Two Tone Turquoise Paint Finish Highlights Furniture Details

Painting Antique Furniture

The furniture project today was a custom makeover. The dresser with mirror is an antique and has beautiful curvy swirly wood appliques.  The client requested a two tone turquoise paint finish…..and heavy distressing.

The client had a vision and it worked. Two tone turquoise was the perfect paint finish for this piece. I highlighted the wood details with a dark turquoise for nice contrast. I know the distressed paint is a bit over the top for some of you but that is what the client requested.This is how the dresser looked before painting. The customer purchased it at the shop next door to the store where my booth is located. I painted the dresser at the shop. I used to do that a lot. In fact this makeover is from February 2012. I found the photos in an online album where I apparently saved them along with some other photos. It’s a pretty cool piece and a nice makeover so I thought I would share it with you.  I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since I painted it. Time flies.
The paint is Beyond Paint in White and I used those little bottles of acrylic paint to make the two shades of turquoise. I like mixing my own paint colors. You can find my custom Junktion Red paint here along with the formula.
The wood details on the mirror were in perfect condition. A lot of times the curly cue tips have been broken off.
I removed the mirror from the dresser before painting it. I’m not a neat painter so I applied painter’s tape around the edges of the mirror. That’s easier than scraping off dried paint.
I used the darker turquoise paint on the bottom two drawers and the detailed appliques. The darker turquoise really highlights the curvy wood pieces.
An electric sander was the only way to go for this project. The pointy mouse sander was a good choice for getting into those small curvy areas. I used 60 grit sandpaper in order to remove a lot of paint.

The antique dresser had wheels. I removed them for clean up and oiling.

Close up look at the details.
If I were to do a similar piece now I would use a neutral or dark wax to darken the raw wood caused by the distressing.

I would also be more precise with the distressing. Using an electric sander leaves weird looking “sanded” areas if you aren’t careful. I don’t mind admitting that I mess up…..which I do a lot. In this case I’ve learned through trial and error and years of furniture makeovers how to use the sander and get a more authentic looking distressed finish.

The knobs on the top two drawers were big and glass and didn’t look too good with the new paint. I purchased 4 new knobs at Hobby Lobby and I thought they would be perfect.  The  color was nice but they stuck out too far and the curvature of the dresser drawer made them sit at a weird angle. So I made a trip home to pick up some plain old brown knobs from my hardware stash.

I painted the original drawer pulls on the bottom two drawers using the turquoise paint.

The client was happy and that makes me happy. I love the finish. Do you like it? What about the color? Too much distressing?

How about seeing my older paint projects. Like it or not? Most of you probably haven’t seen my earlier work.

As always thanks for being here and have a great day, Kathy

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