Gilded Grey Touraine Dresser

It's not a big secret

that my favorite colors to paint together are

Paris Grey and White...

add some gilding, and I'm over the moon

 Add to that the fact that the piece

being painted is

Touraine by Drexel...

yeah, I'm a happy girl!

 see all that gilding?

here's the story....

I patiently taped of all around the trim 

on the drawers after painting them...

gilded them, and removed the tape.

Along with the tape, off came the paint!

BOOO!

so I touched up the paint, after sanding it smooth

only to decide I really wanted to wax or glaze the piece

The problem, of course, is that once you apply wax or glaze over the gilding paste,

the paste comes right off...GRRRR

 Talk about a big production!

I ended up touching up all the gold trim by hand,

sealing just the gilded area before applying glaze

then sealing the gilded areas again once the glaze was dry

 On the top, we stripped off the hideous yellow paint

and refinished it with a gorgeous grey glaze

 I knew I wanted some interest to settle into the textured paint

but didn't want to go the usual route, with dark wax

 I used a dark grey glaze to add some interest

and I'm really pleased with the outcome!

I mean, really...would you just LOOK 

at that Serpentine body and curvy legs???  

You can purchase this dresser in our Etsy shop

Modern Masters Give-away

It's a PARTY!

OK, not exactly a party,

but a GIVEAWAY...!

Did you LOVE the finish on these pieces?

We used Modern Masters paint

and we're THRILLED with the outcome

(you can find the post HERE)

Know what else we're THRILLED about?

An awesome give-away, that's what!

Here's what you can win:

Metallic Paint Collection Options
One Quart and One 6 oz. container – Any color OR
Four 6 oz. containers– any color

OR
 
Metal Effects Kit (includes all)
One Pint Primer
One Pint Reactive Paint – their choice of color
One 4 oz. Solution or Rust Activator
One Spritzer Cap
One Pint of Permacoat Xtreme [Rust Only] 

I know...awesome, right?? 

So...you in?

Here's what you need to do:

Post here about your FAVORITE MM color(s)

If you don't already, follow Modern Masters on FB and Pinterest

Want some extra chances to win?

Leave me a separate comment for each of the following:

Follow Modern Masters on Twitter

Follow Stiltskin Studios on FB

Share this contest on your FB Page

Share this contest on your Blog

Personally, I want to try the Metal Effects Kit next!!  

Have fun, and good luck!

Gilded Touraine

We recently scored not one, but TWO 

Drexel Touranie pieces

They were bought from different sellers

for dramatically different prices

(these are seller's photos, not mine!)

This chest is dated 1946...and it has it's original mirror!

the dresser is equally fabulous...

Touraine is my favorite style of French Provincial reproduction furniture

I love the sleekness, 

the delicately curved legs,

 the serpentine front,

 the simple hardware

it's recognizable in an instant!

In fact, neither piece was listed as "Drexel Touraine"

Can you believe that chest was listed for weeks with no takers???

Anyway, I wanted to keep it pretty classic on these pieces,

so I went with one of our favorite combos

Paris Grey and Old White

with rich gold accents

The pieces aren't done yet, but here is a sneak preview!

Yes, yes I did hand paint that gilding!

No, no I did not enjoy it very much!

Hoping to get both pieces completed tomorrow...

we'll see how that goes! 

Wish us luck!

While the Husband's Away...

My very lucky husband, Kenny

got to head for Austin, Texas last week

to attend the Inaugural Circuit of The Americas 

He was gone for a week, which left me time to tackle some projects

in our own home...much like the cobbler's children with no shoes

our house always comes last

With no one to talk me out of it, 

I jumped right in..

First, I painted the walls a pale grey

the color is called "Abalone"

from Ben Moore

See that giant mirror? The perspective is odd in this photo,

but it's over 5ft long, solid wood, and weighs a TON!

I avoided painting it because there are about 200 tiny staples

holding the three mirrors in place

I didn't love the gold finish against the new wall color,

so I just dove in...

Mack and I spent two hours with Exacto blades, razor blades, and our finger nails 

scratching off all the paint from the glass

(see all those beautiful carved wood details that flow out onto the glass?

Yeah, totally NOT fun trying to get all around those!)

I typically don't paint things white...

but in this  case, it works really well

It's soft and elegant 

I love that it makes a statement, but doesn't hog all the attention

The couch slipcovers stayed the same, as did all the pillows...

 Around the corner, at the front door

we have a closet whose door mysteriously vanished

(ok, *maybe* I tossed it because it was hideous!)

This curtain is actually a shower curtain

It was too short, so I added a gorgeous bit of antique lace

(salvaged from a nightgown!)

