If you’re into furniture painting, do you have a favorite, go-to color? If so, and you find yourself choosing it over and over, do you consider yourself in a rut? Or, is it just simply a tried and true color that works with your decor style. Mine is farmhouse, with distressed pieces that intentionally look old and worn. My color of choice is Duck Egg Blue by Annie Sloan. How ’bout you?
Since moving to our little farmhouse in Tennessee, I’ve had a lot of fun decorating it.
So far, it’s been mostly smaller projects, many being thrifted makeovers. I’ve shared a lot of my tips for creating a farmhouse look on a budget HERE. And I when I can’t find what I want looking for thrifting, I’m searching Amazon for cool finds (like these for storage and organization).
My collection of milk glass was the one thing I had not been able to find a proper home for in my new space yet, so it’s remained packed away.
One afternoon, as I was browsing my local Varagesale app, I came across a brown wood farmhouse curio, but it was a little too expensive. I didn’t pursue it for a while, and it just stayed there for sale. Anyone else like me, and have to take some time to make a decision? I mean, sometimes if you’re at a garage sale or antique shop, you have to decide quickly. But, I’ll go on the facebook marketplace or sale app, and I’ll watch a piece for a while. The things I knew I liked about this curio were the size and the fact that it’s real solid wood, no mdf or wood overlay.
Okay, okay, y’all already know I bought it. I watched it on there for about a week, then I talked the guy down from his price. Sold.
Farmhouse Curio Cabinet Makeover
There are many beautiful colors out there, but Duck Egg Blue is simply my favorite. Old White is a close second though. If you don’t have an Annie Sloan dealer near you, here’s a few other brands in a very similar color on Amazon.
Chalk paint doesn’t require much prep. Clean your piece well, and make any repairs that may need to done.
Also, try to use pizza as a bribe to recruit a helper.
If you’re making over a curio or hutch with glass doors is decide if you have remove the glass panels or not. If you can (like I did in this Goodwill hutch makeover) then consider yourself lucky. In this farmhouse curio, I didn’t see a way to safely remove the glass, so I had to use blue painters tape around them. Ugh, that’s such a pain and so time consuming, but it’s worth it.
On this piece, I removed the doors, the inside shelves, and the drawer pulls and knobs. Again, time consuming, but ultimately it’s so much easier to paint this way.
My daughter and I were able to begin the curio in the evening with one coat on the cabinet, front of the doors, and tops of the shelves. We let it dry overnight and were able to finish the next day.
I reused the same hardware that it came with because it’s unique and looks good with the style. I also used a sanding block to distress it in a few places.
I’ve chosen not to seal it as of now. I know, this is a controversial decision in the world of chalk painters. Because I want it to have a distressed look of an old farmhouse curio, I’m leaving it this way. It may become rubbed or worn, so be it. If it needs sealing down the road, I’ll use a wax on it (Daddy Van’s beeswax in lavender is my favorite).
Now, my milk glass is finally on display, and I couldn’t be more happy with the results.