Painted furniture is something I love to do. There are endless options and often you can completely transform a piece using just paint.
Other times, paint adds that certain detail that the furniture lacks. Such was the case with my latest client. A dealer of fine imported wood furniture, he had a table base copied for a client using a picture that the client had found in a magazine. The style, type of wood, and coloring were matched completely. However, when the client went to pick up the piece they were not happy. Small inlay circles–dots really, had been omitted from the design. To anyone else, this would seem insignificant, but to this client , it was what she loved about the design.
It would have taken several weeks and several thousand dollars to make another table base—that’s where I came in.
I was called to see if I could replicate the wood inlay and add the dots in between the flowers to look like it was made that way.
Wood inlay from the manufacturer
When painted wood, it’s important to remember that wood is made up of layers and layers or fibers and colors. Since the area that was to be paintedwas so small, I decided to use 3 colors with 3 or 4 layers.
The first thing I did was to measure the distance between the flowers to get the right size for the circle. Once that was determined, I had a sign shop make up 60 circles on adhesive backing for me to use as stencils and placement.
I peeled the dots off the backing and placed them where I wanted them. Then I put the holes over the dots and removed the dots from the holes.
Placment of the stencil stickers
picking out the center of the stencil
I used my picking tool to roughen the centers of the circles taking care not to mar them in any way.
The first step is the base coat. When I look at the flowers, I see a lot of yellow. I used a cream Safe Coat primer base and added yellow ochre, and van dyke brown. I toned it down with a very small amount of burnt sienna. I used a mixture of Faux Creme Colors and Van Gogh acrylics with the primer.
I then mixed french red, burnt sienna, and bright yellow to get that orange/brown tone that I saw in the wood. that color was mixed with Aquacreme to give durability and extend open wet time. That gave me more time to work with the glazes as I manipulated them on the wood.
The second color was sky blue, yellow ochre, and french red mixed with van dyke brown. That gave me the darker brown shade I saw in the wood tone.
After the base coat was dry, I applied these two colors by applying, then wiping off with a q-tip. I did this several times until I achieved the look that matched the wood.
Once that was let to set for 24 hours, I mixed van dyke brown and black to get the color of the outlining of the inlay. This I applied with a fine #0 natural brush. I removed the stencil right away.
Painted wood inlay
I finished with a stencil just a bit bigger than the one I used for the stencil and placed that over the circles one by one and applied a very light touch of Gloss polyurethane. This gave the circles a matching finish and also a bit of a top coat for durability (although this design is still delicate).
The proper way to finish this would be to give the whole area of the table leg a spray with the same gloss polyurethane that was used on the rest of the base.
The furniture company was very happy, as was the client.
Please visit my web site or call me at (678) 463-6648 or e-mail me for a free consultation.
Tags: atlanta faux painter, Atlanta Georgia decorative painter, atlanta painter, cabinet finisher atlanta, decorating, decorative painting atlanta, decorative painting georgia, decorative painting marietta, faux finisher atlanta, faux painted wood, faux painter atlanta, faux painting, foe painter atlanta, georgia artist, georgia decorating, georgia faux painter, home decorating atlanta, natural painter georgia, painted cabinets atlanta, painted faux wood, painted furniture, painted furniture atlanta
