I checked out a beautiful antique bedroom set over the 4th of July and was immediately drawn to the beautiful lines and details of the furniture.
The entire set was very solid and well cared for ~ just needed a little TLC to give it new life.
Cathy and I teamed up to get this bedroom set knocked out. The first thing we did was a bleed thru test because we were dealing with solid mahogany. We placed a damp paper towel over the finish to see if any stain or finish wood leach up through it. It wasn’t even a minute, more like seconds and it had already turned orange/red meaning we had a bleeder!
No worries, we are always stocked with Zinnser’s Clear Shellac for just these occasions.
You can find this at Home Depot, Lowes, Menards and most other hardware stores and paint shops. We slapped on a quick coat to form a barrier before we started painting. Notice I said quick coat. It was the end of a long, hot day and the shellac dried incredibly fast.
Not taking the time to add a second coat proved to be a big mistake!
You don’t always need two coats if you get it covered well enough with one, but to be on the safe side, it’s best to apply two coats so you catch any spots you may have missed on the first swipe.
We painted up several sample boards to see which color we wanted underneath and decided on Dollar Bill from American Paint Company. It’s a beautiful smoky blue /gray, the same as CeCe Caldwell’s Smoky Mountain.
The paint went on beautifully but we had a LOT of pieces to cover!
Furniture was sprawled from my living room to the dining room, garage and onto the deck.
Everything was moving along as nice as can be until we started applying the white over it. That’s when we started noticing the tiniest specks of reddish orange. Oh no!! They were too faint for me to even capture with my camera but it was a red flag that we needed more of a barrier over that darn mahogany. Thank goodness it wasn’t everywhere!! We applied another coat of clear shellac, really taking our time to coat the surface well. Lesson learned! If you rush through the application of the shellac, it may not cover perfectly. I’m guessing it was drying so fast outdoors or that I was brushing so fast that I created tiny bubbles which later popped.
We planned to use APC’s Home Plate for the white, but decided later that we really wanted a creamier color. Cath pushed up her sleeves and started dumping, like only a true mixologist can ~ lol She added some Heaven’s Light and Rushmore to the Home Plate which created a very pretty cream color.
See the difference between the custom color on the left and APC’s Home Plate on the right? That’s the creaminess we came up with, well ~ not me, Cathy did and I love it!
Cathy and I tag teamed the distressing ~ I blasted through certain areas with my mouse sander to cut through to the base coat of Dollar Bill then exposed some of the wood. Cathy followed behind fine tuning everything with her keen eye for details. If you haven’t wet distressed chalk and clay paints yet, watch our how to video on wet distressing .
How to Wet Distress Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFfW0xW3riU
It’s super quick, clean and a fun way to distress. Here’s a close up of the foot board.
…and I especially love the detail on the headboard!
The creamy color shows up best in this shot.
We sealed the entire bedroom set with APC’s Clear Antiquing Wax
…then buffed everything to a beautiful finish using our drill buffing brush
Here she is in all her splendor!
Here’s the Recipe I used on this piece:
American Paint Company’s ~ Home Plate
American Paint Company’s ~ Heaven’s Light
American Paint Company’s ~ Rushmore
American Paint Company’s ~ Clear Antiquing Wax
Stay tuned for posts on the rest of this antique bedroom set!
A hui hou!! Shelly
Did you know that…
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Linking up to these GREAT Parties!
Domestically Speaking – The Power of Paint Party
The Shabby Creek Cottage – Transformation Thursday
Miss Mustardseed – Furniture Feature Friday
Redoux – Friday Link Up Party
Homespun Happenings – Rustic Restorations Weekend
Funky Junk Interiors – Saturday Night Special
Silver Pennies – Silver Pennies Sundays
Knick of Time Interiors – Knick of Time Tuesday
a hui hou ~ Shelly
This is stunning! I really appreciate all the tips too. I have heard to shellac a Mahogany piece first, but had no idea about the brand to use. I also didn’t know about the paper towel test; great tip! I have been down that road too and would just prime the piece. Now I know all the tricks for good ol’ bleeder Mahogany! You turned this bedroom suite into an amazing set!!! Love it!
So glad you learned from reading my post Betsy! I don’t prime for several reasons ~ 1. I don’t like the white showing through when I distress back to the wood, 2. Our paint already has superior adhesion and 3. Most primers won’t block the bleed-through anyway. Have a great week!!
This is beautiful! I love the custom color and the details of the wood – perfect! Can’t wait to see the entire set all together! Hugs, Leena
Thanks Leena! The only picture I have of the set is a quick one I shot when we dropped it off at the shop. It sold right away but I’ll be sharing pictures of all the other pieces when I get a chance. Probably won’t be until Thursday night.
Drove to Not So Shabby today. Congrats on selling your bedroom suite so quickly. Picked up your favorite medium brush and the drill brush. My friend picked up a couple quarts of paint, clear wax, and the afore mentioned items also. She has a bedroom suite to paint. Nice mall.
Hi Vicky, You’ll love the brushes. They’ll shed a bit at first. You can scruff the drill brush against the sidewalk to loosen up some of the bristles prior to buffing the first time but those will stop shedding significantly after the first few uses. Same thing with the wax brush, Scruff it against the palm of your hand to loosen up any bristles. I’ve never washed my drill buffing brush, you’ll get a little wax build up on the tips of the bristles but since you use that when the wax is already dry, that extra wax seems to make the buffing even better and easier. For the wax brush, I do clean my nightly (on most occasions ~ lol) with Dawn and hot water. Lather it up like you’re washing your hair, rinse well and comb through it with a dog comb (from the dollar store). I roll mine in a piece of paper towel and let dry in front of a register, fan, window… Sorry you had to come across our booth when it’s empty. I had planned to bring in another bed but it sold before I could get it out of the garage 😀 Have fun!!
Wow- Shelly- The whole set is just beautiful. It is amazing how the paint really brings out the details in it. I love it- xo Diana
What a gorgeous set of furniture, they are all so incredible. Lucky person whomever buys them all. I love the style of all of it. You gals did a great job, love the cream color, perfect choice for a perfect set. Happy days.
Thx for great tips also.
Thanks! The set sold immediately ~ back to the garage 😀
Hi Shelly,
I follow your website and I love your work/style. I haven’t tried to redo anything as yet and am thinking of doing a small nightstand as a beginner project. My husband likes to refinish furniture, but this is certainly a new way for us to try. I’ve been thinking that my bathroom vanity would look awesome redone by your process, however, currently it’s huge and has a shiny varathane on it. I’d like it to be different but liveable since someday we’ll sell the house. The issue is my room leans on the modern to traditional style. Do you think this would be a bad idea to use this process on a stationary piece like a vanity? Thoughts?
All the best and I wish you were in California!!!
Mary Rizzo
Mary, you can paint it any way you want. I think it’s more what you finish it with an the hardware you put on it that will determine the look you want.
Love it! I was getting anxiety reading about how much work this was! Was this the piece you thought you would have in your space for a while? Not surprised it went fast!
Beautiful! Thanks so much for all of your awesome tips. I just bought an antique full size wooden bed with a wrap around footboard to paint. I want to use apc paint as well. Can you give me an idea of how many quarts I might need for a bed this size? I’ve only done smaller pieces. Thanks!
Hi Mandy, I’d get a quart of each color. You won’t use all of it but you don’t want run out by just buying a couple samples either.
Not appealing , the warmth of the piece is lost .