I am far from perfect… & make mistakes a lot.
But perfect is boring right? & my mistakes are
just happy accidents that help me learn more about myself.
This is also true when it comes to painting furniture.
I learn as I go, & learn from all of my “mistakes”.
I get so many emails daily asking for tips & I have
decided to share my tips & tricks with all of you
from my experience in painting so far.
I made a mistake a week ago.. & I have learned
a huge lesson from that mistake that I made.
It’s simple, & may seem dumb, but it doesn’t hurt
to be reminded so that you don’t ruin a
piece of furniture like I did…
 This is a little stenciled nightstand I had painted a few months ago,
but had never sealed it. I went to go seal it with polyurethane
& failed to make sure the brush I was using was clean.
Yup, the brush I used had some unknown substance in it &
ruined the whole top to this lovely nightstand…
after a few choice words & a moment of sadness,
I decided to make some changes & make the nightstand
lovely once again…
 I decided to add stripes to the top, yes, stripes make me happy
& after I ruined the stenciled top, stripes were the next
best thing.
 I also distressed the piece to make it a lovely shabby
chic nightstand.
I was really upset when I messed up the top of this piece..
but to be honest, I’m glad it happened now, because
I love this little nightstand.
In case you care what the inside of this lovely little nightstand
happens to look like…
 The combo of the light gray & blue with antiquing
is my new favorite combo.
The slight antique finish really brings out all of the detail in this
piece & makes the detail & colors pop out more.
So my paint tip #1 may seem kind of silly, but can make all
the difference. Make sure all of your utensils are clean & properly
dried off so that nothing foreign mixes with your paint or whatever you are
using. It’s all fun & games until you get wood stain mixed in with your
white paint…
Have you made any errors while painting? What’s your biggest
“happy accident” that you have made? What kind of tips do you want
me to share with you? Let me know in the comments below
or on the facebook page…
Talk to you soon…
Liz Marie
linking to…
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lizmariegalvan
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lizmariegalvan
I love this piece and even though I loved it with the stenciled look, I adore it with the new stripes. I am soon to be working on my first time at shabby chic furniture and am grateful for any tips!
Thank you Wendy! I agree.. I love it now. Good luck on your first project.. & I will try to post some more very useful tips very soon! Thanks again for your comment!
I figure it’s all part of the journey as long as we learn something and love what we are doing. I bought 2 chairs at the thrift store to repaint. One would be primarily yellow to go with my Prague inspiration kitchen and the other aqua to use as a desk/extra chair in a beachy theme living room. They are both dark brown. I started the yellow one but got side tracked with the kitchen decorating and painting and when I moved a basket off it, the basket took paint off right back to the orginal chair. I had been reading about no priming and no sanding so didn’t sand and primed alittle. I have now added re-doing the chair over from scratch.
Your table looks great! ~pat
Thanks so much Pat! I agree.. It is all one big journey.. & a couple yellow chairs sound fabulous.. I hope the re-do looks great!! Thanks for your sweet comment!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I think your mistake, turned it into a masterpiece. I liked the stencil, but the stripes are simple but elegant! Beautiful as always!
thanks so much Traci! I was hoping that people would love the transformation as much as me… It’s nice to not regret the “mistake” anymore
There are no mistakes Liz, just happy accidents! I love the stripes!
Good saying!! This was for sure a happy accident.. so true
Thanks for sharing Rona!
Great tip! I think it looks fantastic either way, but I can relate to the disappointment. Love the color! Megan
Thanks Megan! It was such a disappointment.. but I’m glad I didn’t just give up and throw it away
haha
It’s beautiful! What a bummer about ruining the stencil though.
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
yes! It was such a bummer after all that work.. haha live and learn!
Beautiful!
Thank you Mindie!
I always love your choice of color. I, however, am too chicken to paint any of the pieces that I have considered painting. I am holding out for a few new pieces of furniture for our home so I can give new life to whatever I do find… Probably I should get over my fears before welcoming “new” pieces into our home, haha.
haha Yes! just take a brush and paint a big stripe on something & you will have to finish it then & I guarantee you will love it!
I am fan of stripes too. They turned out great. I think the color is beautiful.
Thank you so much Debra!
