Takin' a Chance....on Sundance

This is going to be a long one....

I don't know if you'll think I'm a creeper when you read this...but sometimes I feel like the furniture I paint "speaks" to me.  I know, I know, just flat out weird when you write it out loud.  I bought this desk/vanity at an auction months ago and it's been under a tarp in our driveway the whole time.  (Can you say REDNECK?) 

I wanted to get to it and I knew I needed to get to it or take it to storage.  But sometimes I just run out of time.  In a nutshell I work a lot at my "real" job, or maybe I should more accurately say, I work a lot of hours at my "real" job.  I really wish that I could work my way out of a job with my endeavors at Well Worn.  Dare to Dream.  (If  you are my supervisor and reading this, I'm joking, I LIVE to push paper, especially if I can do it in triplicate.)  All this whining to excuse away the fact that I haven't painted this piece yet. I decided that I would tackle it today.  It was my day off and I should be able to knock it out in a day easily.  Especially since I have my new tool, which I like to refer to as "the lazy girl's paint" Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. LOVE.  No sanding no priming, just slap, wax, thank you ma'am.  I thought about this piece last night and decided to paint it Paris Grey with Old White accents.  I would pair it with a chair painted in Paris Grey with a great upholstered seat.  Perhaps a linen like fabric with a damask stencil painted in Paris Grey.  Oh, I had it all planned out.  I took the piece out and it was Dir-tee!  So what is a lazy girl to do when she has a piece to clean?  Give it a light sanding of course.  What, you don't do that?  The piece had a finish that was slightly bubbling and peeling.

Sanding is thirsty work

I decided to just sand the whole thing lightly and then clean it, it's actually easier to do it that way if you're lazy efficient like me.  Next step paint all the accent pieces with Old White.

I was about 30% done painting the accent pieces when I heard a little voice (not really) say psst...why are you painting all of my gorgeous carved wood accent pieces? 

Gorgeous

Wouldn't they look better stained and highlighted?  I ignored the little voice and carried on.  After a minute or two I decided to check it out.  Guess what?  A little Dark Wax on the accent pieces looked FAB-U-LOUS.  Now what am I to do?  I really waffled at this point.  Remember, I am Lazy Girl Painter.  Okay, but what color will look good with dark wood accents?  Turquoise of course.  I don't have turquoise in ASCP (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint).  Now what?  If I'm going to take off all of the white I just painted, I'm definitely NOT painting with anything other than ASCP.  I've already added too many steps.  Solution?  Just make my own turquoise with ASCP, so a little of this, a little of that and I have a color close to turquoise.  How's it look next to the only accent piece that hasn't been painted Old White?    SMASHING.  I.Love.It.  Now here is the dilemma.  If you are just painting for yourself, you can choose and do whatever you want.  If you are painting for a potential customer what do you do?  I knew that painting this piece Paris Grey and Old White was the safe option.  It would be more "commercial", in other words it would appeal to more people and most likely sell sooner and easier.  But once in a while you just have to listen to the furniture and/or your gut.  This piece was screaming to me, I want to be noticed, different, dare I say "art"?  So the piece got it's way.  I had to finish painting all of the accents Old White.  Then I went over everything with my "turquoise" concoction.

  After that was all done, I took a wet towel and rubbed all of the paint off of all of the accents.  I know.  It took for-evah!  It was almost dark by the time I got that part done.  Then, I sanded the top and stained it with Minwax Jacobean Stain.  I was planning on painting the top Paris Grey.  So this was a little backwards.  Normally I sand a piece before I paint it. I don't recommend painting and then sanding.  I was inspired by this piece http://europaintfinishes.blogspot.com/2011/10/sundance-dresser.html  and by the whispers of my vanity/desk in my driveway.      I almost hate to add this link because their work is so awesome.  My stuff doesn't even compare.  I had noticed this post some time ago, but couldn't remember the exact look of the piece.  That's pretty apparent, when you see that my color placement is the exact opposite of  their Sundance piece.

I hope that some bodacious funky chickie comes into Well Worn and sees this and "gets" it and takes it home.
So, what do you think, should I have stayed safe and commercial?

Just need to find some more hardware for the top and she'll be done.

Live Large Today,
Melony

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