Pretty and Popular

It's been a busy week.  There's custom order pieces to be completed and pieces to put on the floor by opening on Thursday.

 This piece was my "floor" piece for this week.

 It started out with some problems, it was really rough in spot and needed serious help. Jeff did a nice job of filling in scratches and gouges and sanding imperfections. It's amazing how just a bit of wood putty can make such a huge difference in the finished piece.

I was very lucky that all the hardware and detail was intact. I love to work on any pieces that have carving or lots of areas that can be highlighted with dark wax or glaze.

For this piece, I used Valspar Fossil White in a Satin finish (mixed with Websters Chalk Paint Powder), Distressed lightly on the edges and some of the detailing. Then I mixed a Gray paint into Behr Faux Glaze to brush on for a tint and to bring out all the potential of the carving. When totally dry (I waited til the next day) I finished with a coat of Daddy Van's clear wax.

I have to say, I won't be using the Behr Faux Glaze again. It was very hard to get an even finish. From now on, I'll be sticking to Rustoleum - it's so much easier to use and gives such a smooth look.

Here's the completed piece....

There's a reason this blog was titled "Pretty and Popular". We posted a photo of it on  Next Act's Facebook page at 5:00 PM on Wednesday. At 10:00 AM on Thursday the shop opened, it was sold at 10:10.  Then, 5 minutes later another lady came in to buy it - she'd seen it on Facebook too.
 I have to say it surprised me.

 I'm now on the look out for another piece like it - and let the fun begin again!!!


Be creative,
Patti