It is such a joy to work on solid, carved, wood pieces and updating them with excellent quality products. This one needed quite a bit of work to get to the fun part of painting. A new backing was made, new shelves, and a hanging rod for versatility. With the exception of the underneath side of the cabinet, every inch of this armoire was painted.
For the body, I layered Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence, French Linen, Paris Grey and Old Ochre. With a piece this size (over 7 ft. tall), General Finishes Topcoat in Flat out Flat was the perfect way to seal the paint in preparation for my favorite part, which is aging. I knew the moment I saw this piece that the carvings needed to be set off with a beautiful glaze effect. My all-time favorite glaze to age a piece like this is General Finishes Glaze Effects in Van Dyke Brown. All I can say is, “Swoon”. Look how the glaze sits down in the layers of paint!
The inside of the cabinet was painted with Annie Sloan’s Old Ochre. The new shelves, backing and rod were installed and then aged to match the rest of the cabinet. General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Flat and Glaze Effects in Van Dyke Brown were used to complete the sealing and aging of the interior cabinet. For the final touch, we had a skeleton key made so that the customer would be able to lock the cabinet and enjoy this beauty in full. This is the largest piece I’ve ever worked on but the General Finishes products made application easy and turned this drab armoire into a stunning work of art.
