Sewing Cabinet Gets a Pop of Color
06/09/2016
Most of the time when I work on a project I let the project speak to me about the color/design before I start. I may pick up a dresser and then let it sit for months before figuring out what it wants to look like. In the case of my most recent re-do I took a different route. This former sewing cabinet didn’t speak to me so I just flew by the seat of my pants.
Originally I pictured this little sewing cabinet with a refinished top with the body painted white, but I realized that look was done to death by the other vendors in Junk in the Ol’ Trunk and I didn’t want to feel like I was copying other’s designs. I went ahead and refinished the top because it was in good shape and just needed a little sprucing up to be lovely again. When it came time to paint the body I grabbed the first can of paint that caught my attention in the stash. This was a chartreuse color that was a custom match for fabric on one of my crib benches – it’s a bright color (mixed at home with chalk powder). I got a couple of coats of color on the cabinet and knew that wasn’t the right color for the main body, but it would make for a great “peek-a-boo” color coming through something else. I hit my paint stash again and came up with a bright aqua color of a sample pot of the Amy Howard at Home chalk paint. (A while back I found a sale on their sample pots and bought a few bright colors, glad a only bought the sample size because I’m not a big fan – it is just too hard to stir together). I painted over the cabinet in this bright aqua and was much happier with the color overall but it was still missing something.
I remembered what I did on my coffee table with a brown wash/wipe off (Waverly chalk paint, mix of colors) and decided that it would be the perfect thing to tone down the bright color. Once the third color dried I took a sheet of 400 grit sand paper and rubbed the cabinet all over. I love the way the different colors come through with the hints of the bright chartreuse and the duller brown wash all working together. It reminds me of a copper patina – very cool considering I was flying blind when I started.
I find I often choose color over a more basic white or grey paint on my projects. The white is hugely popular right now and I know I could sell my items as white, but I find it so much more satisfying to bring color into the project. I know I run the risk of not selling as quickly as other items, but it makes me smile when I see all the colors in my booth and know that the items catch people’s eye in the window.