Pictures to Inspire You!

I don't have a how-to because the techniques I used on these pieces, I have already blogged about.  I wanted to post them to inspire my fellow crafty people on what you can do to completely change a piece of furniture.

The first piece was an oak curio cabinet that was missing its glass in the front.

I used a linen color milk paint and painted the outside.  The paint chipped off like I wanted which gave it a very shabby chic look.  I dry brushed some dark linen colored chalk paint over the off white color to give it an extra dimension.  I painted the inside of the cabinet a light blue and dry brushed the dark linen color over that also.  I added some silver embossed tin to the top window and some silver chicken wire to the bottom.  This is the end result.  It can be used for bathroom storage, clothes and shoe storage or anything that needs a cute display.

The second piece I have done a post on before was a two chair bench seat.  I added a board on the bottom this time so I could put baskets underneath.  I used milk paint again to get a distressed look, and I finished it with polyurathane so it has a hard finish.  I upholstered it with a linen material and added black nail-heads to give it an extra detail.

The bench seat is for sale. Please email me at davewhit4@gmail.com if you are interested.

A Little bit French!

We bought a twin headboard a little while ago and I immediatley knew it would be a bench seat.  The headboard had a quaint look to it but I had trouble envisioning the finished look.  I finally decided on a french distressed look and after trying many different color paints and glazes, I did it.  Here is the journey for the most part.

The headboard before:

My husband added a board on the bottom and worked his furniture magic to make this into a bench.

I sanded down the black chippy old paint as best as I could, but some stayed on which worked out for the distressed look.  I tried a couple of colors and glazes over the top before I got the look I wanted. Some of the colors came through in the end distressing and again it worked out! I eventually painted the whole thing in a french linen color(not pictured).  I put on two coats so it would not come off to much in the sanding stage. I covered the French linen color with a thin white linen color. This is pictured below.

I started distressing the paint with 100 grit sandpaper.  I sanded all the edges and groves in the bench so the darker color came through and in some areas down to the wood.  I then sanded random parts of the bench so the darker color came through and in some areas the old black paint came through.  I brushed on a light brown wax and buffed it off. I let the wax dry for a day and then brushed on a clear wax to seal in all my hard work and buffed it to a pretty shine. 

I loved how the finish turned out, but now I needed a cute cushion to match.  I glued foam to the board and wrapped it in batting.  Some of my previous posts have more detailed instruction on how to do this.  I cut out a neutral gray/blue linen fabric for the top and a cream linen fabric for the accent.  To make the   rushing  all the way around the cushion, I sewed two strips together to make it long enough to go all the way around.  I basted both sides of the cream fabric strips.  I pulled the strings on both sides to gather the fabric on both sides.  When the cream fabric was gathered, I sewed one side to the gray/blue top fabric.  I put the completed fabric piece over the foam board and stapled it in place on the bottom.  My husband attached the board to the bench and it was done.

If you are interested in a bench like this, Please email me at davewhit4@gmail.com