French Provincial Nightstand

posted in: French Country | 1

This was my first free-stuff, curbside, Craigslist pick up! At first I was a little disappointed because the quality wasn’t the greatest, mainly in that it was laminate, but it was still in good shape and had some nice details.

French Provincial Nightstand - Before

After my multi-step effort with my beach style bookcase – sanding, priming, and painting with homemade chalk paint – I decided this time I would try authentic Annie Sloan chalk paint. The laminate top was pretty glossy, so I did sand that by hand with a coarse-grit sanding block. It only took a couple of minutes and the grit was perfect – roughed it up without scratching.

Formica nightstand top to be painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint

I first painted the everything but the drawers and lower panel below the drawers in Old White, along with the bar across the larger drawer.

French provincial nightstand painted in Old White ASCP

Then the drawers and lower panel I did in French Linen. After a couple of coats and putting the drawers back in place, I could see that the gray was too dark, so I mixed the French Linen with Old White to get a lighter gray that didn’t contrast with the Old White so much.

French Provincial Nightstand Drawer in French Linen ASCP

French Provincial nightstand drawer being painted in French Linen ASCP

It looked nice, but it needed something extra. I absolutely love the Graphics Fairy images, so I picked out a French winemaker transfer to put on the top. I downloaded the image and then used the chalk transfer method and painted the transfer in the same gray I mixed up for the drawers. Unfortunately, I got so absorbed in that process that I didn’t take any photos along the way.

Top of French Provincial nightstand hand painted with French Winemaker graphic from the Graphics Fairy

I used a small flat paintbrush from my daughters first paint set. It was very difficult to paint that level of detail, so I had to do some touch ups afterward with the Old White.

My last step was to seal it. I wanted a slightly less matte finish, so rather than waxing I used polycrylic. The one problem I had was the touch ups. They made a very uneven finish on the top. I had to apply several coats, sanding in between until I got it completely flat to eliminate what looked like a blistering surface. But in the end, I think it turned out very pretty.

French Provincial nightstand update with Annie Sloan chalk paint and Graphics Fairy furniture transfer

 

One Response

  1. Sarah Newton

    This one is awesome. I love the calm colors.

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