A Voyage Using American Paint Company

My son just left for college, and ‘Voyage‘ was on my mind, so I looked to American Paint Company to keep me busy from being too sad.

I instantly gravitated to this piece, I’m pretty certain it was a vintage buffet in it’s original state. I liked it’s VINTAGEness, the storage, and most importantly, the height.  At 26″, it makes the perfect entry bench,  a decorative low-boy chest for a flat screen, or a storage chest at the end of a bed.  I like pieces that are multi-functional.

It was painted black when I acquired it – a very heavily painted, worn finish.  I knew I couldn’t invision a clean, pretty finish on this unless I wanted to sand off all the imperfections first, which wasn’t an option.

so I grabbed a basecoat paint in my shop, and started in.

I’m keeping a linear effect as I brush on that first coat, sparingly.

That’s our cheap chippy brushes, the ONLY brushes we like to use – perfect for jamming into cracks and crevices, and then it does a nice job of brushing over the finish and leveling it out.

I use them for everything I paint, unless I have to roll on something.

Only beef with them is their shed-a-bility when first opened.  Like this one, below, he’s still pretty young, and I know if I use him he’ll spit some bristles…the best way to break them in, and get them to perfect FAST is to get them soapy wet, and smash them around in your hand, or in your sink,  or on your driveway cement – make those loose hairs break out – then rinse it good.

This little guy here is perfect!

This ones starting to wear, see how the right side has longer hairs?  You will literally wear DOWN the bristles from use.

Sidetracked again!  Back to Voyage….

Now what?

Now the APC Voyage is brushed on, completely covering the textured base.

TIP:  To help move the Voyage around, I dip my brush, periodically, in water, and then back onto my painted piece.   When the Voyage dried I sanded to pop some detail underneath.

When I refined it to my liking, I decided to use a more durable topcoat instead of waxing.   You never know, it might house a super heavy TV, or a bunch of little tots arriving home from soccer practice!

I decided, before topcoating, that I wanted to apply an allover stencil, I really felt it would add the perfect touch,  so I grabbed a stencil, and more paint.

Five colors, all from American Paint Company! We are in the process of transitioning our open cans of color that we use for workshops and studio painting into squirt containers, thus the ketchup looking paint bottles.

We sell stencils, but not this one.  It’s from my old wall finishing days, but one that has a real European feel.

Love the depth, stenciled with a multitude of colors and then finished.

I stained the inside of the drawers to perk them up.

Never can resist a stencil in a drawer!

I thought I’d use original hardware, but once the piece was painted, the original was just hum drum  (ever have that happen?).  I swapped out the hardware for new, changed  the finish and added swarovski crystals!

I loved them with the new finish.

Another piece that I wish I had room for, but  available for purchase at Fabulous Finishes Studio, in Metro Detroit.

Post courtesy of Patty