{createinspire}: graphics

Showing posts with label graphics. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Antique Highboy with Butterfly

The man I bought this from said it belonged to his mother. She loved collecting antiques and bought this little beauty at an estate sale. She took very good care of it which I am very thankful for! :)

I knew I wanted to lighten it up and, of course, I knew I wanted to accent the cute oval on the middle drawer.

This piece is all mahogany and the bleed through was bad again. I just took a deep breath and gave it several coats of shellac throughout the whole process. Does anyone else have issues with bleed through even when using shellac or a primer like Kilz? Have I ever mentioned it is my biggest pet peeve (I'm sure I haven't ;) )!

Before

After

I'm so into gray right now! I love how clean and crisp it feels paired with the white. It's such a great neutral, too!

I wanted the oval to really stand out, so I heavily white washed it and then used the wax paper method to transfer this lovely little graphic I found. I like how it's eye catching, but still subtle.

I haven't used these in a while and forgot how much I adore them! Love the warmth of the antiquing with the cool hues of the shiny silver.

The legs and skirt are the only places I really distressed this piece. I saw all those ridges and couldn't help myself.

She's got a great finish!

Have a busy week so on to the next one! :)

Linked up here:

Thursday, November 7, 2013

PJ's for Inspiration!

When I was a little girl I always loved my mom's cedar chest. It was always in her room or her sewing room, and as a child there was just something a little mysterious about it. I loved seeing the things she would put in there, even if they were just fabric scraps. I've never had one of my own (I will!), but I have such a soft spot for them.

My client brought me this one and asked if I thought I could do something with it. Of course! I loved it's simple little shape and curved edges. She wanted to use it as a toy box in her living room. She loves rustic decor (and I peeked at her FB page (shhhh! I was doing my homework. ;) ) and saw she likes to hunt). She also brought me a pair of her son's PJ bottoms and said she loved the colors together.

Loved the PJ's too and used them for a little inspiration. I wanted something fun for her kiddos, but also something that wouldn't look too childish in her living room...AND, something that had a little rustic flair! :)

I love how it all came together!!

Before

After

The color is just a tad more green than the pic.

It has such a beautiful top and I think the natural wood will endure a little better than paint! ;)

I figured it's going to be taking a bit of abuse so I distressed the corners heavily so any "owies" will just blend right in!

I also painted the feet the same color as the graphic and stripe to tie it together.

color = Great Falls SW

I had to smile because she told me she couldn't wait to teach her little guy how to put his toys away. So, it's cute and gets to teach lessons! :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Vintage Vanity in Pink!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! I was lucky enough to spend it with my family and was, again, reminded of how grateful I am to live in this amazing country we call America!

I've had an idea for a little girl's desk/vanity for a while now, but nothing to do it on. When I saw this cute little vanity on my local classifieds page on FB I knew I had to have it! :) She was kind enough to deliver it to town for me (score!) and it was only a few block from my house (double score!). I started working on it as soon as I got home because I just couldn't wait to see if it would look like what I thought it would look like. Is that wierd? :)

Before

After

I don't do pink. And, I don't really do a lot of decoupage.

Out of all the furniture I've done I've only painted a few things pink and those were custom requests. BUT, I saw this paper at Hobby Lobby and could not get it out of my head. I just had to put it on something. So, I broke down and decided it was time to do pink again.

I love the vintage look of this paper so I glazed over the body and the top with Provincial (from Minwax) mixed with mineral spirits (cuz it was 85 degrees today and the stain was drying out too fast) to tone down the paint. I'm not a big fan of the "dirty" look so I love how using mineral spirits with the stain helps to thin it out so you can spread it more evenly. I actually just dipped a heavy duty paper towel in the stain and then poured the mineral spirits right on the same paper towel and started rubbing.