Vintage Shabby Chic Signs - Part 2

Latey I've really gotten into making these cute vintage looking signs.  This time I made a French inspired "Patisserrie" sign :



Close-up detail




Close-up detail



Close-up detail

 
And this " Antiques" sign.



I just love how they turned out, and they were  really easy.  Oh, and it only cost me $5.00.  I'll give you a quick tutorial, so you can make your very own. 

Here are the supplies you'll need:

Wood in your desired size and shape ( I got mine for free from the scrap pile at Home Depot).
Wood applique's in scrolly shape( for the Pattesserie sign).
Wood glue.
Acylic or latex paint in Raw Umber and Sage Green.
Sand paper, and palm sander.
Faux finish medium ( optional)
Spray paint in Heirloom White
Drop cloth.
An old white candle.
Paint brushes- a foam one for coating the board and a fine one for the lettering.
Old toothbrush.
Hammer or screwdriver.
Stencil or font from the computer.
Lead pencil or charcoal stick.
Chain for hanging.
2 metal cup hooks or eyelets.

The first thing I did was go to my local Home Depot and look for the roughest piece of wood I could find from their scrap pile.  The one I found had a nice big crack in it, so it was perfect for the antique/shabby chic look I was going for.  They will let you have them for free if you ask, as long as you're not greedy- they let me take 2 at a time. Of course, you can use any board cut to size, but rough wood looks best. Then I bought a set of 2 decorative scrolly appliques for  about $5.00.  This was the only thing I had to buy, as I already had all the other supplies on hand. For the " Antiques " sign, I used a scrap piece of beadboard that I had left over from a previous project.

Next I used my palm sander to take off the splinters and round the corners a bit. Then glued the scrolly wood appliques to the top of the wood.  You could also put some on the bottom if you wanted.  Once the glue is dry, paint the whole front with the raw umber paint.  Let dry thoroughly.  Next take your old wax candle and rub it in random places on the edges and front of the board.  Wherever you put the wax, you will later sand off the light paint and it will look chippy and cracked, and show the dark umber paint below.  Then take the board, and chain outside and spray  with 2 or 3 coats of Heirllom White spray paint. Use the drop cloth to protect your surface.  Let this dry very well- at least 12 hours, or more if you can stand to wait.

  Once the spray paint is dry, transfer your selected font onto the front of the board.  If you're using a stencil, just use a stencil brush and light swirl the paint. Build up the layers slowly- 2 or 3 will be sufficient, as you will sand most of it off later.  If you're using a font from your computer, as I did, print out your caption and size it.  On the back side of the paper, rub the entire surface with the lead pencil or charcoal stick. Center the caption on your board and then using a lead pencil, trace around the outline of your letters.  The rubbed pencil/charcoal acts like carbon paper. Now carefully paint the lettering with the sage green paint.  I used 2 coats, letting it dry in between.  If you make any mistakes, you can take a damp Q-tip and clean up the edges of the paint.  It's really cool- it's almost like a mini paint eraser, and you can even go back and clean up edges that are almost dry. Let your lettering dry- I used acrylic paint, so it dried really quickly. 

Now you're ready to distress.  Take a hammer or screw driver and hit the board in random places to create dents- don't go overboard unless you really need to take out some " pent up frustations".  Then go over the entire board with sand paper- go lightly at first, and then build up pressure where you want more distressing.  The more you sand, the more faded your letters will be.  And all the places where you rubbed wax previously will come off really easily and leave some nice dark spots.  The thicker the wax, the more chippy it will look.  If you're happy with the look, you can stop there.

 I decided to add more layers of distressing by mixing more raw umber paint with faux finish medium and painting it over the entire surface.  Then before it dries, take an old T-shirt rage that is wet and wrung out, and wipe over the surface.  This will leave glaze in the cracks and dents and look aged.  Let this dry.  Then , if you want even more texture, take some plain  water and mix it with the green and raw umber paint ( separately).  Dip the old toothbrush in the paint, and then using your thumb, drag over the bristles of the  toothbrush, and fine droplets of paint will spray onto the board.  You might want to practice on a piece of paper first for this effect.  Let dry again.

Now you're ready to hang.  Srew in the cup hook or eyelets, then attach the chain.  Voila!!! A beautiful vintage/shabby chic sign for next to nothing.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Shabby- Chic White Armoire Makeover - Part 2 ( The Reveal)

As promised, here is the final reveal of my armoire makeover.  As some of you  will remember, my husband found this vintage wardrobe/armoire left out at the end of a neighbours driveway in February.  We brought it home and I have been giving it a complete makeover.  It actually ended up being a lot more work then I had anticipated, but the final result was well worth it.  I just love how it turned out.  Here's a recap on how the armoire looked when we found it:



Before.

It had a funny old-wood smell to it- not moldy or musty- but just old, and I'm happy to announce that I finally got rid of the smell. I tried everything- baking soda, coffee grounds, vinegar wash, mild bleach wash.  None of these solutions worked.  Finally I coated the entire interior with Bin primer ( this is a shellac based primer that seals in odours and stains).  This got rid of the old-wood smell, but left a strong shellac odour which I really didn't want in my bedroom.  I have left it airing for several weeks, and finally added two lavendar sachets-one in the bottom drawer and one hanging in the main compartment.  Finally, it is suitable for putting into my room.  I decided to use it as an accessory armoire, and put some really pretty details on the inside.  So now , down to business, and here are the final  steps I did to get it looking great.  You can see Part 1 here.