Wonderful piece! I can imagine your heart broke when the stencil was ruined, but the stripes look terrific-the color choice is fantastic.
Thanks so much.. yes it was.. I had to walk away & it happened on a very stressful day. Bad timing! lol
It looks just beautiful! Love the colour choice.
Thanks Catherine!
I must say that I do love the stripes a little bit more. The stencil was so cute, but something is just different about them!! I made a lot of mistakes on my first piece so I feel your pain.
Thanks Mackenzie.. I like them a little better too
the blue is so cheery and just perfect for this time of year!
hope you’ll stop by my blog where i’m hosting a great giveaway:
http://hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-giveaway.html
smiles.
michele
Wow, thank you for sharing your painting skills. I really like the idea of painting with stencils and strips on night stands. Very nice.
Thanks Jo-Ann!! & you are so very welcome
Love both looks. The stripe is darling! Great mess up (;
Hahaha thank you.. I love when mess ups are beautiful!!
What an amazing nightstand. I love the cupboard and the drawer and that color is great.
Thanks so much Jenn!
I LOVE this night stand. I agree with the others – it was nice with the stenciliing, but the stripes are even better. Perfect! And the antiquing is perfectly done. BEAUTIFUL!
Thank you soooo soo much! I was hoping everyone would love them as much as me
Your nightstand looks lovely. The stripes look very elegant.
Thank you Deborah!!
This is beautiful! I love the colors!! I have an old outdated side table that has a lot of detail like this. I would love to re-do it similar to this! Thanks for the idea.
You are so very welcome! I hope yours turns out just like you want it & that you love it
Awesome re-do! I love stripes and this turned out fabulous!
Thanks Vicki.. I love stripes too!
I think the stripes are my favorite – and I like that you antiqued it – what a lovely piece!
Thanks so much Patti.. I’m glad you love it
This nightstand is fabulous! Way to not let your mistake get you down!
We’d love you to join our Beautify It Monday link party going on now at http://bringingbeauty.blogspot.com/2012/04/beautify-it-monday-3.html
Thank you so much! I will join this coming week for sure!!
The stenciled top was pretty, but I think the stripes and antiquing give it so much character! Very pretty, and a good reminder that just because a project doesn’t turn out the way you plan, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it even lovelier!
Thank you!!! & I agree with you!! & so very true.. sometimes when you are discouraged you create even better work!
Oh, it looks beautiful! I love the colors! So pretty!
Thank you so much Maria!!
Oh my gosh, I LOOOOVE this! This belongs in my house, seriously! Gorgeous piece! xo
I’m glad you messed up the stenciled one.
I really like the stripes better. Great fix!
What a cute painting job. I am in love with stripes right now. I would love it if you linked up your tips to my link party.
http://momslifevents.blogspot.com/
Thanks~ Taylor
Your Great Mom! Posted on I really misesd you! Don’t do that to me again. You have posted some great stuff and I will continue to check your site at least a couple of times each week.
Love this! We just posted our Kitchen Fun and Crafty link party and would love for you to share this! http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2012/04/kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday-link_12.html?m=1
Way to get a win out of a potential loss! Looks LOVE-ly!
This is sooo beautiful! You did a wonderful job!
Thanks for sharing…
Leticia
I love this table! I’m glad the mess up happened because, even though the first version was nice, the second version is AWESOME!
I came over here from the showcase linkup at Under the Table and Dreaming. I like the nightstand and read your first post on it too. But I’m still trying to learn how to do these sorts of things. Do you have anywhere that you posted about the preparation you did on this nightstand or the materials (paints, brushes, etc.) you used to get to the finished product? Everyone on the internet makes it seem so easy but I grew up with a mother who hated the look of wood and painted everything, and it was always horrible with huge chips of paint coming off and no sense of texture. I don’t know how to try to emulate pieces like these without doing things my mother’s way. I don’t want to put the time and effort into something to have it look horrible rather than like things I see here or in upscale resale boutiques and so on.
LOVE this striped nightstand!! We are so glad that you linked up to our “Strut Your Stuff Saturday.” Please come back and join us next week!! Thanks! -The Sisters
Hi there, I am just starting out my business with DIY’s can you please tell me how you did this night stand, I just love it and would love to put a piece this color in my store.
Thanks
Tammy