January 2015 – Shizzle Design

January 22, 2015May 11, 2017

Stunning Antique Black Bow Front Highboy ~ Take Two!

Several years ago, I purchased a beautiful antique bow front mahogany highboy. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to paint it so I set it aside for a while until I came up with an idea. I took it to Not So Shabby and it sold right away.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I was stocking paint at that same location and needed a screw driver. I ran back to grab one when I got a glimpse of a nice dresser in one of the other vendor’s booths. My first thought was ~ wow, that’s a really cool piece!

I popped in and out of the storage room and went whizzing back up front when a 2nd glance stopped me dead in my tracks. I was like whaaa? I was like huh?? No wonder it caught my attention, it was my piece. Well, not really ~ I didn’t own it anymore ~ but it was my artistic flare, my idea, my design.

I had originally painted it in CeCe Caldwell’s Vermont Slate. The VS appeared more blue than I remembered but the drawers still looked great. The strange thing was how beat up the legs were, almost as though someone dragged it across a sidewalk. There was also a teeny wear mark on the top that bugged me. How did that happen? Where had this dresser been? Did that vendor buy it from me the first time or did someone buy it and then move out-of-town and sell it?

It was priced lower than what a solid mahogany bow front dresser goes for in this area at and all it needed was a little TLC so I bought it back to do a quick flip. Yeah, right ~ like that ever happens.

I was JUST going to fix that TINY LITTLE spot on the top but before I knew it, I had slathered a thick coat of stripper all over the top. You know, for that tiny spot the size of pea. The ad rep. never noticed the thick, green, gooey gel on the highboy before she landed her purse and 3 ring binder on top of it. OOPS!

That was a real joy to clean up. I eventually got back to the dresser and finish stripping the top.

Wow, what beautiful Mahogany!

I also HAD to repaint the entire body of the piece to give it a more rich color and to repair the scrapes on the legs. Easy right? Right! As long as you’re in a workshop working without interruptions.

That seldom happens in our studio. Between paint deliveries, paint shipments, customers, phone calls, emails…, there’s rarely a solid chunk of time to work on a piece. I stopped and started this dresser about seven times but because days and weeks lapsed in between, I kept forgetting which color I had used. Lincoln’s Hat, Cannonball, Freedom Road, a mis-tint of Freedom Road…

Freedom Road ~ Cannonball ~ Gun Powder

I kept messing with it until I had everything the way I wanted. I don’t think there was a part I didn’t touch.

Cannonball highboy bow front chalk clay painted highboy dresser Shizzle Design american paint company grand rapids strip mahogany black gray

I waxed everything with except the top which I sealed with American Paint Company’s Hard Coat. I prefer to apply Hard Coat with a sponge, but on this particular piece, I wanted to imitate the cross hatch marks on the front so I brushed it on in both directions to create linen weave. Did I take a picture of that. Ummm, nope ~ guess not.

It’s all fixed up and ready for its new owner. I loved this piece the first time. I love it even more now and if for any reason it doesn’t sell, it will fit perfectly at the top of our staircase :D.

Feel free to share, pin, like and comment below

A hui hou ~ Shelly

Don’t forget to VOTE on your favorite IKEA Hack!

Post by Shizzle LLC.

