Petticoat Junktion

Entering this project at Young House Love for the Pinterest Challenge spring edition.

If you guys stopped by yesterday and read my Cherry Red and Turquoise Painted Cedar Chest post then you’ve already seen the before and after pictures.

Now here’s the in-between happenings.

 

before

$15.00 cedar chest with broken top

 

 

I wanted the bottom coat of paint to be turquoise, but I didn’t like the paint I had on hand so I did some mixing. The butter dish on the bottom right is some paint I mixed for an earlier project. The Behr sample on the left I picked up for $.50. The Behr was a little green and my pre-mixed was a little blue so I mixed them to make the top color.

 

 

one coat of turquoise paint

 

 

Vaseline……the secret ingredient

History via Wikipedia

The first known reference to the name Vaseline was by the inventor of petroleum jelly, Robert Chesebrough in his U.S. patent for the process of making petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. “I, Robert Chesebrough, have invented a new and useful product from petroleum which I have named Vaseline…”

The technique of using petroleum jelly as a paint resist has been around for a while but I haven’t tried it until now. I’ve read several posts about it and have seen some beautiful results.

this is what I did….

I rubbed a little Vaseline on the cedar chest in strategic areas after the coat of turquoise paint was dry.  I wore gloves so my hands wouldn’t be icky, and I didn’t put the Vaseline on thick, just little swipes here and there.

 

Some oops paint from Wal-Mart for the top coat. This paint has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. It’s a beautiful Cherry Red and I fell in love with it at first sight. Just haven’t had the perfect project until now.

After I rubbed her down with Vaseline (sounds a little strange when I put it that way), I put a coat of the Cherry Red on the bottom of the chest. The top I intended to leave turquoise, no red topcoat.

 

When the red paint was dry I took a damp rag and wiped it down. The areas where the Vaseline was applied rubbed off pretty easily. At this point I decided to go ahead and put Vaseline on the top and then paint it red too. I wasn’t loving the contrast.

 

 

I went through the same process with the top…..damp rag…..rub all over…..paint comes off.

 

Next for the “over the top” touch, a Martha Stewart stencil from Michaels.

 

I used the same turquoise paint for the stencil. I didn’t want a perfect look so I did a few off center curlicues at the bottom of the design and then I took a sanding block and lightly sanded the whole chest, stencil included, just very lightly.

To protect the finish and for a little extra pow, I applied two coats of Minwax Poly Acrylic Latex Gloss Sealer.

 

 

The turquoise and red really pop against each other. The turquoise doesn’t show as well in the photos. It’s a little more vibrant than its showing here.

The color combo inspiration came from a chest painted by Amanda of Mommy Is CooCoo. She painted and stenciled a beautiful chest using these colors. I’ve had it pinned to my Furniture Inspiration board for over a year.

What do you think?  Have you used Vaseline to distress a paint project?

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places I party…

Tatertots and Jello

Thrifty Décor Chick

French County Cottage

Too Much Time On My Hands

Funky Junk Interiors

Jennifer Rizzo

Savvy Southern Style

Diy Showoff

Stone Gable

Diy By Design

Shabby Creek Cottage

 

 Common Ground

 

 Liz Marie

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy

Tags: after, before, decor, design, distressed, distressing, diy, furniture, home, martha stewart, painted, resist, stencil, stenciling, technique, thrift, vaseline