My New Shop Counter

Well, I've been on the hunt for the perfect counter for my Irvington shop for some time now. I thought I would find a really unique antique or vintage counter that I could use (I had visions of an old French market counter). But alas, everything was a bit too small or a bit too big or just not right. So, Frank spotted this old kitchen counter that was going to be thrown away and thanks to Chalk Paint® and a little hard work, it's now my new shop counter!

Original Counter

Here it is as we found it. The back is unpainted fiber board and it was in two pieces. (We have already bolted it together to make one piece.)

Legs and Trim

We added legs and trim work to punch it up.

Counter getting ready to paint

I threw a drop cloth around the piece to get ready for the magic of Chalk Paint®. Notice the computer on the floor next to the counter - oh, I am brave when I paint!

Readying the top for Chalk Paint®

Now that the base is painted in Old White, Frank is cleaning off the ugly formica top so I can paint it too.

Counter top painted in Chalk Paint® Graphite

 I just love the way the top looks after painting it with Chalk Paint® in Graphite! And, no, I did not have to do anything to the formica other than cleaning it. The Chalk Paint® adhered perfectly to it.

Close up of the Graphite Counter

We added a custom glass top over the painted top because of the hard use it will get writing up all those sales!

My new Counter

And here it is in my shop! (The computer survived the painting!)

Brocante Home

I'm not quite finished - think I will add a stencil to the front  - what do you think? Click HERE to see the final result!

Happy  Painting!

Rachel

Click to see more tips, tutorials and photos: Paintbrush and Pearls
Click to see my Brocante Home Blog

Shop Hours: Irvington - Wed thru Sat from 10 to 4: Richmond - Tuesday thru Sat from 10 to 6.

My French Country Dresser

I recently purchased some beautiful unfinished furniture from a French Furniture manufacturer that I will be painting in a Provençal Style. 

This dresser is solid mahogany with wonderful hand-carved detail, as shown here.

 I knew that I wanted to paint it French Linen, but perhaps a lighter shade. French Linen is a beautiful neutral grey, but I wanted a lighter version so I tested variations of it mixed with Old White on these colors boards and decided I liked a mix of half of each. (When using a custom color, make sure you mix enough to cover the whole piece!)

  

I first painted the entire piece Old White, so that when I distressed it the Old White would show through (a favorite technique of mine). I used Annie's small paint brush for this job to make sure to get into the detail (it's perfect for this!).

Here's the dresser with its first coat of Old White. As you can see, I paint right in my shop - no odor!

Then I painted it with a second coat of the Old White/French Linen mixture and distressed it down (with a 220 grit sandpaper) to the first coat of Old White for a weathered look. 

After waxing and distressing, I buffed it lightly with a 600 grit sandpaper to achieve that wonderful patina.

And here is the finished piece!

Happy Painting!

Rachel

Click to see more tips, tutorials and photos: Paintbrush and Pearls