Caitlin tries glazing

I needed a new TV stand and found this super cool vintage buffet from Craigslist that fit the bill. I even found a party planning guide stuck behind the drawer from the 50's! Honestly, I buy almost all of my furniture from Craigslist and then rehab it. They just don't make furniture with the same quality wood anymore.

Here are the before pics of the buffet.

Because my living room currently is pretty neutral as far as color, I have been dying to experiment with a statement piece. Something really bright and different looking. The decision: paint it bright Kelly green and then glaze it to look more distressed. Think Southeast Asian style. I have never glazed before and knew that I was in for a challenge.

First step: paint the buffet green.

Honestly, I could have just left it green. It looked really fun, but I was determined to glaze it and was curious to see how it worked out.

I ended up using these blog instructions as a guide: http://realitydaydream.com/furniture-glazing-tutorial/.

Overall the glazing technique was tough for someone like me who is a bit of a perfectionist. Who knew that creating a "messy" antique look is actually hard? I found it tough to make it look natural and ended up going back with a fine brush and adding some additional glaze within the cracks and details for added emphasis.

I am not going to lie, it took me a little while to get over the fact that the finished product looked "dirty" to me and now I am really happy with it. I think it added some much needed pop to our living room.

Takeaway: glazing is not as easy as it looks. Ok, let me clarify: it is easy. It is hard to make LOOK good.

On to the next thing!