Blue French Cabinet

Happy Tuesday!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, I know I am:)
Spring is here and the sun is bright, flowers almost start to bloom,
 spring makes me happy:)

Today, I'd like to share with you my latest project I've just finished.

It started out like this.

It was an all wood, simple yet gorgeous piece.

First things I thought were that I'd change the pulls and

 add something on the front to make this cabinet more special.

Then I remembered I had 4 of these plaques.

I bought them a long time ago thinking they might come in handy one day.
And the day has come :)

Originally they were all gold in color and I had painted them white while ago.

I liked the frames around but not the flower basket insert.

So, I used my Dremel to cut off the inside.

....15 minutes later....

I love my Dremel, it was pretty easy to do :)

Then I glazed them and distressed to make them look aged.

I painted the cabinet in custom blue

 ( Storm Chaser from General Paint and white ),

added some stencils and lines.

Inside, I painted the door yellow

( Period Charm from General Paint)

and added French toile images on the door.

I applied Polyurethane and hand waxed the entire cabinet.

And here's how she looks right now.

The top

The bottom

The side

The pulls

I chose flower knobs for the door and

 painted them in the same blue

 ( as the inside of the frames,just more white to Storm Chaser)

and white color,

then distressed them and waxed.

Now they look like pretty pansies :)

The inside

When I got this cabinet, it came with a removable light inside

I thought it was neat so I kept it.

By the way, I used my usual homemade chalk paint,

I love how it blends in the wood :)

Have a great rest of the week everyone!!!

Yay!!

This cabinet was featured at

http://www.redouxinteriors.com/2013/03/link-party-97-almost-to-100-and-the-fab-features/

&

http://pjhdesignsoneofakind.blogspot.ca/2013/04/transformed-tuesday-33-features.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PjhDesigns+(PJH+Designs)





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Rose de Provence washstand ~ Image Transfer Tutorial~

I found this washstand accidentally while I was out with friends,
when I saw a thrift store which I never knew existed in that area.

" Oh, I didn't know there was a thrift store around here"

I said.

"Wanna go?"

A friend of mine who was driving said :)
Bless her!! lol

" Sure!" I said.

( I'll never say no to a thrift store visit)

So we went in.

In less than a minute, I spotted this washstand.
( Can I call this a washstand? A cabinet?
I'll go with washstand because it sounds cuter !)

I liked it right away and to make things even better,

there was a huge red paper stuck on top stating

"50% OFF"

I was sold :)

Love the shape, love the hardware:)

 I forgot to take a before photo (again..) but

remembered right after I removed the front door (and painted the side)
 so here it is.

*The Before*

Just imagine the door in the lower part:)

Painted with my regular homemade chalk paint.

I first painted it in pale blue,white for trims and then painted grey all over

to give it some dimensions of colours.
Then did blue and white again,showing the grey here and there.

On the front, I wanted to do something different this time.

I've done stencilling many times, I've done decoupages too.

I've done image transfer with a pencil but never with parchment paper.

I looked for some image transfer methods online,
there are so many talented people post their great tutorials,

but I didn't quite find what I was exactly looking for.

What was I looking for?

Printing onto parchment paper ( because that was what I had on hand)

with a Laser Jet printer, not Inkjet.

I saw many tutorials with ink jet printer but mine is laser.

So, I decided to do my own way with my hunch.

First, I cut the parchment paper to the letter size of 8"1/2 x 11".

I wanted to print this image from The Graphics Fairly.
Isn't she great?
There are so many many many beautiful images on her blog,
she's actually a saint!! or a real fairly :)

When you transfer image onto something this way,
please do not forget to

reverse the image!!!

Like this :)
I simply bring the photo to Paint program, click *image* and
choose * flip/rotate*

I glued a very thin line on top of the regular paper,

stuck the parchment,let it dry and sent it to my Laser jet printer.

Parchment paper is very very slippery, it's important that you secure

all the top line of the parchment onto a regular paper

so that when it enters inside the printer,

it won't get lost & jam.
( even if it's jammed, it's slippery so it's easy to get it out, from my experience )

After done printing, remove the regular paper carefully.

Here I placed the parchment face down onto the washstand door.

It's very important you tape it down so it won't move around.

Also it's a good idea you measure the image beforehand and

mark where it should go.

That way,when you are ready to transfer the image,
you'll know exactly where to place it:)

( in the photo above,the paper stuck underneath on the right side is because I noticed some smudge there and I didn't want it to transfer to the door)

Start burnishing with your finger first.

( work small space at a time)

Then I wanted to use something heavy to burnish

so the image will transfer better.

I looked around....and found a crowbar. lol
I've never used it so I had no idea why a crowbar was in my work area,
 but hey, that was perfect!

Then I thought about warming the paper with a hair dryer,
it would transfer the ink better.

Stay and blow one spot about 5 seconds.

Then burnish with a crowbar.
( do not forget to place your fingers between the image,
even taped around, parchment still tends to move a little)

As you burnish,you'll see the image lifts.

See the FLEURS part on the right is less visible?

( means it was transferred onto the door)

Half way done.

All done.
At this point, my left hand was aching from holding down the paper.
( I'm right handed)
The image was almost all transferred but not so clearly.
But I liked the faded image so I decided to keep it.

I also added some stenciling to the washstand.

I'd also like to mention that when I did this transfer,
I was excited to show it to my daughter,who is an honest judge of my work.
After school she came home,saw the stand and said
"Yeah, it's pretty, but why didn't you just glue the paper on it?
It'd have been much easier!!"
Then I stopped and thought...."Hey, you're right....."
But I like how it turned out and I found this method of transfer,
so I'm happy overall :)

I feel transferred image is easier to smudge, so I sprayed poly over.
Then painted the hardware in white, hand waxed the stand,
and she's ready for the reveal:)

TA-DA~!

Yes...Paris....again :)

Yes...it's very girly...

Distressed a little with a wet rug.

Pretty good storage inside.

She looks like she's wearing white socks.lol

I'm happy she's pretty now!
Please DO let me know what you think...
Have a beautiful day everyone :)

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Old Paris Frames

Hello to all the DIY loving people,
how are you today???

 I'd like to show you something smaller and different from what I usually do.

Ever since I saw Gesso Magic post at Villabarns by Rosemary,

this'd been on my to do lists for a while :)
What Rosemary does is just amazing, I love her work:)

According to Wiki, there are 3 kinds of gesso.
Traditional, Acrylic and Soy-based.
What I used is Acrylic gesso, probably the most readily available kind.
I'm not going to bore you by pasting detailed info here from Wiki,
 so if you're interested in learning more about gesso,
here is the Wiki contents about it :)

I bought 2 old frames with different flower inserts,

and I got acrylic gesso in white at a local Michael's store.

This is the Acrylic gesso I bought.

First, I painted the frames in grey.

This was regular latex paint from Behr.

I dried it with a hair dryer ( cuz I couldn't wait until it dries itself...lol)
then slathered on some gesso.

Then I wiped off some excess with an old sheet,
added more gesso where I felt needed and kept going like that

until I achieved the look I wanted.

Then I framed them with Old Paris images.

I just love Paris!! (who doesn't?)

So anytime I want some images or words that I'd like to add to my project,

it tends to be Paris or French related.

Oh did I mention my husband is French ( Canadian though!)? lol

Anyway, here are the finished products.

Aren't they lovely?
Those images are sealed with Mod Podge, by the way.

I love the old look gesso can create,

I'm totally smitten with the result:)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!



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