I used a tension rod, which meant I needed a pocket

instead of the hook holes you normally find on a shower curtain

I quickly stitched a length of canvas along the top, creating a pocked for the rod

works perfect and looks adorable!

We had a very plain cedar chest under our bay window...

I dragged this gorgeous French cedar chest home from the studio

and painted it Paris Grey with lots of dark wax

the raised details are painted in Pure White

This might be my favorite new piece...

it's definitely Kenny's favorite!

I purchased this fabulous chair at the Salvation Army

it's new (I've seen them at HomeGoods)

but I didn't have to do a thing to it!

I grabbed that table from the studio, too...

you can see it here

Once I finished all of this, I noticed our buffet-turned-entertainment center

looked so DARK...especially with the giant flat screen on top!

The TV is actually going to be wall-mounted, but that is beyond my skill!

(Kenny mounted a flat screen in our bedroom and it's awesome!)

So I stuck some cardboard under the feet, and started painting before I changed my mind!

In the "before" pic, you'll notice some drawer faces are missing...

we removed the body of the drawers, and mounted the drawer faces

with hinges that allow them to fold down so we can store electronics inside

 I wanted a chippy, milk paint type finish

but only brought chalk paint home from the studio...

plus, I did not want the mess of milk paint in my living room...

so I tinkered around and ended up with THIS!

Can you believe that's chalk paint??

Totally looks like chippy, distressed milk paint to me!

The room was looking a little too feminine, so I wanted a rustic,

very old looking piece here...
I couldn't be happier with the end result!

(disregard lack of staging and cardboard STILL under the feet!)

I accomplished all these projects primarily on my own,

in about three days time...

so stop procrastinating, and tackle the things you want to change in your home! 

What have YOU been dying to change but just keep putting off??

Gilded Age Gorgeousness

We recently had the opportunity to try out a new product

(OK, new to US!)

It's called Modern Masters

and I now want to paint EVERYTHING

metallic!

We used the "Shimmer" Metallic Paint

in Warm Silver

(and let me tell you, I AGONIZED over what color to try

there is a rainbow of shimmery hues!)

I know, I know...you want pictures!

Here you go!

Remember THIS set?

Well just LOOK at her now!

So about the paint...

it goes on like a DREAM

It's opaque, but we used a lighter shade, so we used three coats

When I told Kenny we were going to try metallic paint, he said:

"you better let ME do this project"

He said this because he is a perfectionist painter,

whereas I am NOT...

Usually, metallics are VERY unforgiving

and every brush stroke shows

(which explains why Kenny didn't want me to do it!)

but this paint is so SMOOTH!

It dried fairly quickly, too

These pieces had a shiny, varnished surface

so we lightly sanded them first

We distressed just a little, and the paint was easy to distress

To finish, we used dark wax

I was very worried that I'd opted to tackle 

such a LARGE project with one quart of paint...

but guess what?

We've got half a quart left!  

I am OVER-THE-MOON

about how this set turned out...

Modern Masters was the perfect choice

to GLAM it up...

I loved it so much, in fact, 

I'm painting my own buffet-turned-entertainment center next!

This set is available in our ETSY shop

Before and After and After

I have a rule...

NEVER, EVER REPAINT...

by that I mean once it's done...

We often start, rethink, adjust along the way...

but once it's done and photographed,

leave it alone...

SOMEONE will LOVE it.

 

 

This desk was driving me nuts, however!

It was fine...pretty, soft color

nice distressing...

but I DID NOT LOVE IT

so, I repainted it...

well, funny story about that, you see...

This was painted w milk paint

and sealed with burnishing paste...

"You better strip that" said Kenny...

"yeah, right, as-if" said I...

and I commenced to painting over the milk paint

with more milk paint

"It will only take me an hour" I proclaimed!

 

To anyone that wants to figure out how to force milk paint to crackle and chip?

I might have found your solution...

just paint over burnishing paste!

 

It was crackley, chippy awesomenesss...

Unfortunately, I did not want a bunch of crackle and chipping...

(isn't the way it always goes?)

 

so I had to sand the ENTIRE desk back down to bare wood!

(and it did NOT take me "only an hour!")

 

One day, maybe I'll listen...

but probably not

Two days later, and TA DA...

 

 (I know, coolest hardware EVER, right?)

 

It's simple and elegant now...

and so is the chair, which lived in my house for 10 years

this was painted gloss black enamel so I milk painted right over it

and I love how wherever it's chippy, you see gloss black

for a cool tone-on-tone effect

 

And don't you LOVE these paper flowers from Home Goods?

 

So I broke my own rule about NOT repainting,

but I think this desk went from OK to STUNNER

I'm sure plenty of folks will tell me they preferred the "before"

and that's OK, because I LOVE THE AFTER!