BUFFET MAKEOVER

You may remember this buffet my mom bought at a yard sale for 80 bucks. It's an old Hepplewhite and was in great condition. The previous owner however had painted it a flat dark gray and there was a lot of wear on the paint. I also decided it needed to be lightened up for my home and also to show the beautiful detail that the flat dark paint was hiding.



 I mixed a few colors of chalk paint that I had left over of Louise Blue and Country Gray. I didn't have enough of either to cover the whole piece and when combining them I got a much cooler gray. I painted two coats over the dark, leaving some of the dark gray in some cracks and crevices. I also gold leafed some areas with detail and crackled the top in a few sporadic sections as well as on  the detail.  
 I used a coat of clear wax and then layered on the dark wax. I took a clean old tshirt and took off the excess dark with clear wax in the same manner I did in my video here.

I love the aged and crackled finish. Adding the gold gilding and the crackle gives it an aged french flair.


The dark wax settled nicely in the texture of the chalk paint, don't you think?

 The mirror was a 10 dollar yard sale find on Saturday, along with my 6 dollar jar of lemons. I used Louise blue and dark wax on the mirror as well as some gold leafing in the details.
I have a disorder of some sort where I can't leave things in one spot for too long. Am I the only one who does this?  Furniture tends to play musical chairs in my house. I moved this buffet out of the dining room into the kitchen.....for now.linking to:miss mustard seed