Spring Break and More Painted Furniture

It's spring break and Easter weekend and it seems everyone is leaving town........

Which is always a great time for SheShe to tackle a client's home project.......

I'll be starting a makeover at Kim's tomorrow.......

A huge entertainment center that currently is black, 

and one big black hole in her family room!

I'm gonna lighten it up with Paris Grey and Old White chalk paints, and possibly line the back of the cabinet with wallpaper, something like this......

(My finish will be much more distressed and layered, though.  

So look for that makeover in a week or so.)

For now, I want to show you one of the pieces I've been working on this week.

It's a tall oak chimney cabinet, that looked like this when I got it from my client, Jo:

 This piece is going into a guest suite, with some other pieces I've done in the past. 

Above is one of my favorite traditional pieces.  

A cedar chest that I painted/stained in hunt colors.

Isn't it gorgeous?

She loved it so much, that next I did the bathroom vanity.......

and then a wall cabinet.

So now, back to the chimney cabinet.

 I started by removing the doors and priming all the pieces.

 I then begin to layer colors...

 Here's what the finish looked like after the painting part.

 Looks pretty garish I know.....but all this will get "knocked down" by layers of stain and glazes.

 Here's what it looks like now.

 Jo really wanted this finished by Easter, so I struggled to rush it, 

but it's really tough

when you're dealing with these layered finishes.  

They take time, and you have to let the layers dry in between, 

or you can take off the previous layer instead of adding to...

 Which is exactly what happened.

So yesterday, I got an extension (thank you, Jo!)

and started over again........

I have one more layer of maple stain to add, 

and then I'll seal it and it will be fini!!

I also did this cute little console table for Carolyn: 

This is how it looked when she delivered it......

She wanted it painted in Paris Gray chalk paint to match her new guest room.  

Presto! 

 Here it is all painted, distressed and waxed.

I added a little Old White to the details, 

then added dark waxes in all the nooks and crannies.

Beautiful!

Happy Easter, everyone!!!!!