Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Old to new.......to old. Vintage inspired makeovers.

Visually what often comes to mind with vintage pieces of furniture is the wear or the colour of the wood itself.  Now modern furnishings are seen in different materials and lot's of dark wood. When I close my eyes and try and try to visualize old, I see whites or soft blue's and greens.

Today, I decided to re-vamp and old plant holder and wanted to give it a bit of a vintage feel.  I decided to use a soft green but a nice apple green would look great too.  Now, I'm not going to give lessons on how to paint - all that "long and even strokes" jazz, but if you don't have the world's handiest father to show you (like me) then there are plenty of videos you can watch online.  One thing I will say though is don't paint over the holes where your screws go in,  it's a real pain to put your stuff back together again if you do.

By the way, Ikea is a great place to find wood that has not been finished yet.  No varnish = no sanding = less work!  You can paint almost anything, however, if there is a sealant or varnish (glossy coat) already on the wood then you must sand it with 100 grit sand paper first before painting.

Now for the pictures!


Here is the very common "before" shot.  






I suggest taking apart your project before painting.





I like to paint around the holes first with a smaller brush just so I don't need to get too close with the big brush and risk filling them with paint.  



Allow to fully dry before attempting to put back together.






Viola!




Looks even better with plants on it!



Hope you feel inspired!