Chalk Paint Wood Graining

OK, I'm finished with my cabin, so let's move on to something I've worked on in the past few days.....

BUT FIRST---------

PLEASE STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS ALL WEEK LONG!!!!!

I know my regular readers aren't, because I've requested this a 

GAZILLION TIMES!!!!!

(twice)

So, I figure it must be stealth readers,

you know,

folks that swoop in occasionally and sample the blog.

So, I am now putting you guys on notice--------

I WILL BE IGNORING ALL QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE MONTH.

I CAN DO THIS!!!!

I AM THE BOSS OF ME!!!!! 

I am going to delete them....

I am going to throw them out.....

I AM GOING TO IGNORE THEM!!!!!

And while I'm pissing and moaning....

It would be really nice, if the folks I give advice to would comment or drop me a line, so I know if I've been any help or not.

I hear back from only a small fraction of the question askers.....

If I haven't been any help

WHICH IS HIGHLY LIKELY!!!!

At least say 

"Thanks, Betsy!  Your answer was @#$, but I appreciate the effort!"

Well.... maybe, don't tell me the answer was @#$, 

I may then track you down and egg your house.....

You could say...

"Thanks, Betsy! This doesn't quite work for me, but I see you really tried.....Too bad you don't know what you're doing...."

Well, that would tweak me off too, 

How about....

"Thanks, Betsy. I'm going to give this a try, as soon as I get back from....

(insert any excuse here)!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, OK, let's get to my newest project that has been completed enough to photograph.....

This is an empire table made out of mahogany veneer.

According to Wikipedia

 The Empire style, French pronunciation: [ɑ̃.piːʁ], the second phase of Neoclassicism, is an early-19th-centurydesign movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts followed in Europe and America until around 1830, although in the U.S. it continued in popularity in conservative regions outside the major metropolitan centers well past the mid-19th century. The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States and to the Regency style in Britain. An earlier phase of the style was called the Adam style in Great Britain and "Louis Seize" or Louis XVI, in France.

This is what it looked like

 when my bidness partner Kris and I dragged it home from the auction.....

This was my first experience with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

 (I spelled her name correctly this time!!!!)

Here is the beginning of my downward spiral into a furniture painting addiction.....

Amy at Maison Decor, my local stockist for this paint, told me that I wouldn't need to sand or strip the furniture or nothin"!!!

Sos, I was all excited.....

She said I would need to do NO PREP WORK!!!!!

Of course there is always an exception to the rule!!!

It seems that mahogany can bleed through this paint, just like it does on other paints. 

OY, OY, OY.....

So, being the wonderfully artistic guy that I am, I replanned my attack, and changed how I was going to paint this piece.

The big thing about having a successful outcome when painting an antique, is to let the furniture dictate how it's going to be redone.

Since this was my first attempt at chalk paint, I made some missteps.

First I painted the table in Paris Grey.....

The paint covered really well, but this was to be the undercoat.

I wanted the top coat to be white.....

The next day when I descended into the dungeon of my workshop, I saw that the red of the mahogany was starting to bleed through.....

At this point I figured I would go for a more beat up look.

Then I painted a coat of Old White....

This is when I found out that I had thinned it too much with water, and it wasn't covering very well.....

Don't do what I did, or you'll feel like a ninny.....

So then I needed to paint another coat.....

Then I saw that the red from the mahogany wasn't giving up.

Conferring with Amy, we discussed that sometimes with this kind of wood, one needs to seal it with something first, to stop the bleeding.

Oh, well.....

I didn't do that.....

LOOKY!!!!!

MORE RED BLEEDING THROUGH!!!!!

At this point, I decided to paint a different table, which is when I attacked the Renaissance Revival one I posted a couple of weeks ago.....

After the fun I had with wood graining that table, 

I decided to play around some more with my graining tools with this table.....

So, first I worked on the top of the table.....

I painted a watered down Pure White in sections, and pulled the graining tool across the top.

(This way the Pure White creates a pattern against the Old White)

Then I let it dry.

Then I waxed it in clear wax and then added dark wax in places and worked it in and rubbed it off.

Then I let that dry.

Then I buffed the hell out of the whole thing!!!!! 

Hummmm.....

Interesting.....

Not what I had originally planned on....

But I am now intrigued!!!!

So I kept going....

Thinking I would do an allover driftwood effect.....

So, I was just planning on painting it a distressed white.

Still not sure if I would have liked that better.

Josh, the owner of Studio 534 in the Boston Design Center is coming over tomorrow to go to an auction with Kris and me.

He'll take a look at it then, and let me know if I need to repaint it.

After all, he's the one who has to sell it......

That's it for today folks!

Latah Gatah