Trying Something New

Hi everyone, today I wanted to try a little experiment, to see if a few brushing techniques that I learned and practiced on some balsa wood boxes could actually work on a larger piece of furniture without looking tacky. This "brushed" look give a vintage, almost a beachy feel, and it so simple to do as long as you've got the right brush! I used a more natural bristled brush, as opposed to a synthetic brush. By using a smaller sized brush, I was able to control the strokes of paint easier without having big blotches. I first tried this out on a small trinket box to make sure it really could work.

As you can see, I first painted the box black and after it dried I used off-white paint. Without having to use and sandpaper in the process, I was able to give it a distressed look just by using a minimal amount of white paint and letting the brush strokes avoid covering the entire box, especially the edges. I loved this look so much that I decided to see how it would look on a large scale project.

I found this beautiful desk on the side of the road- for free! After we picked it up I felt like the lady in the Ikea commercials, "Start the car!!!!!!!!!!" While it was pretty banged up, I could just see the potential for this desk! 

After sanding it down it already looked so much better. :) 

I decided to try a new wood stain, Minwax's Dark Walnut. I love how it gives the wood a darker, weathered look. 

After staining the top, I put black acrylic paint on the bottom. I love acrylic paint because it's easily absorbed into wood. 

And finally, the part I was very nervous for! I decided to use off-white paint called "Linen," and started brushing it on with just a small amount so that the black would show through.

I was surprised by how easy this project was to do and how nice the brushing technique looked on a larger project. After buying some small handles to give it a more refined look, this project was a success. 

The last phase of this project will be to screw the top board down, I will post photos of it when I get the chance. :)