DRAB 2 FAB
Reclaim * Restore * Adore
Experimenting with Stencils
Every time I get a new piece of furniture I’m newly inspired. I look at the hardware, the height, the details and think “how can I turn this into something fabulous”. This dresser came from a friend who was trying to make room in her house. She has two sons, but like most young people they aren’t interested in grandma’s old furniture. Lucky me!
Knowing that I have a passion for reclaiming and restoring unwanted furniture, my friend offered me several pieces, which I accepted with enthusiasm! Once I got the items home, I was anxious to get started.
I started by painting the hardware silver for a more contemporary look. This led me to painting the dresser in grey for subtlety. I started with 2 coats of white and then 2 coats of grey. I usually distress my pieces, so I thought that a white undercoat would really complement the grey when sanded.
I often add stencils to give some interest to a piece, but I thought that this dresser would look awesome with large flowers stencilled to the drawers. In order to achieve this look, I used 2 stencils and placed them more or less randomly. Unless something should look uniform, I definitely prefer a more random look. This whole process was done just with my eyes. I moved the stencil around until I got the “look” I wanted to achieve.
As always, this piece was waxed for protection and VOILA! *
*If you have furniture that you no longer want or use, please let me know and I’ll be happy to take it off your hands. Alternatively, I am available to refinish your furniture and give it new life! Just let me know how I can help.
Bernice
The Journey
Thanks for joining me!
I love painting furniture. Old furniture that is, mostly destined for the dump. Giving new life and beauty to discards is incredibly rewarding and frankly quite easy to do.
My journey started after I was laid off from my office job of 12 years. You’ve heard the term “blessing in disguise”, well that’s what it was for me. Little did I know it at the time.
I’ve always been creative. I studied dance and loved to paint when I was younger, so it’s no surprise that my creativity would resurface once the corporate culture wore off.
I actually started by fluke. I wanted a buffet for my dining room and I started by looking through the ads in Kijiji. There was something in common with all of the buffets that I found appealing: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. This was my first introduction to Annie Sloan so I googled the name and found tons of information about her paint and techniques. The thing that sparked my interest the most was how easy it was to use. Now I wasn’t looking for a finished piece, I was looking for a piece I could finish myself!
An so it began. This website is a new endeavour for me, so there are definitely a few things that can be improved upon. Stick with me while I iron out any bugs and I promise to take you on an interesting journey!
New dining room
Oh La La!
This dining room is my latest experiment in design. The table has 2 large inserts and 2 pedestals for the base. It really fills the room with 6 substantial chairs. I got the buffet separately. So although it isn’t the same design, I painted everything in similar colours and theme.
I went out of my comfort zone a bit. I’ve never used gold as an accent, but I discovered it looked really awesome with the dark blue. Quite regal really. I bought a funky light fixture and repainted the mirror and added gold highlights to the picture frames for a coordinated look. The centre piece on the table was also repainted and I added a few gold highlights to the chairs to accent to imitate light reflecting.
French country
I recently completed a new dining room set and it’s theme is of course French Country. I love using motifs that reflect French themes especially fleur de lis and old script. I decided to add a bit of gold as an accent, which is something I haven’t done before. I generally stick to silver, but the dark blue inspired me to try something different. I really love the effect, so much so, that I replaced my light fixture with the one in the picture. I love to change things up, but this was a bit of a leap – even for me!
The back of the chairs were difficult to paint because the design is more intricate than most. They look great, but getting the paint to cover evenly was a challenge. It was also very time consuming. I used black wax which helped hide any inconsistencies in the colour.
This was a big project. The table is exceptionally large as well as the chairs, but I’m happy with the results.
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