Shizzle Style Painted Furniture Makeovers

Shizzle Tips, How To Tutorials & Video’s

Funky Finishes

Did you know…

It’s just the two of us: My sister and I own and operate Shizzle Design which originated in my garage. We have and will continue to work hard, God willing, to provide you with the best service we can because to be honest, it’s a fine line between feast or famine when you’re in our line of work.
We specialize in painting furniture and are truly humbled to be known as a leader in the world of chalk and clay paints. Stop in for paint and we’ll offer you honest and knowledgeable answers for all your chalk and clay paint needs.
We are not paid employees of any paint company, we simply retail the paints? It typically takes me about 10 hours to publish one of my blog posts. Everything from shooting the photographs, writing the content, editing, cropping… is given freely. The only way we make money is if someone purchases paint, workshops or painted furniture from us.
We are blessed to teach people from all over the U.S. Join us for a super fun hands-on chalk and clay paint workshop in a casual & fun atmosphere. For a list of current classes, click here.
Subscribe to our weekly blog posts for tips, tutorials, ideas & painted furniture inspiration. Enter your email in the right hand column of our blog to stay in the loop.
Like our ShizzleLLC Facebook Page Be sure to click the down arrow to “get notifications”. You’ll see a lot more posts if you leave comments and share our posts. We are at the mercy of Facebook. On average, FB only “serves” our posts to about 20 people out of 6,000 people who’ve liked our page. Sad but true. The more you comment and share our comments, the higher your chance of getting our posts. We share what we’re working on EVERY single DAY so you’ll usually find out about new classes, new products, new furniture, sales… if you follow us there.
Visit our Pinterest Page for all sorts of inspiration here.
Purchase our painted furniture at our Shizzle Design Paint Studio 2018 Chicago Dr., Jenison, MI 49428 or Not So Shabby at 2975 West Shore Drive in Holland, Michigan.
Buy Paint Shop our large inventory of chalk and clay paint and supplies on our Online Shizzle Shop or at our West Michigan LOCATIONS.

I’m linking up to my favorite parties!!

Domestically Speaking – The Power of Paint Party

Miss Mustardseed – Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk Interiors – Saturday Night Special

Linking up at these great parties:

Domestically Speaking – The Power of Paint Party
The Shabby Creek Cottage – Transformation Thursday
Miss Mustardseed – Furniture Feature Friday
Redoux – Friday Link Up Party
Homespun Happenings – Rustic Restorations Weekend
Funky Junk Interiors – Saturday Night Special
Silver Pennies – Silver Pennies Sundays
Knick of Time Interiors – Knick of Time Tuesday

a hui hou!

Shelly

January 11, 2015May 12, 2017

How to Add Depth & Dimension to Painted Furniture

The fact that I love creating unique finishes on my painted furniture is not a secret. With so many people in West Michigan painting furniture, I really strive to create pieces that stand out. I’ve never really followed the beaten path anyway.

One of the things I love American Paint Company is that their products can be used in so many different applications. They have some of the neatest things to help DIY’ers develop There are so many fun products that my creativity is on fire.

Here’s a picture of the table before the applying the grit.

A friend of mine brought over a cool drum table she had painted and asked me to do my magic on finishing it ~ lol! She’s too funny ~ she’s the artist. She can paint… pictures ~ I just do the easy part. Laurie had painted a really cool clock face on the table top and I wanted to add a little more depth to create a more vintage feel. If you like this table, you can re-create it using: Dollar Bill, Home Plate and Gun Powder.

I lightly pounced my brush into some American Grit and then knocked off the excess by tapping on the edge of the jar.

American Grit adds another level of depth to a waxed finish. Make sure your wax is still wet so the dust has something to grab onto.

For this table, I used American Paint Company’s Dark Wax. It’s a great wax. Straight out of the can, APC’s Dark Wax will change the final color of your paint so do a test area on a scrap piece of wood…

I use it straight out of the container when I’m painting with dark and highly pigmented colors. Absolutely LOVE it! On medium colors, I prefer to mix it with Clear Wax. Why you ask? I do this so I have better control over how dramatic the color change is. The more Clear Wax added, the more sheer the antiquing will be. Does that make sense? I personally stick with Clear Wax when painting pastels or whites.

Laurie had already sealed it the paint with a clear coat but we noticed a few areas where the original mahogany stain had bled through the finish. Feathering in some dark wax is a great solution to the problem.

Create this kind of dimension with American Paint Company’s Dark Wax & American Grit

I applied a thin coat of Dark Wax feathering it out so it was smooth and even then pounced on American Grit, working it in to various locations until it looked the way I wanted.

To apply American Grit, pounce it around and work it into the wax. It’s such a fine make-up grade quality that it essentially becomes part of the wax.

I LOVE how it gets into all the texture!

Isn’t it cool how it picks up so many variations?

