Mars and Venus !

Hello crafty friends..

Welcome to my page today. Super excited to share my furniture makeover project today! I call it the “Mars and Venus” collection...you will see why.

 

I have been having this laminated bed side tables for over 18yrs now and it was a safe bet to experiment on them! I must admit I was a little skeptical about working on laminated furniture but then there is no harm trying. My gut feel said all will go well with the Chalky finish paints!

And yes...it did...here it goes! 

 

Step1- I removed the hardware from both the sets and sanded them with a lot of patience. This created a “tooth” for the paint to adhere. I started with the blue one as I had to impress my husband first! I mixed a bit of Prussian blue acrylic paint to Deco art Chalky finish Vintage and got this funky blue color! 2 patient coats and there was no evidence of a laminated furniture here!

Step 2- I wanted to try distressing using the dry brush technique. This was my maiden attempt on big furniture and with such bold colors. I decided to give it a go. I used the deco art black gesso here. 

With a dry brush and very little gesso on the tips of the bristle, I gave the professional strokes hare and there and voila, to my surprise, I just loved what happened! I got this blue black textured and distressed look to the table. With a smile on my lips and relief in my mind, I started the next procedure.

 

Step 3-For this funky mars collection I chose the macho papers from Tim Holtz ‘Lost and Found’ paper pack. Just what I wanted, blacks, blues and hints of red! I decoupaged them using the Deco art decoupage glue and as I waiting for it to dry, I worked on the handle. I gessoed it and gave it a red and black combination. Once all of this was dry, I gave 2 coats of matte finish varnish and my mars collection was set to go!

 

I have to admit, my husband was super happy to see this and said “I love the oil and grease look here”...well, I was just taken back. Oil and Grease...wow! now that’s a new term for the dry brush technique.

 

I was so happy, I overlooked the little goof up of having the bingo panel upside down! Oops...but then who says BOTTOMS UP is wrong...its fun!

Step4- I move to the twin now with peach colors. I mixed a bit of orange to Deco art  Lace chalky paint and gave 2 coats again. Here I was going to have the lipstick and lotion streaks... (Yes after the oil and grease)...that made sense. I went about giving dry strokes with greens, peach, white and brown to create the distressed look. Not as good as the oil and grease...but my back ground was set.

 

Step 5- For this, I used the Tim Holtz ‘Wall flower’ paper collection in subtle tones of browns and peaches and decoupaged the same.

 

 For the top of the table, I decoupaged a napkin and did some random stamping too. The handles were given a green brown effect and when dry, I gave 2 coats of matte varnish. The utterly feminine set was ready!

 

They were no longer identical twins now! When each of us have such contrasting personalities, why not out furnitures reflect that??? Now these are statement pieces at home and my husband doesn’t want to part with these in the guest bedroom! Do you know what that means...I get to work on MORE furniture at home!

 

Yes, each room will have a statement piece now...they WILL speak a different language! Wait and watch....but as for now, I want your honest opinions here and if you do have a favorite here, let me know. Mars or Venus????

  

Thank you so much for stopping by today and with all these experiments with furniture, I have concluded that “anything” is possible with Chalky Finish paints! Give it a try.

Deco Art products used-

Chalky finish paints Vintage and lace

Decoupage glue

Matte finish varnish

Until my next creative journey,

Happy Crafting and recycling.Cheers.