When The Car Breaks Down

So, my car broke down. I've been homebound. Having to have a car repair is bad for my wallet and my freedom. It is good, however, for forcing me to stay home and get things done. My plight actually provided incentive to make some paint decisions. When I'm not distracted by searching the streets for new junk, projects have a chance of seeing completion. This little brown chest found itself in the crosshairs of my paintbrush yesterday as a result of my car woes, and it ended up a fresh little bundle of joy.

(My goal today was to take my daughter's advice and not write so much, but... nah, that doesn't work for me. If all the words are too much for you, feel free to scroll through the pictures and head out.)

My painting endeavors all started because I found this sweet little table in the trash the other day on a junk detour down a few streets on my way to work. 

So cute, so simple. So many possibilities. Easy, you say. Slap on some paint and it's done. 

Not easy. I couldn't decide. So, what's new, right? I wanted to make it special, to paint a design on it or give it some sort of decoupage treatment. I could have easily spent all day staring and thinking about it because no plan arose to meet my desires. So until such a time as THE plan unfolds in my head, I decided to practice blending paints to create a more appealing and interesting look with some chalk paint I bought and use it for some other pieces. In the end the chalk paint was paired with a host of other paints I had on hand. Chalk paint, latex paint, craft paint and metallic paint all ended up on the same box as well as on the little chest of drawers. Whatever would work color-wise was included.

The Chest

Step one. Empty the drawers. 

This little chest was my first ever junking find. I went out one day to give junking a try. Drove down the street, turned right, went two or three streets, looked left and there was a pile. Something furniture-like was sticking out. Giddy feelings ensued. It was a little brown chest of drawers. I couldn't believe it. There for the taking. SCORE! I threw it my now broken down car, and it has been in my kitchen under the window ever since. 

It's where I stash all my thingamabobs and whatchimacallits... knobs and odds and ends that come off of my finds. An invaluable little chest. I even kinda embraced the chest's rustic brown look and that it matched a taller chest in my living room. So it was left alone. Its coloring never did anything for the look of the room, though, so yesterday it received a new style.


Definitely junk drawers, and I have no idea how all of this fit in there.

Here's an abbreviated look at the process. It was basically just a matter of playing around. I used many colors of blue, aqua, green and some white. I brushed some on and then would swish and blend it all together with the brush, and then used a damp paper towel to blend when it started drying too fast.





I did so many layers and swishes of color that I didn't have time to keep taking pictures. You can see in the shot below a bit more of the watery effect that I came out with after adding the blue and then more of the lighter yellowy green, the white, back to the dark green and the blue. At times it reminded me of those fakey looking furniture paint jobs at Homegoods that just look like a poorly done faux finish rather than something that got that way over time. I had to work to blend the colors so it didn't look too obvious. Yet, I didn't want it to blend so much that it it just looked aqua. I have enough plain aqua in my house right now. I was going for a more watery feel.



The top two sets of drawers in the picture below have not been sanded much. You can see how they still look multicolored, to the point where you can make out the separation of colors on them. They could use some more work, but I still have the other tall chest to paint. (I want to be on a roll.) I needed to just call this project quits for the day. Plus I'm trying to go easy on the distressing. This one need not be too rustic.

Even though not quite finished, it's definitely looking cuter, brighter and happier in my kitchen now. The orangey coloring of the floor and the wood were a bit heavy together.

A small change, but the color really picks up on the other aqua in the room. The look of the paint changes with the time of day, just as the ocean would.

The handles were not going to come off without a major endeavor, so I painted around them. Taping seems like too much work. Now I have work to do to clean them up. One way or another, the work must be done.

Can you see the subtle difference between the top two rows of drawers and the bottom two? I also added some highlights of silver to the places where the wood was revealed when sanding. It's like glints of light shimmering off the surface of the water. Kudos to Julie at the shop where I bought some of my paint. She is the one who gave me the idea to use the metallic paint.

But wait....there's more! I actually painted the box below first, just to practice the technique.

Before:

This box came from a sale at a church. It looks very Armyish. (That's Army, not a misspelling of Amish.) Someone may have made and painted it to look like that, who knows. The bottom paint, however, was black, worn and looked very old. It's a heavy box. I've been using it to hold my Majesty Palm, but the color was dreary and never did anything for the room.

Enter some watery wonder. I recently bought some chalk paint from a little shop near me called, Coastal Home and Garden. The store owner, Julie, mixes the paint and sells it much cheaper than Annie Sloan's, and I liked her colors. I struggle with picking good hues for chairs and such (it's tricky) and thought it would be nice for a change not to have to try 5 colors to find one I liked. It was already painted on some chairs in her store, so I knew I liked it. Plus I didn't have to mix it up myself. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to mess with that.

The lovesick frogs begged for inclusion in my shot. 

They long to be near water and the painted box reminded them of it.

I'll spare you tales of my color layering, sanding, repainting and relayering. I used the same group of colors on this box as I used on the chest (you'll see all my colors at the end of the post). The box got a more rustic treatment. The dark of the box showed through and provided a good contrast when sanded. It's a very worn look, but the blues, greens and the dark gray compliment one another.

Evening results - Subtle

The color of the box is now a bit more in keeping with the new color on the wall in this room, which of course you can't see in the picture, so you'll have to take my word for it. Plus, looking into this room from other parts of the house where I have a lot of this color, provides some consistency now with this accent. The above shots are how it looks in the evening... more bluish.

Here's how it looks in the morning with sunlight streaming in. Brighter and more of an aqua.

Here's the cast of characters that went into these two paint productions. I used all of them on both. 

Next up, I'm going to start the process all over and paint this:



Or that was the plan this morning. I got home from church later than planned, so we'll see how far I get now that it's already afternoon. If I don't start something first thing in the morning, chances are not good I'll get a lot done. Besides, I still have all those thingamajigs and whatchamacallits to put away. Maybe I'll surprise myself and get 'er done.

Fingers crossed.

My projects can be seen at these cool blogs:





 





Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch


Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on The Porch