After

This is the end result, and I will post all the steps on how I got this look, immediately following, for those of you who are interested.










Here's the front view before I added the glazing.

This is a view of the top side panel, before I added the final glaze.

I used Behr  Faux Glazing Medium and Behr Ultra latex paint in a flat sheen, both from Home Depot.  The color is called Bear Rug, and the code is S-G-790, for anyone that's interested.  I bought a sample size, since you really need very little paint  for the glaze.  The ratio is about 3-4 parts glazing medium to 1 part paint.

 

First you brush on a layer of the glaze.

Then you wipe off most of it with a damp, soft cloth.  The glaze stays in the cracks and crevices of the beadboard, as well as the areas the I distressed with a hammer.  It also gives the piece an old worn look, which is the look I was going for.

Here's another close-up of the glaze before it's all wiped off.

I used a small foam brush to get the glaze right into the crevices.

I used a piece of the scrap dowel inside my damp cloth to get some more of the glaze out of the cracks, as I didn't want it to be too dark.

Keep wiping off the excess until you get the look you want.

Here's a close-up of the bead- board side panel.  The trim around the panels is just wooden dowels that I cut with a saw and mitre box. The dowels mimic the bead in the bead-board, and are very inexpensive and easy to cut.  I just glued the cut dowels around the edges with Weldbond glue and let it dry over- night with painters masking tape to hold it in place.

Here are some more side views after I had wiped off most of the glaze.

Here's a close-up of the door with some good views of the distressing that I did with a palm sander and some glaze wiped over it.  I bought the crystal knobs at Home Depot as well.  I had originally intended to use some vintage crystal door knobs from my husbands old family home, but I couldn't find an  economical way to convert them into pull knobs.  These ones cost about $4.00 each and I like the added sparkle of a little "bling" on my new armoire.

Here's the bottom drawer, with close-ups of the wooden applique's that I added and the crystal pull knobs.

Here's a last look at the before and after:



Before






After

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the process so far ( I say so far, because I have even more to reveal with the inside of the armoire).  I did something extra- special on the inside, but you'll have to come back to see that in my next posting.  Otherwise, the posting would have been w-a-a-a-y too long. 

Until next time.  Au Revoir.

Shabby Chic White Chair ( How One Man's Trash Became My Treasure )

 

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one of my neighbours had left an armoire, side table and T.V. on the end of his driveway, with a sign saying "free". I, of course grabbed them up with the intention of transforming them into something " awsome," at a later date. The T.V. is happily living in my husband's " man-cave" in the basement (this room will one day ,of course, be redecorated). But for now, it holds an assortment of mismatched furniture no longer wanted upstairs, and my "found" treasures. I will be revamping the armoire and side- table soon, in a future post, but for today I have another tale of a discarded treasure

It seems this same neighbour is moving, and as I was driving by the abandoned house, I spied a little white chair sitting out by the side of the road.... in the dark.... all alone. I stopped the car and got out. Could it be a hidden treasure? Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was indeed made of wood- a little rickety, and definately in wrough shape. The paint was chipping off ( bonus in my books), and it looked a little grungy. And it was covered in snow. But no matter- I took that lonely little chair home with me.

This is what the chair looked like when I found it ( after a good cleaning with TSP). Oh, and I had to put a little wood glue between the two front legs and the seat cuz it was a little wobbly.

  It already looks kind of Shabby Chic, but I can do better !!!!!!

 Here's the chair in it's original condition.

These are the original cracked and chipped areas of the chair. Close-up detail of the front.

Here's a close-up of the back. It's already chipping- so I don't have to do much to it.

Took out the handy-dandy palm sander ( in freezing,snowy weather)

Thank god we have a car-port for shelter)

I really should have warn gloves- my hands were freezing.  But I did wear the oh-so-fashionable dust-mask and safety goggles!!!! ( Sorry- no pics as the hubby was at work)

Then I sanded some more areas that still looked to shiny.  I went right to the bare wood in some spots, and in other spots I just smoothed out the really rough chips and cracks.  Don't worry- I left plenty of chippy paint for that lovely Shabby Chic look.

See the nice big chips toward the back of the chair!!!!!! Now that I'm thoroughly freezing, I dust off the chair and take it back into my work area for some final touches.

I hot-glued some antique-finish furniture tacks over the exposed steel screws, after clipping off the part that sticks into the wood.

Then I added  more antique- finish furniture tacks to the front for some extra detail.  Now, all I had to do was go over the whole chair with a light coat of brown shoe polish ( I read about this technique on an

 e-how posting on the web).  It gives  the painted wood an aged look, darkens the newly sanded areas, and protects the chair all in one.  Great, cheap idea !!!!!!

Now she's ready to go to her new home in my living room.  I decided to use it as a display table/plant stand since it's pretty rough for sitting on.  I can just see my mother sitting on it and ripping her pants ( Youch!!!!)

And here she is in all her Shabby Glory!!!!!!

I really love this option with the blue hydrangeas and the birdhouse, but I already have two bunches of

 off-white hydrangeas in the ajoining living/dining room.

This blue vase is really pretty too!!!!

 

And here's the third option.

  I'm not really sure yet what is going to perch on the chair- maybe one of my readers can make a suggestion.  My living/dining room is antique white and a soft grey/blue combo.  My husband suggested a live trailing plant of some sort- maybe with white flowers. 

Well, there she is......rescued from a life of being thrown in the trash.  I'm really happy with it, and best of all- it was free and very quick to do.

Bye til next time.  Au Revoir!!!!!

 

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