~A DREAMY SHABBY COTTAGE CHIC MAKEOVER~

~SO FRENCH...SO FABULOUS~

Shabby Cottage Chic Wonderful
(I'm Thinking I'm Gonna Keep Her)

You know...when you love what you do you just LOVE WHAT YOU DO!  I'm not sure I'll EVER NOT LOVE turning furniture that has lived long past it's prime into lovely, attractive pieces for my home or for resale.   

~HERE SHE IS AGAIN~

(In Case You Missed The Before Shot)

Ever feel like that?  Do you ever get a rush when you find some junky, but amazing, little thing hidden in a dark corner of a tag sale or thrift shoppe and know in your heart it has HUGE potential?  I have a sneakin' little feeling you do!  YOU DO!

Still, if I drag ONE MORE THING HOME my Mr. AGPMan might just KILL ME!  If it wasn't for the nickles, niCKleS, NICKLES I earn he probably would.  I volun-tell him to do A LOT of stuff! :)

Anyway...

Earlier this week I began the makeover on the French Provincial Furniture I yapped about snagging from a Craig's List Ad last Saturday (I posted about it HERE if you want to go back and read it...it's just from a few days ago).  After doing some initial LIGHT sanding on the pieces (they were all in great shape!) I gave everything a couple coats of my favorite Primer, ZINSSER.  Now...I know I've blabbed about this before!  But, if you are a NEW FOLLOWER then you might have missed me singing the praises of this amazing product!  I love it.  Smooth as butter!

~ZINSSER PRIMER~

After allowing a couple of days for curing I painted all the French Provincial pieces out with Behr's Cottage White Paint in Satin.  Now peeps...I did this the old-fashioned way.  No spray gun here (although I do use one for SOME projects).  There's just something about the look and feel of hand brush painted furniture.  True Shabby Cottage Chic!  And, I personally like the outcome much better when finished off with a soft sponge brush vs. the one I get when I use the paint machine.  Takes a lot more time to do but I personally think it's less trouble in the long run!

~REMOVE YOUR HARDWARE FIRST~

Now...here are some tips for you...  Things I've learned over the past twenty few years about painting furniture.  If you are NOT going to use a paint gun, REMOVE the hardware first.  There is no way you are going to get a good, flat surface for your paint if you are trying to get your paint around handles and knobs.  It's worth the trouble.  Even if you plan on going back and glazing (or antiquing) a piece later on it's still worth the hassle.  Less drips, runs and globs.

~SPRAY KNOBS FIRST~

I ALWAYS spray paint my metal knobs and handles with Krylon Spray Primer BEFORE painting them out by hand.  This gives a good base from gripping the brush paint.  Once dry I chose to distress the ones you see with a small piece of sandpaper before attaching to the furniture!  

Once all the hardware was back in place I lightly distressed all the pieces.  Because the furniture was originally fairly light in color it isn't a dramatic effect, but it's a noticeable one just the same.  I love it!

~CHEST OF DRAWERS~

Here's a shot of the Chest while it was drying!  I'm soooo impatient.  That single most UNDESIRABLE TRAIT has gotten me into LOTS and LOTS of trouble during my life... :( :( :(

Today I'm back in my studio as I have lots of things in the making...  

"I owe!  I owe!  So off to CREATE I go!"

Blessings as you live a wonderful, jammed packed, creative day...

Love to you~