create a subtle crackle that makes the paint look a little older.
{i guess this will be harder when i want to do a color that doesn’t come in spray. but i think i will buy a sprayer at that point cause seriously, so much faster.}

c) jerry said i could.  {he’s our friend at Ace Hardware that i usually consult before my ventures for validation and advice. since he has made everything there is to make in his lifetime, i will go with what he says 95% of the time…}

in fact, jerry said not to try to sand it, but to steel wool it just to rough it up enough for the paint to hold. genius.  it would have taken the sanding job from hell to get this thing down to raw wood, and it still wouldn’t be even because of all the varnish and finish on it. he said, the more varnish under the paint the better – then it will antique up nicely.

after its painted it looks really clean, kind of pottery barn-esque.
so you just paint on the glaze, but not perfectly.
then while it’s still wet rub most of it off, leaving only the grooves with glaze on them.

it makes the detail pop and knocks off that pottery barn clean look.

then i wanted to do something fun in the inside, so i had cc tape it off for me
{being that he loves levels and measuring and math and that that…}

note: frog tape = so much better than the blue stuff.
trust me.

 and boom!
clean, pretty, retro gray stripes in my hutch!
i have lots of white dishes that go in it so i wanted them to pop.
its amazing how much better you can see what is inside now!
now that i have introduced cc to the cocaine that is re-uping wood,
you will see a few more of these soon!
happy monday!
if you need me,
i’ll be in my kitchen…
smiling like an idiot.
oh how i wish VintPrint could sell furniture too
cause i feel another addiction comin on…