Oh what a busy time Spring always is...
I feel I have neglected my blog here in order to, oh, I don't know, get stuff done. And this is supposed to be some sort of record of that, right? I am afraid that without pictures, it is not very interesting though.
I hope to get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the finished antique dresser / pie safe marriage. I finished painting the antique dresser up. Like the pie safe, it's Laura Ashley's Edelweiss (white) with Valspar's Boathouse (blue) on the back and Ralph Lauren's Black Truffles for the shelves. I am not intentionally using every freaking paint out there. I just happen to have a lot of leftovers and figure they might as well get use!
The dresser also got frosted glass knobs that match the pie safe.
Steven just has to marry the two together, and we'll be all set for pictures.
OK... now I would like to talk about something a bit controversial... at the risk of hurting a few reader's feelings... (yikes!)
I need to talk for a moment about furniture distressing. Now, since the stuff I buy is old, I don't really feel the need to make it look old by mussing up the paint. I do recognize, however, that some people really like this look. And even more like to buy new things and give them character or whatever.
My problem is this... when I buy antique furniture and someone has hamfistedly "distressed" it -- it ruins the wood. An example would be the antique dresser we picked up for our son, Bowie. The person had painted it pale lavender and went at the corners like there was no tomorrow with sandpaper. I plan on painting this piece in black, but all those corners are now rounded. All the lovely detail is gone.
You CAN distress furniture without rounding corners and ruining the wood. One method involves the use of acid - but I won't go into that here since I don't find it environmentally friendly. OK, the easiest way is to run a bit of candle wax along anywhere that you want to look distressed. If you want paint to show through, just rub a candle there. Then just paint as usual. Before your paint is dry, lightly run fine grit sandpaper where you applied the wax and - voila - the paint will come right off, looking old and without ruining the wood. You can then apply antiquing wax or a thinned-out stain over the top to really make it stand out.
Another thing that really bothers me... a few blogs have given a DIY on cabinet painting (as did I). Please do NOT use a foam roller on your cabinets. A few bloggers recommend this to leave out brush marks. This is what light sanding is for. If you use a foam roller, you will get weirdo bumpy texture which is fine for drywall or plaster, but silly looking on wood. No pro painter would ever break out a foam roller to paint cabinets. They use a power sprayer. Lacking a power sprayer, or wanting to forgo the mess, just use a paint brush.
OK... I am off my soap box.
Stay tuned for pie safe and garden pictures. :)
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