I had been looking for a flat fronted piece to decoupage ever since I purchased five really cool giant size posters on eBay a while back.
I patched up the holes and chunks where the wood veneer was missing, and after a good sanding down, I brought it inside since the shop was too cold for me to work.
I wanted to use chalk paint on this piece but I really wanted to paint it black. The Annie Sloan line which I had been using on other projects does not include black. Charcoal gray is the darkest they carry. But then I stumbled upon the CeCe Caldwell chalk paint brand and they do make black! Hurray!
Oops, I should have had the Cece’s paint can turned around in the photo above but looks like I might have been distracted by the T.V. - one of the hazards of working in the family room. When using chalk paint, I like to dip the tip of my brush in a jar filled with bottled water (tap water can cause discolorations), and then tap the brush on the side of the jar to get most of the water off before dipping my brush into the chalk paint. I like a smoother finish and the water helps to achieve this look.
Before the waxing process, the chalk paint looks really dry.
This is a distressed piece and I wanted a little of the wood to show through when I sanded, so I only used one coat of chalk paint.
After priming and lightly sanding the drawer and cabinet fronts, it was time to lay out my decoupage design. It is very important NOT to skip the priming step if the wood is raw or unpainted, or if you have used wood filler. I have skipped the priming step before on an old wooden dresser that had never been painted, and bubbles eventually popped up under my decoupage!
This is a giant size poster of Manhattan, showing the Brooklyn Bridge and the Twin Towers in the background. I met up with my husband on Valentine’s Day last year (2013), while he was in New York for a training seminar. We had such a wonderful time and I loved the big city, so when I saw this giant poster, I knew I wanted to put it on a piece of furniture. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that view all the time, huh?
I measured the chest and poster so that I could center the poster and decide which parts to remove. Using a large metal square and a sharp blade, I cut the pieces (cutting atop a board so as not to ruin my kitchen island) to fit my drawer and cabinet fronts and then attached them to the chest using mod podge.
I have a couple of very professional tools to get all the bubbles out…………..an old Dave & Buster’s card or an AARP card just for spite (why did they send that to me!!!!!), but any old plastic card will work. I do have a squeegee which you are supposed to use for this step, but I really like using a plastic card better. After all the air bubbles are out, I paint over the entire papered surface with a couple of coats of mod podge, letting dry and lightly sanding between coats. With this piece, since I was distressing the painted part, I also distressed the poster as well, roughing up the edges and a few other spots to make it look like it was finished this way ages ago.
After the mod podge was dry, I lightly sanded the entire piece and gave the front a couple of coats of Polycrylic for extra protection. I used CeCe Caldwell’s wax to seal the painted portion of the chest, but after this project was completed, I have since used Polycrylic to seal chalk paint as well. The polycrylic offers more protection to the finish than wax, but the wax finish has more of an “old world” look. Without sealing the chalk paint, it will appear very dull and will just wipe off with a wet rag.
The hardware cleaned up nicely with an SOS pad and was reinstalled once the Polycrylic was completely dry.
The pull-out shelf can be used as a writing table or even as a serving table, and the small cabinet can be used for desk storage or maybe even barware? What a very versatile piece!
Now available for sale at: The Pink Hippo, 15 N. Broadway, Lebanon, OH 45036, Phone: (513) 836-3738. ***************SOLD******************* Pin It
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