Provence Blue Desk

     Provence Blue Desk

When I bought this desk at an estate sale it was covered in nick knacks so after I bought it and they took everything off of it I realized the top had faux leather, and not pretty faux leather either. It was damaged and discolored, so now my dilemma begins, what to do what to do! If I dig out the faux leather then I end up with an uneven surface. To replace it with real leather made for desks it was going to be too much money. I decided that since chalk paint adheres to anything why not faux leather?

Hold on to your hats, here we go!

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The faux leather top is a greenish yellow hue and not pretty. The rest is pretty beat up, nicks and dings everywhere. This desk is asking for new life.

 I forgot to take pictures, but I stripped the varnish off the top and the drawers. And stained them with English chestnut stain.

Second coat of Provence Blue by Annie Sloan.

I used a wall stencil that I picked up from the craft store, and put my first layer of detail on.

I felt it was a little plain with just the one layer from the stencil so I decided to get out my little brushes and add hand detail. I used different shades of lighter greys and a little Old white ASCP. It really made a difference!

Hey you can't forget the inside, this desk wants to be pretty all over.

Yep we are back to the ugly top! After masking it off I got to painting the faux leather. I forgot to take pictures of this process, but basically I painted a couple of layers of French Linen with Annie Sloan chalk paint

Of course I could not leave it plain, it looked too naked, so once again out came the stencil and used the same technique as the rest of the desk. I also added some white wash detail to the nooks and crannies to give more dimension.

The back was a mixture of grey chalk paint, not even sure what ratios I used. I was trying to use up other paints that I had mixed for other projects. You don't want to waste chalk paint if you don't have to.

Put on some Clear wax and this baby is ready for a new home!

Ain't she pretty!

Dated Buffet turned Rustic Beauty

This was a very fun piece to do for a client of mine. We actually adventured out together to get the piece from a place that clears out estates. This piece came straight to my garage and will soon get to join my client in her home. She is going to use this buffet as a TV console, which I think is a brilliant idea! 

Here is the wonderful before! It has great structure and detail so I at this point I already knew it was going to be a great piece to paint.

We wanted some extra dark detail to pop through in the end when I go to shabby it up, so I use Annie Sloan Graphite to paint around the edges. 

Next come a coat of Paris Grey. After painting the top I decided the next coat would be darker so it would contrast a little from the whole body of the piece.

Here I am adding in dark accents to the deepest parts of the trim, and Using a mixture of Old white and Paris Grey for the the edges of the doors and on the trim of the doors.

I also used the lighter mixture to trim out the top edges and the drawer edges. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the top is now a darker grey mixed with Annie Sloan Graphite and Paris Grey

The sanding begins!!!!

This is the first time I have spent more time sanding than waxing.

This is before waxing

                                  This is before waxing

And here she is done after clear waxing

I wish I could have taken pictures of it in my house, but I couldn't move this puppy myself, so in front of the garage it is.