In my previous post of my mantle re-do, I showed you the before and after. Now, I’m going to attempt to explain how I achieved that chippy look. Whenever I painted furniture, I always used the sanding method to distress the piece, but for the mantle I wanted more of a chipped paint look. By trial and error, this is how I accomplished it. I’m SURE there is a better way that professionals do it, but this is how I did it.
Here was the before:
First, I taped off the mantle to protect the brick, then I used a tinted primer left over from another project. This is the primer I used, and I’ve been happy with it with my other projects. It claims that you don’t need to sand the piece, so I didn’t.
Here it is primed:
After that dried, (maybe an hour?), I randomly painted with leftover paint samples from Sherwin Williams. The darker color was Seal Skin, and the grey is a mixture of Seal Skin with other leftover paint. It was a beige color. These were the colors that would show when the paint “chipped” off.
After that dried, I painted with more leftover paint, Benjamin Moore Linen White in an Eggshell finish. I think it was important that it was not in a flat finish. Flat dries too quickly. As the Linen White was drying, I started taking off the paint. I didn’t wait until it was completely dry, because it is harder to peel the paint off that way. I didn’t put all the coats on before I started peeling either. I alternated peeling, and recoating the unpeeled parts, if that makes sense. By the way, I used a bristle brush on the edges, and a sponge roller on top. the brush allows for more paint to be applied at the same time. Towards the end, I lightly used a sponge brush.
Here I am trying to get that paint off. I used my finger nails, a trowel, a screwdriver, and whatever I could find. You can see brush marks in this picture, but we can get rid of that later.
I used my embossing heat gun (a heat gun used to make embossed cards) to heat the paint to scrape off if the paint was too dry, and also to achieve that bubbling effect. When I used the heat gun, I made sure to use the trowel (and not my fingernail) to scrape off the paint, as the heat gun heated up the mantle quite a bit.
I live in Colorado, and with the dry air, the paint was drying too quickly, so I would continue to paint on top of where I wanted chipping, because it loosens up the under layers.
So, I kept going at this process until I got what I wanted. I also sanded in a few spots to get down to the original color of the mantle, but not much. I then went over lightly with a very fine sand paper over the areas where I didn’t want to see the brush marks. In the end, I found the mantle was too white to look like it was an old piece. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the white chipped mantle.) I “dirtied” it up a bit by rubbing a gel stain (found in the paint dept.) on top in a Walnut finish, they wipe it off quickly.
I did not distress the top of the mantle, as I didn’t want too bumpy of a surface for all those revolving accessories. Plus, I’m too short to see the top of the mantle, and I’m the only one that notices these things around here. :) I did, however, rub on that gel stain and wiped it off.
Here is the final piece:
I may end up going back to distress and remove some more paint later, we’ll see. I also may “crackle” it in a few spots as well. For now I will live with it.I hope I was able to explain my steps. If not, please feel free to ask questions.
It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in Between Naps on the Porch’s Metamorphosis Monday. Welcome if you are visiting!
This is a post on my fireplace mantle re-do. The mantel in my family has annoyed me for a long time. It had no character. It didn’t do anything for my revolving artwork and accessories. No pizzaz. The finish on the whole wall of bookcases(not shown) and the mantle were a reddish-brown stain, and the wood is oak. I’m not a huge fan of oak. The opposite side of this fireplace is our kitchen, in a dark cherrywood.
I debated a long time of whether or not to paint the mantle, bookcases, or both. Resale value of our home was the biggest factor, as people around here still prefer wood (even oak). Well, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re not moving anytime soon as we are pretty settled in our neighborhood. So, testing the waters, I mentioned to my husband that the whole wall of built-ins and mantle were not doing anything for me. He agreed that it was looking dated, and that I could paint everything if I wanted… I love my husband….he has no fear of paint. :)
I decided to start with the mantle first. This was my inspiration:
Ledge from Pottery Barn
Here is a before of the mantle:
After much distressing, and layering of colors to achieve a worn, chippy look, here are the after pics:
I know this isn’t the look for everyone, but I love it, and I think my artwork looks so much better! Best of all, my husband loves it as well!
I will write a post this week on how I achieved this chippy look. Thanks for visiting, and check out all the other great makeovers on Metamorphosis Mondays at Between Naps on the Porch!
Well, school started last week for our children. The summer was good while it lasted. It is now a distant memory. We will miss this:
Now back to the real world, which includes this:
We were at a soccer tournament all weekend – it was exciting. I think I lost a few pounds from being nervous for our girls. The above picture was from the championship final game in our bracket. The score was 0-0 at the end. We ended up losing 4-2 because of the tie breaker penalty shootout. Heartbreaking, but I think we are now over it. :)
By the way, you see #4 in red above? She has bubble wrap around a green cast. She broke her wrist a few weeks ago at soccer camp. She played tough even with that cast. I’m a proud mama…
Have a great Monday everyone!
My birthday weekend in Napa continues on day 2. Here are some images from that day: 
We had an amazing time – our trip flew by way too quickly. Turning 40 was certainly worth it to come here again! :)
Above is a photo I took at Pride Mountain Vineyards For my birthday, my husband and I took a short trip to California’s wine country- the Napa Valley. Here are a few photos from our trip. We flew out late on a Thursday night and drove an hour or so to get to our hotel in Sonoma at around 1 a.m. That’s 2 a.m. Colorado time. I never stay up that late! The next morning we hit the ground running! Literally. We went running, (which we love to do together), ate breakfast, then got in our car to get to our first appointment at Pride Mountain Vineyard. We stayed away from the larger wineries, as we visited the larger ones 4 years ago. We tried to stick with the smaller wineries, where the tours were very personal.
Below is wine being poured directly from the barrel.
Here we are inside the cave:
Next stop was Pride’s neighbor, Barnett Vineyards. Look at the view!
Here’s Jacqueline, our guide, retrieving the wine from the barrel:
Barnett is known for their Rattlesnake Cabernet. There’s a reason for the name:
Finally, our next stop was our quaint bed and breakfast. The Chanric Inn, located in Calistoga. One of the Owners, Ric, is a chef, and he makes the most AMAZING breakfasts!
Here are a few photos of the living area inside. It was a wonderful mix of modern and vintage:
For dinner we went to Tra Vigne. Here we are in front of the restaurant. Look at me with my big ‘ol camera bag!
We had made reservations for outdoor seating. The ambience was fabulous! We had the fig pizza as one of our entrees. It was the most amazing pizza we’ve ever had. I’ve never had figs before; I wish we had a fig tree...
Day one was packed full of picture taking, wine tasting, scenery viewing, and people meeting. Day two was just as great – more pictures to come!
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