I Ruined It! {and Then Made It Beautiful}
The creative process is one that doesn’t always go as planned. That was the case with this cedar chest makeover. I thought at one point I had ruined it, but I kept going, changed the direction and really love how it came out.
I wanted to share the thought process behind this makeover, because I get emails all the time saying “I’m not very good at this…”, “I think this one is a fail…”, etc. Trust me you are not alone, everyone who does anything faces frustrations from time to time. Sometimes if you just push through, it may come out even BETTER than expected.
I had an older chest painted in Basil green milk paint and decided it needed updating. So I painted with 2 coats of Dixie Belle's In the Navy to completely cover the old color.
Next: I applied Dixie Belle Mud (or spackle could work also) over the stencil to get the raised stencil look. I applied it with a plastic spatula and peeled the stencil off. Then let it dry.
Take note- the thicker the application, the longer it will take to dry.
As I painted I began losing some confidence; what had I just done?! I just kept going with . My creative process was seriously being tested.
I hate it! It looked spotty, more like a mistake than intentional. I painted right back over it.
To add interest, I applied Dixie Belle (water based) black wax with a chip brush. Then used Satin Top Coat for the soft sheen and seal to protect the raised stencil effect.
I really do like the end result now!! Lesson here is trust the creative process as you may be pleasantly surprised!
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Donna Ohanian on Aug 29, 2019
Here they are in “ smeared mess” status after using Valspar Crackle paint. Like you... very glad to have them looking good now.
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Very nice, what stencil did you use?