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to share, pin, like and comment below

A hui hou ~ Shelly

For more Chalk & Clay Painted Furniture ideas, tips, tutorials & inspiration, subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Post by Shizzle LLC.

I’m linking up to my favorite parties!!

Domestically Speaking – The Power of Paint Party

Miss Mustardseed – Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk Interiors – Saturday Night Special

Linking up at these great parties:

Shelly

January 8, 2015May 11, 2017

Pretty Pink French Provincial Highboy with video

I only caught a few shots of this little princess before she left the building.

She was already a beauty when I purchased her. The finish had really yellowed over time and she needed a little boost.

Before

I base coated the entire piece in American Paint Company’s Freedom Road then painted everything, except the top with Cameo, a limited edition color which has just been retired. Cameo is a very subtle, pale pink. I have to admit, I’m not a pastel person, but my friend kept hounding me to do this piece in that color so I finally gave in and painted the dang thing in pink just to shut her up ~ lol.

Cameo

It actually is a very, pretty pink. It’s so subtle, that most people who strolled in while I was working on it, assumed it was a vintage white.

We may still have a few pints left of Cameo. If you’re interested; click here.

It was hot the day I painted this and the paint was drying faster than I could spread it on. I should have watered it down more than I did but I was too busy talking. Well if you know me; brush strokes drive me bonkers so when it came time to distress, I decided to use my sander. I use that brush as a little feather duster when I’m sanding. I usually wet distress, but when I do sand, I like to brush the dust away so I can see how far I’ve distressed.

Distressing back to the base color

This is the best overall shot I could get before she sold

Here’s the close ups

One of my awesome customers asked me what I meant when I mentioned I used cross-hatched brush strokes on the top so I shot one of my quirky videos to show her.

Shelly’s quirky video on Creating Beautiful Textured Finishes

It was so cool to hear from the gal who bought this. She picked it up from our booth at Not So Shabby and once she got home, she contacted me to see if I could paint a twin size bed to coordinate with it. She said there is no hurry since her little princess is only 4 months old 🙂

Looking forward to finding the perfect bed to match!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to share, pin, like and comment below

A hui hou ~ Shelly

For more Chalk & Clay Painted Furniture ideas, tips, tutorials & inspiration, subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Post by Shizzle LLC.

Did you know…

It’s just the two of us: My sister and I own and operate Shizzle Design which originated in my garage. We have and will continue to work hard, God willing, to provide you with the best service we can because to be honest, it’s a fine line between feast or famine when you’re in our line of work.
We specialize in painting furniture and are truly humbled to be known as a leader in the world of chalk and clay paints. Stop in for paint and we’ll offer you honest and knowledgeable answers for all your chalk and clay paint needs.
We are not paid employees of any paint company, we simply retail the paints? It typically takes me about 10 hours to publish one of my blog posts. Everything from shooting the photographs, writing the content, editing, cropping… is given freely. The only way we make money is if someone purchases paint, workshops or painted furniture from us.
We are blessed to teach people from all over the U.S. Join us for a super fun hands-on chalk and clay paint workshop in a casual & fun atmosphere. For a list of current classes, click here.
Subscribe to our weekly blog posts for tips, tutorials, ideas & painted furniture inspiration. Enter your email in the right hand column of our blog to stay in the loop.
Like our ShizzleLLC Facebook Page Be sure to click the down arrow to “get notifications”. You’ll see a lot more posts if you leave comments and share our posts. We are at the mercy of Facebook. On average, FB only “serves” our posts to about 20 people out of 6,000 people who’ve liked our page. Sad but true. The more you comment and share our comments, the higher your chance of getting our posts. We share what we’re working on EVERY single DAY so you’ll usually find out about new classes, new products, new furniture, sales… if you follow us there.
Visit our Pinterest Page for all sorts of inspiration here.
Purchase our painted furniture at our Shizzle Design Paint Studio 2018 Chicago Dr., Jenison, MI 49428 or Not So Shabby at 2975 West Shore Drive in Holland, Michigan.
Buy Paint Shop our large inventory of chalk and clay paint and supplies on our Online Shizzle Shop or at our West Michigan LOCATIONS.