The French Fern
No, this isn't a post about gardening. It's about a French Provincial chest joining together with a beautiful botanical transfer to be transformed into something quite lovely. Have you ever had a piece of furniture that the first time you laid eyes on it you knew exactly what you wanted to do with it? That was what happened when I saw this chest. I saw it finished with Buttercream and the Fern Woods transfer from Prima.
This piece was in great shape, but it was just drab! It needed a little love.
The piece had a shiny, slick finish, so I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle's, Slick Stick. It's the perfect primer for slick pieces. And anything that prevents me from having to sand is great! That wasn't the only prep I had to do to this piece. I can usually anticipate when a piece might be prone to bleed through, but I didn't think it was going to happen here. As I finished a coat of the Dixie Belle color, Buttercream, I began to see spots, Then the whole piece turned a pale yellow. Yuck! So, I grabbed the BOSS. It is great for not only preventing bleed through, but also for blocking odors on some of those stinky pieces of furniture.After the BOSS was dry, I added 2 coats of Dixie Belle's paint color, Buttercream.
Once I finished painting, I waited 24 hours to add the transfer. I taped around the doors to keep the transfers in the reset areas only.
I wanted each door to be different so I cut out a variety of leaf designs from the Fern Woods transfer and added them to the doors.
The hardware was a little dull, so I painted it with Dixie Belle's color, Palmetto. While the paint was wet, I wiped it with a damp rag to expose some of the brass.
Ooh la la! The French & the French go nicely together!
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?