Fall Inspired Painting
Sometimes we need a little inspiration from others. It can come from other artists or from nature, from a painting, or even an article of clothing you see. Everything around us inspires us whether we realize it or not. For our most recent piece, I actually took inspiration from another artist. It all started when we challenged the people in our Create and Connect Interactive Membership Group to complete a certain finish on furniture during the month of October. We challenged the group to a blended paint technique since it’s something they all report struggling with. Since we challenged them to step outside their comfort zone and try something new, I thought it only fair to allow them to challenge me as well. After all, we all need to push ourselves to try new things. Otherwise, how do we grow as an artist? Since I have a board full of beautiful furniture inspiration on Pinterest (you can check it out here ), I invited our group members to visit my board and pick any piece from it that they wanted to challenge me to recreate. Like a good artist, I told them I reserved the right to fail miserably. Lol.
Here’s the inspiration piece they picked and challenged me to do.
It’s a beautiful antique dresser by Dare To Be Vintage. It was a perfect pick because the piece is very similar in style to my piece that I chose for the challenge. Now all I had to do was decide how to recreate it.
Luckily, I had just ordered some beautiful fall inspired colors from Dixie Belle Paint Company so I had everything I needed on hand to start painting. Since my hubby had already prepped the piece for paint, I was ready to get started as soon as they picked my challenge. (Prep: As usual, we started by sanding the piece down and cleaning to remove all dust, debris and oils from the finish. Luckily, this piece was in great shape so it didn’t require any repairs. Once it was thoroughly cleaned, we primed it using Bin Zinsser to ensure good adhesion of our paint product and to guarantee a quality, long lasting finish.) Here’s what it looked like in 2 coats of primer.
For my colors… are you ready for this? I chose Collard Greens, Sawmill Gravy, Apricot, Flamingo, Colonel Mustard, Terracotta, Mud Puddle, French Linen, and Honky Tonk Red. I also needed a little bit darker brown that I didn’t have available from DB so I used my Wise Owl Chalk Synthesis Paint in Chocolate. I think this is the most colors I have ever used on one piece. 10 colors should be intimidating but it wasn’t. It was inspiring and freeing to just let go and paint.
Get your Dixie Belle paint here through our affiliate link https://dixiebellepaint.com?aff=452
There was no rhyme or reason to my technique. I literally just randomly applied the different colors of paint all over the dresser. I will say, when attempting to do a finish in a layered technique, you do need to have a little patience as you will need to apply paint, let it dry and then come back to it later with different colors (to layer them). This is sometimes hard for me because while I’m working, I want to keep adding and just finish the area I’m working on but you can’t as this will cause your colors to blend if they are still wet. You must wait on them to dry for a layered look that shows all your colors. Now I did blend in some areas as well to get the colors I wanted. Here’s what it looked like as I went.
Once I was done with the painting portion, I lightly sanded the piece to smooth it. I used a 400 grit sand paper for this. Remember… when sanding a piece that has texture, either from a texture medium or from your layering technique, you don’t want to sand a lot and you want to use a high grit sand paper to ensure you don’t remove all that texture you just created. Next, I sealed the piece in wax to create a soft, buttery smooth finish. I applied this using my 2″ palm brush from Wise Owl. It’s my favorite for wax application. You can order it here on our website. https://rehab2fabdesigns.com/product/cling-on-paint-brushes/
For the top, I decided to darken the existing color slightly. The Mirror and feet on this piece were a little bit darker than the top, likely from fading over time. Because it was in good shape, we just sanded it down slightly and stained over the existing stain with Dixie Belle No Pain Gel Stain in Walnut. It matched the mirror and feet beautifully and gave the overall look a little more warmth and richness. I also applied the Walnut stain inside the drawers to freshen them up where they had faded over time.
That’s it. All done. Here’s what she looks like now.
If you love this finish and are interested in learning how to recreate it, we sell a full video tutorial from the painting process on this dresser. You can find the tutorial here https://rehab2fabdesigns.com/product/chalk-painting-tutorial-fall-inspiration/
Or, you can sign up for our monthly membership group on Facebook where I teach various finishes along with my friend Susie from The White Plum. The cost is $35 a month and you get access to all our videos to date. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, you can sign up here. https://rehab2fabdesigns.com/product/create-and-connect-monthly-membership-group-on-facebook/
As always, thanks for visiting our site and supporting our business and dreams!
Happy Painting!
Tyler
