Cactus On The Corner

My "go to" color when painting furniture to sell is usually some shade of green. It's odd that I don't decorate my home with green since I love it so much!

And, this corner cabinet is no different... I chose a beautiful color, called Cactus, from Dixie Belle's SILK line of paint. Silk is an acrylic based paint, so it's a little different from their chalk mineral paint line.

The cabinets original finish was cherry.

I don't have a great place to paint large pieces, but when a friend sent me this photo, I couldn't resist!

There was a lot of beautiful detail, but the dark color didn't allow it to stand out.

After cleaning with White Lightening, I gave the piece a light scuff sanding. Unlike with Dixie Belle's chalk mineral paint, a scuff sanding is recommended with Silk.

After the scuff sanding, the piece still had somewhat of a slick finish, so I added Dixie Belle's Slick Stick. This product helps paint stick to any slick surface.

On the door, rather than taping off the glass, I slid parchment paper underneath the mullions so I could paint without worrying about getting the paint on the glass. I added tape to the areas where it was hard to get the parchment underneath the mullions. This works using a deck of cards too, but I wanted something to cover large areas at one time.

More Slick Stick...

I like to wait overnight when moving on from one product to the next. So, I waited until the next day then started painting. With Silk you need to wait 2 hours between coats. 

It took 2 coats of paint for perfect coverage.

To make the beautiful detail stand out, I used Best Dang Wax in the color Black.

I put it on with a wax brush, making sure to get down into all the grooves. Then I wiped it back with a soft rag. I used clear wax to remove the black wax anywhere that I felt it was too heavy.

Now you can see that beautiful detail!

I used Dixie Belle's chalk mineral paint in the color, Caviar to paint the inside of the cabinet.

I can't imagine this piece any other color. Cactus was the perfect choice!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster,,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407, Pieced Pastimes

Dollar Spot Caddy Makeover

 I can't resist shopping the Dollar Spot at Target! There are so many cute things in that section for creating fun projects. And, this little caddy was no different.

Farmhouse style is so popular & I wanted to embrace that for this project.

I first mixed Dixie Belle Paint Company's Sea Spray texture additive with the chalk mineral paint color, Gravel Road. 

The mixture should be the consistency of brownie batter.

I used an inexpensive chip brush to apply the Sea Spray mixture to the outside of the caddy. I applied it in different directions so I wouldn't get a uniform pattern. I also used the side of the bristles to tap the mixture to form peaks. Once finished, I threw the chip brush away... this isn't something you should wash down the drain.

I let the Sea Spray dry overnight. The next day I painted the caddy with the color Sawmill Gravy.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded to expose the Gravel Road color.

To add a little more interest, I added the Pallet Wood Pattern decoupage rice paper, from Dixie Belle, to the inside back of the caddy using ModPodge.

The rustic look of the paper goes perfectly with the chippy, textured look of the Sea Spray.

I added some jars filled with paint brushes & pallet knives to my caddy. Such a pretty way to display my art supplies.

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster,,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407

Vintage Sewing Box Makeover

 This little vintage sewing box was cute, but dated. And, other than being functional for the sewer, it wouldn't get much attention sitting in a corner. 

It was dull on the outside, but dazzling in red on the inside! It even had a pin cushion on the lid & a few notions left behind.

It needed a little color on the outside to match the bright personality it had on the inside. So, I painted the sewing box with the color, Kudzu, from the Dixie Belle Paint Company.

A little paint makes all the difference!

Adding a little Best Dang Wax from Dixie Belle helps all the detail stand out.

I first covered the piece with clear wax, then added brown wax. I put the brown wax on heavy with a wax brush, then wiped away the excess with a rag. The clear wax makes it easy to wipe away the excess brown wax.

Adding the wax makes a big difference!

This little sewing box went from boring to beautiful in a few easy steps.

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster,,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407

Experimenting On Upholstery

 I've painted quite a few upholstered pieces over the years with great results. And, when a friend gave me this piece, I took is as an opportunity to experiment beyond just painting.

The first experiment had to do with picking the color. I have had so much fun playing with Dixie Belle Paint Company's new Color Lab. The Color Lab is located on their website. You can pick 2 or 3 of their 69 colors and see how they mix together. You can mix equal parts of colors, or adjust them to have more or less of a certain color.

I've played around with it, but never actually put it to the test. I wanted to use a fun, bright color on this piece & finally settled on mixing equal parts of Flamingo & Plum Crazy.

The combination of these two colors is gorgeous!

It can take more coats of paint for good coverage on upholstery, & this piece took 3 coats.

Once the final coat was dry, I sealed the paint with Dixie Belle's Easy Peasy Spray Wax.

It really is easy peasy! Just shake, spray & smooth it out. You can use a rag, but I prefer their applicator pad to smooth out the wax. With the pad, I know it won't leave any lint behind to stick in my wax. The spray wax is water based so I can wash out the applicator pad & use it again.

I brightened up the cushion, & the metal base needed to be brightened up too. 

So, I used my finger to apply a little silver gilding wax.

So much better!

But, remember this was a piece to experiment on, so I didn't stop there.

I had never stenciled or used gilding wax on upholstery & this was the perfect time to try it.

I used Dixie Belle's harlequin stencil with silver gilding wax, then added a little black gilding wax to the edge of the diamonds.

 

The gilding wax worked perfectly on the painted fabric.

For one last experiment, I added some flowers using Dixie Belle's Floral Silkscreen Stencil.

I have used the silkscreen stencils on aprons before & found that it doesn't work as well scraping the paint on the stencil over fabric with the tool that comes in the pack. The tool works perfect over hard painted surfaces like painted wood. For me, I get more crisp detail by pouncing the paint onto the stencil with a makeup wedge when applying it on fabric.

Experiment! If you don't like how something turns out, you can paint over it & experiment again.

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster,,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home, County Road 407