Do you ever have these moments?
Here’s what I came up with, in a spontaneous outburst of “I need to paint this thing now”.
I’m wondering if I should admit to having this outburst of spontaneity on Valentine’s Day! I know, sounds totally un-romantic, but let me explain. Our two boys were out for the evening and after a beautiful dinner with our girls, we decided to watch a movie with them. As I was walking through my workshop towards the living room I noticed the big antique wardrobe, which had become a storage space for my paints and things. I started to think about some of the left over cans of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint that I had sitting in there and wondered if there might be enough in one of the cans to paint this cupboard.
I forgot to take a “before” picture … well, as the story goes, I really didn’t even THINK about a before picture, but here is a photo of a part of it in the background of this box I painted recently.
So while waiting for the girls to get ready for the movie – I whipped out a can of Florence colour and before I knew it … my paint brush jumped in that can and started whipping around the side of the cupboard in outbursts of “splish-splash”. Yep, not even stopping to take stuff out of the cupboard – “ain’t nobody got time fo dat”.
Hmmm, not sure how long it took to “get ready” for the movie, and I’m assuming the girls just had to clean their teeth, but somehow I’m thinking they may have just had to check their iMessages and so on and so forth … and somehow, I don’t understand how they could get so distracted … oh, um, yeah. So here I was “waiting” but happy to keep moving forward on this spontaneous outburst! Marty (hubby) was “getting ready” in his own special way, which probably involved finishing off some last minute emails or editing a video for a pressing deadline. Seriously? Are we the only family who does these crazy things or what?
Finally, someone remembered about the movie we were supposed to be watching and my painting had to pause at almost the end of the first coat. The movie ended, and as I walked past that cupboard again, the finish of coat #1 was completed on my way to kiss the girls goodnight!
The cupboard was really old and the veneer was chipping away at the base of the legs, but I just painted over it. I intended to sand distress this piece after painting anyway, so was going for an aged worn look.
After the second coat was applied the next day, I had another brain wave to use my new Fusion stencil I had just purchased that week. (I’ll be adding stencils to my product line soon!) It was really easy to use by lining up the 30cmx30cm Moroccan style stencil with the dots that were last painted in the pattern. I used the colour Lamp White from our Fusion Mineral Paint line.
Stencilling tips:
- Use painters tape to keep your stencil in place. Just make sure you don’t place it on the freshly painted parts you have just stencilled.
- I always use a stencil brush (or a wax brush – something with a flat base of bristles).
- Make sure you don’t have too much paint on your brush – dab onto some paper after dipping and wiping the brush on the edge of your container.
- Don’t use brush strokes like you do in regular painting, but instead, use a dabbing up and down motion. This helps the paint to not creep under the stencil plastic, but make a nice crisp edge instead.
Here are a few pics before I sanded and distressed the edges. I made the pattern go around the handles with a fairly big space, mainly because it was too hard to curve the stencil over the handles to try and paint there. But I think it looks great this way.
And here’s the finished look after sanding, distressing the edges and handles, and waxing with L’essentiel wax (which has a lovely fragrance).
I painted the insides with a plain white interior paint that I had left over, and left the drawers and inside trims wood, freshening them up with some Hemp Oil rubbed on with a cloth.
I love how the colours in this vintage cushion fit in with the brown, white and green in the cupboard. Cushion is available in my Etsy shop.
I have this cupboard available for sale in my ebay store. Pick up from Heritage Park, QLD.
Now tell me I’m not the only one who has these sudden urges to paint something while they’re thinking about it! I know my mum and sisters will relate. Our husbands refer to these ‘got-to-get-this-done-now’ moments as the ‘Jackson female thing’. (Jackson is my maiden name) So it must be inherited – but, hey, we get things done, people!
Have a great week.
Sharon.