Design Dilemma

I was at one of my favorite junking spots a few months ago and went a little crazy buying up furniture and somehow this little china cabinet made it into the mix. Now I’m usually all about the “curvy/ frenchy” look so this piece had me totally out of my comfort zone.

Eventually I moved it into my studio, where it looked woefully out of place, and just waited for inspiration to hit while I did a little repair work.  Inspiration was nowhere to be found so I went looking for it at, where else, but Pinterest! I started a “mid century update” board and went on the hunt for pieces that I liked. Although I couldn’t find anything resembling my piece I did narrow my selections down to a couple of contenders and decided to take my favorite elements of each.  I liked the black and blue color scheme of the first one and the stencil design on the second.

via  www.vintagemoderngallery.wordpress.com                             via Deborah Waltz of Peinture

I still wasn’t sure exactly how to proceed so I drew an outline of the piece on some card stock and “tested” my design by actually painting the colors on the paper….so much easier than painting a piece and deciding you don’t like it. At first I used just Graphite and Provence but then decided to change out the Provence on the top of the piece to Old White.

Once I was satisfied I started painting and, since I use Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan, there is no priming or sanding required. After a couple of coats of each color it was time to apply the stencil. I was happy to see that the Hollywood Square stencil from Royal Design Studio was a perfect fit on the slim drawers that go across the middle. I outlined the middle of each square with a gold paint pen to add a touch of bling and match the black and gold pulls on the doors on the bottom. Then I applied the Clear Wax to seal and protect the paint and we were good to go.

Now she sits proudly in my store window with another more modern stenciled piece and they look fabulous together.  So,  while my studio is still “curvy/frenchy” on the inside, I’m enjoying a pop of color and pattern from the outside!