Romantic Medicine Cabinet Makeover and favorite Self Tanner

                                   Our master bathroom has an antique French style. 

Created by adjusting things such as the colors of the cabinets and doors, 

adding appliqués and gilding to the closet doors, using vintage  

 hooked rugs and old style chandeliers which I painted gold and enhanced with 

aqua crystals and lastly replacing the laminate counters with marble.

This pretty photo (above) was from the Romantic Country photo shoot

 with Fifi O'Neil two years ago.

Fifi loves to add more, more, more to a space!

She hung jewelry from my towel rack and set pretty towels 

in the wire wall mounted shelf rack. 

 In reality many of my daily toiletries sat on the counter.

As in real life, things are often pretty.

It was actually very cluttered and messy looking.  

But now it looks like this!

 I found an old glass door wall cabinet

created a vintage version of a medicine cabinet to store things.

Of course the cabinet was anything but pretty when I found it.

 I envisioned it in romantic gold and aqua. 

Our bathroom has gold accents which give it a rich old European look.

  I'm back in the swing of rehabbing things with the most beautiful new paint!

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Jolie Paint is made in the USA and is zero VOC. Yes!

  The colors are absolutely gorgeous!

The wall cabinet was painted in Bliss

 (a green/blue shown top of left column in the Jolie color card).

 I highlighted it with their gold metal leaf and gold gilding wax 

to return it to it's Florentine glory.  Using metal leaf is so simple!  

Jolie has a step by step guide which is flawless, even for a beginner. 

 It made all the difference in my project.

Simply paint a liquid adhesive called "Gold Size" on the 

areas you want to be covered in the gold metal leaf.  

After a few minutes rub sections of the whisper thin sheets of

metal leaf over the adhesive.

Use a stiff but soft brush to remove the excess bits of leaf to reveal the 

highlighted gold leafed areas. 

 It is so amazingly simple!! And soooo glorious looking!

I sanded down the cabinet lightly to soften the feel and give it 

a bit of an aged and distressed effect.

The cabinet had decorative trellis like grooves at the top pediment 

which I highlighted with a tiny artist brush using the Jolie Gold Gilding Wax. 

(One could also have applied the Gold Size in these grooves,

 followed by the metal leaf, but I decided to use

the gilding wax and was happy with the finished look. ) 

Summer Palace by Laura Ashley wallpaper was next,

applied with some tacky spray adhesive on the back wall.

 When the glass doors are closed, it looks extra pretty!

This project only took me two hours to complete.

The Jolie paint and gold leaf adhesive dry so quickly!

 And that self tanner I recently discovered?  

Sublime Bronze by L'Oreal  

These days I never suntan, and haven't for years to keep

skin damage and wrinkles at bay.  However I still have to put on a bathing

suit when we go to the lake cottage, and this stuff is really a miracle of sorts.

 One application is enough to banish the white pasty skin look, 

and two applications have you looking like you just returned 

from two weeks in Monte Carlo and the French Riviera!  

I love how the new "medicine" cabinet looks and functions.

Take a second look around your bathroom and see what simple changes you 

can make to give it a romantic European look.  Changing out the very things

that are already there can be simple using Jolie Paint and Metal Leaf.

Leave me a note if you have tried it, or are planning to.

 I would love to hear about your project!

Click here to visit Jolie Paint 

My blog readers will get 20% off of orders over $200 using this link below.
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You will LOVE their paints and enhancements for making over

your furniture and home accessories and creating something beautiful!

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Antique Wall Cabinets and Gingham Dollhouse Roof

Picking up where we left off on our last visit, I mentioned I had

rehabbed two vintage wall cabinets for the house. And I am pretty sure 

I talked about my Gypsy picker who carries the cool stuff I love.

 This is the photo she sent me showing me the cabinet 
and the Florentine chest of drawers.

Was I interested?

Um....no doubt about it! Of course I was!!

The wall cabinet was a bit dilapidated, with flaking red interior paint and a 

thick coat of gold paint that was bubbling right off the surface.

She told me it had been left out in the rain once or twice....

no matter to me, I knew I could "restore" it so it retained its

old world glamour.  Mind you these paint issues were not the original

paint that had started deconstructing, they were paint jobs applied

by either my Gypsy girl or a previous owner. 

 I scraped off the failing paint to reveal the gesso undercoat that all of these Italian pieces

have.  A huge wall mirror that was hung on this wall was promptly taken down and 

the sadly worn arch top cabinet was hauled into the room. 
 YES!!! I was in LOVE.

 A coat of Jolie's Paint in Swedish Grey 
was applied over the sides, top and door surround,

to cover up the gaudy hardware store gold paint. 
 To keep the old vintage look, I left

the rest of the exterior as is, even the exposed gesso bits. 
The interior was painted with Jolie's Eucalyptus (a grey green)
to hide the red and done so in a scrappy fashion so some of the white undercoat

was still visible so it wouldn't look like a freshly painted piece. 

After hanging it, it clearly still looked too new. 

It needed to be aged so a coat of clear finishing wax

mixed with a bit of dark wax did the trick.

 The old Italian/French cabinet had much to love about it.

The colors look beautiful with the Bosphorous Toile fabric 

on my chair.

 This is "my spot" in our living room. The old bench holds 

all the books and magazines I am reading at any given time.

 Less is more when filling up a wall cabinet.

Some art I have had for 20 years took the top shelf,

alabaster bird baths took the center shelf, and the books I brought 

home from Versailles from an old book store share the bottom shelf 

with my peg legged lamb.

Ahhh the grillwork with the pretty florettes!

Definition of Florette:

1.  A small flower 
2. The mythological Roman goddess of flowers  

 The broken arch top of the wall cabinet mimics the 

secretary which also has a broken arch pediment. The

room is coming along nicely, with the updates in furniture

and colors.  We are in love with that squishy lilac sofa!

And lastly, here is quick shot of the only dollhouse work done lately.

Reeve's little cottage got a blue gingham fabric roof.  Which made me 

think, why can't real houses have pretty roofs like this?

Next I will add the gingerbread trim to the gables and possibly install

the staircase.  She is a bit rough with the house, so I decided not 

to go to the trouble of glueing on one million cedar shingles only

to have her pick them off one by one. In the end it came out quite cute.

I decoupaged the fabric on with ModPodge and when it dried I lightly

sanded it to give it a soft feeling.  Next up will be the last item I

got from my Gypsy girl....which I turned into the most fabulous

medicine cabinet for my bathroom!

Visit Jolie Paint here!

Maison Decor readers will get 20% off orders over $200

using this link: INF-AMYMAISONDECOR

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