Graphite dressers

Here we have a fun project for a client whose goal is to get the clutter off the furniture. Her solution is to swap bedside tables with dressers so that the clutter is contained and hidden. Imagine a king-sized 4 poster bed with a medium-sized dresser on each side (a bedroom that large in Arlington!).

She found this piece on Craigslist and I refinished it in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite. The client preferred an almost black finish, so I went to town with Annie Sloan's Dark Wax. The original hardware was kept, but I happened to have these sweet scrolly knobs on hand, and they give the dresser a feminine touch.

Once she got it into the bedroom, her hubby was a little jealous so she hunted down a companion piece on CL that is currently in the works. Will update soon!

The second dresser, before....

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Owl Silhouette Project

The animal of the moment for Au is the owl. This summer she has devoured Kathryn Lasky's fiction series The Guardians of Ga'hoole . Au selected the species for the project based on their characteristic sizes and profiles. I created silhouettes in Adobe Illustrator based on the photographs Au found at owlpages.com . Next we will print and frame them for her room.

Silhouettes

I've played around with creating custom silhouettes digitally using Adobe Illustrator. I start with a digital photo, creating an outline using the pen tool. I love the way they look! Of course they pale in comparison to the artwork that silhouette artists create with paper and scissors, which is what I have on my mantle, but this is a fun project that I have enjoyed exploring and doing for friends.

Navy Bed

Painting in blue is something that I haven't done much of, so when a client was interested in painting her son's vintage white bed in navy blue, it was really a great opportunity. Annie Sloan's Napoleonic Blue wasn't quite dark enough for the room decor, so we chose to finish the piece with a generous helping of Annie Sloan's Dark Wax. I preceded this step with a layer of Clear Wax (and let it dry overnight) because I always want to have max manipulation when it comes to the dark wax application. This pictures shows the difference between clear and dark waxes. The paint, followed by the dark wax to achieve navy blue, also created depth and movement in the painted surface. A single navy blue paint color wouldn't bring that style!

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