Pin It

April 19, 2014

Beauty & The Beast " A Stained Art Sideboard Transformation"



So it begins,


A tale of Beauty & The Beast.


                         This once called the BEAST.............


Because it was a monster of a piece of furniture


It weighs Im guessing over 300lbs.....


A dear friend of mine saw it at a goodwill store and bought it for me to refinish.


She said this thing is big and ugly but I feel sure you can transform it.

     
      so I put on my thinking cap.............




Ugly it was and this is how she looked when I started stripping off the top layer of varnish.


She sat in my shop for a while while I decided what in the world to do with it.


I remembered seeing a creative blogger do some sort of stained art


.................................so I went on my search to find the picture to get some inspiration


Bingo The Inspired Room is where I had seen it.


                     I was in Awwwww


I was truly inspired, a great name for her blog.....Thank you Inspired Room!!!!



                        I am no artist, to say the least I was intimidated.


Could I do it?


Would I be able to make a beauty from this beast?


                I had to give it a try...................



determination burned within me like a runner trying to win a race



                  ..................blood, sweat and tears..............


I jumped in............ sink or swim.




After CitraStrip stripper worked it's magic this is what the top looked like





A beautiful piece of hardwood unveiled ..................


The whole piece is wood that is why it is so heavy






Since I am no artist, I began the transformation of the top by printing out a petal design with my cameo silhouette.

Then it took hours to draw out each petal of different sizes into the perfect place.






Excuse the ucky phone pics

I was too focused to run back to the house to get my real camera so I would shoot and move on



This was challenging to say the least, however I was determined so I push on with the staining



Sisters, I had absolutely NO CLUE what I was doing


But.............  I had a vision


So I started with dark stain and in the center of each petal and let it sit for a few mins


                                      .................OK, OK maybe seconds


and tried my best to make a gradient transformation from darker to light


                                  


I was so excited to watch each petal grow into a beautiful flower covering the top of the beast













                    Each day she transformed into this beautiful masterpiece.


After I completed all the gradient petal staining I went back with an artist brush with darker stain and a soft cloth

                     
                                 

                        Yeah I know Im no artist but I had to try,  I had a vision remember


I would dip the brush in some stain and draw some lines and then diffuse it with my cloth


I was in love with the look.


Once all the petals were as good as it was gonna get,


            I lightly stained over the rest of the top and added a low sheen poly to protect her petal glory


The top was finished.......




And boy did that take a long time

...........cuz I am picky, picky picky



I can say it was not perfect, it was a learning curve


the more petals I did the better they looked ..........I felt a little sorry for the first ones I did ...snicker


However that is the beauty of life nothing is perfect so I accepted her imperfectly beautiful imperfections and moved on.


Next up was the body of the beast now transforming into a beauty


She was boring and plain and heavy.....what to do


I painted it with a creamy off white and lightly layer a color wash over it called cappuccino 






Her doors were boring and plain so I went to hobby lobby and picked up some oh so cute

cast iron door pulls and added them for easy access.

                         
               Along with some molding from Lowe's to trim out the fronts of the doors for a designer look








Lastly I had to add feet to this piece and get her up off the floor.



So another trip to Lowes for some pretty bun feet and she is a PRIZE






   






so beast here




To Beauty 




So do tell me what you think?


Have you tried your hand at stained art?  if so Im dying to hear from you and see pics



If you have enjoyed this transformation would you consider liking us on Facebook and follow along with google friend connect on my Side Bar


You're the best and thanks for visiting............


parting at

My 1929 Charmer

Transforming Life,

 photo c0a7f9c1-0706-4bd1-8ee9-91308b672bbb.png

7 Thoughtful Comments:

Unknown said...

Doesn't matter if you're restoring furniture, writing or painting a masterpiece, you need the inspiration. Once you've got that there's no stopping. I LOVE what you've done with this unit. You had an idea and ran with it and it's come out beautifully. Good on ya and Yay you, this is an excellent transformation. Only wish I had such wonderful visions as you've had with this. Keep going! You have talent.

Lori @ Color It Simple said...

Thank you Miranda for your lovely comment. You can get inspired and have a vision just go for it my friend!

Unknown said...

She was a massive beast and yes she's a beauty now. once again, such an amazing work my friend.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous! I love the floral detailing on the wood and the staining is just amazing! I totally agree with the beast to beauty transformation. I hope you keep on restoring amazing pieces like those in the future. Good job!

Premier Building Supply

Shabby Sweet Tea said...

The floral staining is incredible! I am so impressed Lori!!

Unknown said...

I saw your transformation on Pinterest, and I just had to come over to your website and see the steps you took to make this such a beautiful piece! You really have it in you because even after seeing your steps, I don't think I could even come close to the petals and detailing you did on that flower. I just don't have the patience, but you do, and thank God, because it turned out perfectly! Great job on one hell of a beast that came out more than just one hell of a beauty!

Ellen said...

You think you're not an artist????? YES, YOU ARE!!

Photography

Shoot Fly Shoot