The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe ( Before & After Armoire )

Good morning all!!!

Now that Sunday is behind me - ( and hopefully I'll never have a furniture day from hell like that AGAIN )
I was ready to tackle the Beast......................
I went a little crazy with the photos :)

Here is how it looked before I started - a typical 70's mediterrean style armoire

I knew I wanted to make this piece look like an old Armoire - chippy and faded and dirtied up a little bit - with White and very Pale Aqua's thrown into the mix.
So the first thing I did was mix some Duck Egg and White chalk paint and start on the color sections.

To achieve this look right from the beginning ( and save the step of sanding )  I make sure there's a lot of paint on the brush - so that I can do whole lengths at a time - but I use a very " light " hand when applying it - (going heavier in some areas to give the look of " worn " paint )
As the paint thins out on the brush - I just continue " dry brushing " with what's left - it kind of gives you a chippy distressed look without much effort at all.  It's the one - step - lazy way to get an aged look actually -

and because it's one step it probably took all of 10 minutes to do this part

Next I went on to the white sections - this is going to take 2 coats most definitely - but again I don't want
perfect coverage - so 2 will definitely be more than enough

I didn't put as much paint on the brush for the white because of the second coat I'd be applying - here it is after 1 coat

The white is much more translucent as you can see but already you can tell where it's going, right?

I just had a vision of someone really loving wood - and then I tried to look at it through their eyes -
just to be fair - but I CAN'T DO IT - LOL -

But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well
Ya can't please everybody - so ya gotta please yourself..............
( sometimes anyway - and I'm keeping this one for my supplies - there's a ton of room in this beast )

I'm actually writing this post in Real Time - I paint a little - take a break and write up a little - then go back.
So you're seeing it as I'm doing it - it's starting to look old and weathered :)

Last night -
John says - Can I ask you a question?
Suzan says - Of course
John says - I thought you wanted to take old pieces and make them look new again
Suzan says - You don't like it, do you?
John says - It's a bit much for my taste.
Suzan says - Can I ask YOU a question?
John says - Of course
Suzan says - Why don't men shave their arm pits?
John says - Good night Suzan
Suzan says - No, really, I've always wondered about that
John says - You've asked me this before - I think it's when you have nothing to blog about
John says - Good night Suzan

But these are the type of soul searching questions I find myself thinking about from time to time.
Why is it that men never caught on to that little bit of wisdom I wonder???
Oh Well - back to the armoire.

I painted the interiors of the doors white - The doors had a backplate on them for the handles -

which was not the look I was going for - so I filled the the top and bottom holes on the outside of the doors only............dry brushed the back plates - and installed them on the inside of the door - some added detail when the doors are open.....................

just a little dab of paint brings out the design on these perfectly

 Now's the time to give a huge THANKS to Julie ( Follow Your Heart Woodworking )
Who suggested we remove the doors to move the top piece on to the bottom piece.
I pride myself on getting the job done - I do whatever it takes - and yet?
I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF SUCH A SIMPLE SOLUTION.................
Unfortunately I only found out about this AFTER we tried to move this piece from the van to the car
( you can read about that particular fiasco HERE )
It was still ridiculously heavy - but do-able.

Suzan says - John can you help me put the top piece of the Armoire on the bottom piece
John says - WHAT??????????????????  NO.................we have to call someone to help
Suzan says - But Julie says if we take the doors off it'll be much easier
John mimics me - so you have to imagine a whiny voice - although my voice is not whiny - it's sultry and sexy.......................
Suzan says - Can we at least try?
John says - There's a screw loose - you know that, right?  There's a screw loose, you're brain doesn't function normally
Suzan says - I have an artist brain - it's not SUPPOSED to work like a mathematic's brain silly.
Suzan says - in her sexy, sultry voice - which may or may not have a tinge of whine in it - Please?
John says - NO
Suzan purrrrs - try it sometime - and makes all kinds of promises I can't mention here.
John says - Ok - let's go

AGGGHHHH - it's up!!!!!!!!!!!

Suzan says - this is going to be so perfect in the office John!
John mumbles -
Suzan says - can we put the doors back on now?
John says - Well NO - if you want to move it into the office - just leave them off
Suzan says - then I can't take photos for my blog
John says - Ok let me get this straight...........we took the doors off - now you want them on -
then we'll have to take them off to move it into the office - at which point we'll have to put them back on?
Suzan says - EXACTLY !!!!!!!!!!!  So you have an artist's brain too!!!!!!!!!!!!
John says - Can I ask you a very simple question?
John says - Why don't you take a photo of the doors - and a photo of the armoire and tell people to use their imaginations................

He seriously asked me that?
Can anybody respond to him WHY I CAN'T DO THAT PLEASE - HE'LL LISTEN TO YOU MORE THAN ME - THANK YOU

Now for the knobs - as I mentionned above - I filled in the top and bottom holes

and I found 2 pretty swirly backplates in my stash ( I keep every single bit of hardware that comes off dressers ) painted them silver - then dry brushed some white on them..................

I then removed the 2 glass handles from this desk ( which I removed from my kitchen cabinets for the desk )
You could ( if you were even mildly interested and if I haven't bored you to death with this ridiculously long post - read about the desk HERE )

And by the way - you see that horse on the desk?
John christened that " Tea Biscuit " to honor his British Heritage.............in my world it's called Sea Biscuit.

Do you see how easily distracted I am ?
Ok the handles - Ta Da !!!

Somehow sparkle looks incredibly beautiful on shabby - the Juxtaposition ( God I love that word )  of the two???
Think I'm starting to repeat myself on my blog - I've definitely said that before....................

Ok - I'm taking a 10 minute break to paint the bottom drawers now - you may want to use this time to take a break yourself !!!

I'm BACK

I lightly sprayed the original handles white....................very lightly - just a dusting really

John says - It looks like a very old wardrobe -

I like it since that's exactly what I was going for this time.

And just like that a TITLE FOR A POST WAS BORN.........................( but I'm not a witch )

If you're looking for a great on line collage maker - I found a great one -  you can click on the Sharing is Caring button on the right upper hand side of this page - OR - what the hell - you can just click HERE

Now be happy I'm going to leave the interior of this beast redo for another day - because this could very easily become the makeover that never ends - yes it goes on and on my friends - somebody started posting it not knowing what it was - and she'll continue posting it forever just because...................

Paints Used - Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Duck Egg Blue and Pure White
Now the big question is - To Dark Wax or not - help ???

UPDATE - to see what I did with the interior you can click HERE
Have a great one!!!
Much love,

UPDATE - COME SEE WHAT I DID INSIDE THIS HERE




Party Time!!!!!!!
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