A french vanity~How to add details to your painted pieces.

 Would you like to make your painted pieces one of a kind standouts? 

Adding extra details is the secret~

 I am going to show you how this vanity came together

 and what extras I added to give it a luxe look.

 Its important to see what detail work a piece of furniture has

 and then to work with them and highlight those special features. 

I had decided I wanted to do a two tone piece, however

 I did not want high contrast, so I chose two softer neutrals~ 

Annie Sloan™ Old White and Country Grey. 

 I would use Old White on the main part of the vanity and 

do the drawers and mirror accents in Country Grey,

in my opinion, an underused color in the Annie Sloan™ color line~

 I wanted to stripe the center drawer in both colors, 

so here it is painted in Country Grey with pencil marks 

drawn on with a simple clear ruler across the front. 

Don't get all distracted about measuring~I drew these lines in 3 minutes~

 As the piece develops I like to add the elements back 

in to see how it is coming together. 

Here you can see one of the drawers is slid back in place 

to see how it picks up the mirror color and the edge of the top of the vanity.

 I painted country grey in the grooved areas as well.

 Adding a bit of water to an artist's brush you can make 

it a light watercolory look, then take a rag and wipe

 away any that gets on the outside of the grooves.

 After I striped the center drawer I got out the two step

 Craqueleur by Annie Sloan™.  I wanted the center 

parts of the side drawers to have a tight crackled look, 

as well as the striped drawer.

 Here is what the drawer looks like with the first step~

a white glaze covers the area and when it is dry you 

add the second layer, followed by a hair dryer blast 

and what you are left with is fine crackles!!

 Here is the crackled area on the center of the drawer.

 Then after a clear waxing, I added dark wax to only the 

crackled area to highlight the fine lines. 

It looks really scary and messy when you use dark wax~

but don't fear, this is one of the details that will make the piece rock!!

 Look at that messy scary dark wax in a can!!! 

 Here is the dark wax over cracqueleur~

I put the hardware back on,

 but the gilding is still to come.

 I used my wonderful gilding wax on the tiny raised edges of the drawers~WOW!

I also used it on the edges of the top of the vanity and more heavily around the mirror.

 The Empire Gold looks gorgeous with the Old White and the Country Grey~

just the right shade of gold. It is the lightest shade of gold 

out of all three of the waxes. This step is done AFTER

 you have waxed the piece with Annie  Sloan™ Clear soft wax. 

 Then add the gilding wax to highlight areas~

 So these are some ways to create a knock out custom looking piece of furniture.

 You can see the gilding wax is around the feet of the dresser, 

and I even used some to brighten up the old brass hardware~

Now let me show you where

I found inspiration to do this piece~

 I saw this dresser on Facebook and I loved the striped drawer front~! 

 I wanted a softer contrast though in the two colors so I used 

Country Grey Chalk Paint™ instead of Paris Grey 

that Charmed by Vintage used on her piece.  Its gorgeous! 

 This morning I saw this stunning vanity on Facebook~

its by my favorite Facebook furniture painter,

The Junk Drawer Diva!! Kathy creates the most

 beautiful pieces in her custom blended Annie Sloan™ colors. 

 She called this one Periwinkle Dreams! 

 So the next time you get a chance to buy an old vanity or bureau 

with lots of details just waiting to come out~

take it home and get painting, crackling and gilding!

Turn a beast into a beauty~

And if you are interested in purchasing any of

 the gilding waxes visit my online store~

 www.shopmaisondecor.com