Boho Chest Makeover
You may have followed this one over on Facebook. I created it over a series of lives which are now on a playlist on my YouTube channel here if you'd rather watch a video! If not, below are the steps I took to create this boho chest as a commission piece for my friend. Be warned! There are a daft amount of colours used on this but my pal did say 'go hard or go home' so thats exactly what I did!
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Product list:
Silk All In One Mineral Paint - Anchor
Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint Colours:
So once you've finished reading through the 10,000 colours used on this piece here's how it started out!
Pretty dated and disgustingly dirty! First step, as always is to remove the hardware and give it a good scrub.
I made a solution of White Lightning and warm water to wash the item and the washed again with clean, warm water to remove any cleaning residue.
Once the piece was dry, I scuff sanded and added a base layer of browns. I knew I would be distressing this piece and I didn't want the reddy toned wood to show through - hence this step.
I used the colours Mud Puddle, Chocolate, Pine Cone and Coffee Bean and roughly layered them with The Best Dang Brush to create a tonal brown base layer.
Once the brown base layer was dry, I added a mixture of Sea Spray which is a powdered texture additive and Fluff then stippled it on to create some texture.
I added 2 coats of Peacock over the dry layer of Sea Spray and Fluff. I used a chip brush to create uneven coverage and texture as I wanted this piece to look old and distressed.
Here comes the colour!! Each drawer was painted in a different colour. From top left to bottom right I used Colonel Mustard, a mixture of Plum Crazy and Aubergine, Peony and Holy Guacamole.
Once this was dry, I used my electric sander to distress some of the colour back to reveal the white texture underneath. I wanted a worn look to this piece.
I mostly used my electric sander but did hand some some detailed areas like the edges and recesses.
Once I was happy with the level of distressing, I wiped the dust off with a damp microfibre cloth.
Next up is transfer time! Make sure you leave your painted pieces 24 hours before applying a transfer. This transfer is called 'Boho Soul' and I used the black pieces only for this piece but there are 4 sheets in total of gorgeous boho style patterns.
Once you're happy with the placement of your transfer, take your transfer applicator tool (it comes in the box) and rub the transfer off the backing sheet and onto your furniture.
Remove the backing sheet once its completely rubbed onto your furniture. My transfer fell over several drawers so I took a knife to carefully cut the transfer. This way, your pattern lines up perfectly and you get a nice crisp edge. Make sure you rub the transfer down around the drawer edges.
I repeated the same step with a similar design on the other side. This transfer is also from the Boho Soul transfer.
I added some stencil details on the chest using the Silkscreen stencils in two different designs: Mandala and Mosaic. I used Anchor from the Silk All-In-One-Mineral Paint range to match the style of the transfer. I also used this range of paint as it has a built in top coat and the next stage involved colour washes so I didn't want to reactivate the paint when adding extra layers.
Next I added a wash of Antebellum Blue over Peacock to tone the vibrancy of the colour down and add some depth.
I wiped back the Antebellum Blue in areas for tonal variation.
I added a colour wash over the drawers in the same technique above. I paired colours of a similar tone to create a worn, aged colour with depth. This process adds dimension to a flat colour. I also dry brushed some colours over the top for even more dimension. Here are the colours I paired with each other:
Daisy, Colonel Mustard
Florida Orange, Terracotta, dry brushed with Rusty Nail
Mermaid Tail, The Gulf, dry brushed with Mermaid Tail
Holy Guacamole, Kudzu, dry brushed with Evergreen
Once everything had dried and I had put alllll the paint colours away in the cupboard, I applied a coat of Best Dang Wax in clear with the La Petite brush.
I went in with the French Tip Brush and added some Best Dang Wax in Brown around the edges of the drawers and in corners and recesses.
I wiped back some of the brown wax with a paper towel until I had the desired effect I was looking to achieve.
Hopefully you can see the age and depth that the wax adds!
Below is the finished piece along with a couple of close ups. I hope this has been useful -its certainly been an interesting one to do!
Con x
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