A couple of customized furniture painting tricks

Sugarwings' mom has recently graduated from nursing school, is working at a Big Girl Job as an RN, and moved into a Big Girl house.  As a birthday gift, I thought she might enjoy a custom piece of furniture, something nice and solid, kind of a start on Big Girl furnishings.

I bought it a few years back as a tan colored cabinet from Nebraska Furniture Co.  I rarely buy new pieces, but I think I've mentioned before that for TVs, it's hard to find the right cabinet to fit them and their components if you don't buy something made for a television. 

I repainted it white with roses when I got it. 

When we got a different TV, I had to find something else and was able to customize an old book shelf to fit our flat screen.

The original telly wasn't bad, we only replaced it so we could get something bigger to see from the kitchen. So, we offered it to our Hippy Chick for her new place. Trouble is, the roses on the cabinet we had it in didn't suit her at all.

So, I thought I'd surprise her with a new look on it for her birthday. These knobs from Hobby Lobby were the inspiration for the redo.

Dewdrop helped chose them, she is a big fan of going to Wobby Blobby, as she was calling it. There was a slight argument when she thought we should get the pink knobs, and she doesn't like losing arguments at all. 

But in the end, I convinced her that Auntie Cake, (aka Hippy Chick) would like rainbows.

Since I was the person who painted the cabinet before, I knew that I'd primed the factory finish and used latex paint on it, and another few coats of more latex paint would adhere just fine.  So, no bonding primer. Although I did use Behr's paint and primer in one simply because red is such a horrid color to work with.  It doesn't cover well and takes a lot of coats. By using the primer/paint mix, I cut down on a few applications. It still needed three coats plus touch ups.

The main body was painted cherry red, satin.  Then I painted each square and frame around it a different bright color.

At that point, it was beginning to look like Rainbow Brite vomited all over a preschool.

Very primary colored and very bright.

So, I washed each square and frame with a different shade.

The wash coat of color was brushed on heavy in the corners of the squares, and was wiped into the center with a damp rag.  It was dry brushed onto the frames.

(light blue over green, red over orange, orange over yellow, purple over dark blue, etc, a nice mix up)

The base of the cabinet took almost a quart of interior paint. For the accents, I used 2 oz bottles of acrylic craft paint. 

The finish on the craft paint is flat and the red paint is satin. I could have covered the accents with a satin clear coat, but I liked the contrast in textures.

The interior was left as is, except for the interior of the doors. When the TV is on, those will show.

I think the faux finished gave the cabinet the appropriate, custom look I was going for, instead of just blocks of bright colors.

You can tell by the floor that I have done a tad of painting out here... I used to paint furniture practically daily.

Often, like with this table that was sitting in the garage, I'd use a poly top coat mixed with walnut stain.  I think it leaves an attractive finish.

But for the rainbow cabinet, I left it as it was, no walnut aging affect.  Hippy Chick likes her colors vivid.

Here is the shelf of the black table. It's a bit dirty from the garage, but I think you can still see the walnut top coat. To do this, I used Minwax stain/poly that comes premixed.  I'd pour about 1 cup into a bowl, add 1/4 of paint thinnner, and slip on some gloves. Then brush the mixture on the piece, and wipe off with an old, soft, dry tee shirt scrap.

Work on one section at a time, and wipe off gently.  It looks really pretty over solid black, too.  This trick riches up the color and gives it a custom feel.  Just like adding the faux finish to the rainbow colors turned a preschool looking palette into colors that would suit a Big Girl piece of furniture.

 

 

Comments

[Carol]

What a fun cabinet for a big girl house.

[Carmen]

I really love all the colors!!! You did a fantastic job of muting the brightness. It's so fun. :-)

[jackie collins]

Looks great! Love the photos and step by step! Thank you for sharing!

[jeanie]

This is really interesting, Karla and very helpful. Thanks for the great step-by-step!

[Linda P.]

Oh, I bet your Hippy Chick was absolutely thrilled with her gift! Love the bright colors. Thank you for all the information you gave regarding the painting process. That might come in handy someday.

I am absolutely adoring the painting you did over the black!! That is gorgeous and looks so Bohemian to me! I do love me some Bohemian, as you know. : )

[catieAn]

what a cool cabinet. I trust your daughter loved it. It is has to make her smile whenever she looks at it. What a beauftiful job you did of tying all the colors together.