Today I started and completed a chest of drawers for one of my clients...this was many "firsts" for me. This client, Jennifer, was my first ever paying client - probably about two years ago. I didn't even know what to charge! So, she is now my first repeat client. Also, this was the first red piece I did. I knew that the red would be pretty - but I was pleasantly surprised at just how pretty it would be!
The piece started out looking like this...
This, I believe, was one of her mother's pieces of furniture. Jennifer's mother passed away from breast cancer not too long ago - so I know this piece means a lot to her and her family. And I wanted to make it pretty for her so she can continue to use it and love it even more. Honestly, this was the whole drive behind this business as I started redoing my late Gramma's furniture in order to use it and it just went from there. So, it is important to me and I take it very seriously when there is so much meaning behind a piece of furniture.
When Jennifer and her husband (and her sweet babies - again one is RED HEADED...it's a sign for sure!) dropped off these pieces I asked her what she wanted. Her being pregnant and it being 98 degrees that day...she said "I don't care...just make it look good." Got it...I can handle that. So, I knew the room it was going in had primary colors bc I did another dresser for this room 2 years ago. I proposed red and her husband said "Red is her favorite color" Which I thought was so sweet and Jenn...he should earn brownie points for that!
So, she gave me the go ahead for the red paint, which I was thrilled about!
This was a pretty simple piece...very straight lines. So I started with two base coats of Annie Sloan's Emperor's Silk paint which you see in the picture below and also the second picture is with two coats applied.
Once the two coats were dry (which took a little longer to dry due to the high humidity today in North East Georgia) I sanded the whole piece to give it a distressed look as picture below....
If you notice - once you sand it the paint turned a pinky orange color....don't worry the wax will bring it back! This sanding is done by hand with a sanding block.
Once the piece was distressed I used Annie Sloan's dark wax on the entire piece. You can see in the pictures below - 1. I "painted" the wax on and 2. Then I wiped it look with a rag. When they say wax on/wax off...they mean it. See the pictures below of brushing on and wiping off...
You have to get a little bit of elbow grease on there to make sure you get all the extra off. Now, you will have extra wax left in the grooves and corners - you want that...so leave it! You can see in the picture below the half that is dark waxed and the half that is not.
Last, I used silver gilders paste to recolor the hardware. The silver turned out great - it looks white in the picture - but it is silver in real life.
Let me just tell you the funny moment of the day - because you know I have to tell a funny story with each piece. So, this paint is red right? Well, as you paint and move around a piece - you get paint on you. It is inevitable. Well, I thought I had washed all the paint off my skin. Apparently, somehow I got a massive line of red paint on the back of my ear. I WISH you guys could've seen Tim (my husband) freaking out because he thought I was bleeding profusely from my head. Still makes me chuckle thinking about his face and how much he went into panic mode. :)
Tomorrow, I start a crib for this same client (remember #3 is on the way). I have never done a crib so I am looking forward to this very much!
I think all the red paint is off my body...hopefully...
Julie
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