Midnight Blue

     I usually don't name, or stage custom pieces.  While I want them to look good for photos, I just don't usually feel the need to do it.  This time though, I could just picture how this piece would look with some of my iron stone and china in it, so I couldn't help it!  I feel like Midnight Blue is a perfect description of the color.  This piece had been through some tough times before I did some work on it.  An active three year old with a ball and china cabinets don't always mix well, lol.  BUT I am so glad the owner saw that this still had life in it and could be made beautiful again.  I really love furniture like this.  It is older and was damaged but still easily made into a piece that I hope the owners will be proud of.
 

    This cabinet is oak and had lovely grain, but had many bumps and bruises and the finish was worn and chipped in places.  The owner wanted a painted finish and we looked at several examples and found some that were similar to what she wanted.  Matching up the color she wanted was a little more difficult than I anticipated.  I had the examples on my Nook tablet and took it with me to match the paint up.  So many of the blues didn't seem quite right.  I knew that rather than do too much sanding/distressing, which I don't always like to do on older pieces, I would be using a different method that would darken the paint color anyway, so finally chose Behr Cosmic Cobalt.  After removing the old finish, I painted the whole cabinet blue.  I then tried a walnut stain over the paint on the drawer.    I found that I didn't care for the walnut, as it gave the blue a yellowish cast and didn't darken the medallion accent piece enough.  I  went on to darken the whole cabinet with Minwax Mahogany Gel Stain, making sure to wipe the stain off after each segment that I did, after the 3 minutes that the directions suggest.  I did a wash of watered down paint after that and wiped it.  I finished it with polyacrylic.  I am really happy with how this piece looks.

Shared at:

http://knickoftime.net/2015/12/vip217-christmas-roundup.html

http://thecottagemarket.com/2015/12/a-morning-cup-of-joe.html

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2015/12/pj-309-features-diy-christmas-signs-funky-junks-old-sign-stencils.html

http://www.mysalvagedtreasures.com/2015/12/vintage-inspiration-party_15.html

http://adirondackgirlatheart.com/2015/12/vintage-charm-10.html

http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/2015/12/silver-pennies-sundays-link-party-and-features-149.html

http://knickoftime.net/2015/12/vip-best-of-2015.html

http://www.theessenceofhome.blogspot.com/2015/12/share-your-style-party-46.html