Black Beauty {Vintage Vanity Makeover}

Today I wanted to share with you a vintage vanity makeover I recently completed that I’m naming “Black Beauty.”

20170310_134322wmFor this furniture makeover I used Country Chic Paint. They are a Canadian company and they offer both chalk and clay based paint. Their paints are eco-friendly, odourless, require minimal prep and are easy to distress for that country chic look.

For this project I chose the All-In-One Decor Paint in Liquorice, a rich black. I started work on the chair. These chairs are so easy to makeover. There are usually just four screws underneath the seat, holding it in place. I removed the seat, gave the chair a rough sanding, cleaned it thoroughly and got to painting!

chaircollage

I think if there was an award for prettiest paint can ever, Country Chic would have to win! How cute are those flowers?

I tried Country Chic’s painting sponge for this project. This sponge makes fast work of all those tiny curves on an intricate piece like this chair. After allowing the paint to cure for a few days, I followed with a coat of polycrylic.

Next, I recovered the chair seat. No sewing skills required! If you can use a staple gun and wrap corners like a present, you can recover a chair. Even if your staple gun is ancient and busted, so that you have to load each and every single staple individually. True story.

Here she is with the chair seat back in place.

IMG_9463editwatermark

Check out those curves!

The vanity top was in pretty rough shape when I found this piece, so I gave it a good sanding with my electric sander. Next, I applied Minwax brand wood conditioner. I find this really helps the wood take the stain more evenly. The bottom left picture below is after wood conditioner. It was showing quite a bit of red undertones and I wanted to downplay those. So I then applied two coats of Minwax Jacobean. It looks like a brand new top!

woodtopcollage

After a few minor repairs to veneer and the drawers on the vanity itself, I sanded the drawers and body of the piece, cleaned it and primed. Priming is not a necessary step in most cases, when using Country Chic Paint, or any chalk or clay paint for that matter. If you are worried about bleed through, which can happen with a mahogany piece, especially if you are painting with white, then priming is a good idea. It’s also helpful if your piece is very slick and you want to be sure of adhesion.

The paint went on very easily and the coverage was excellent. For this particular piece, I decided to go for a more clean look, so I kept the distressing to a minimum. After allowing the paint to cure for a few days, I applied two coats of Minwax brand polycrylic in semi-gloss. This is an extra step, All-In-One Decor paint does not require a top coat. I like the piece of mind a top coat gives you. I also personally like how polycrylic slightly deepens the colour and sheen on your piece.

IMG_9374watermark

If you’ve ever applied poly to black chalk or clay paint, then you know that it can be especially difficult to avoid seeing streaks, or blotches in your finish. You can help avoid this by allowing your paint to fully cure, working in long even strokes and avoid over-working the paint. If you are still seeing some blotches, you can also add a tiny bit of your original paint colour to your poly, which will help even out any streaking that may occur.

20170310_132935watermark

I lined the drawers with some beautiful black and white floral paper. If you’re new to my blog, then I’m sure you can tell that I have a deep love for anything black and white! If it’s black and white AND floral – stop, my beating heart! The only thing that might be better, is black and white stripes.

IMG_9331watermark

See the dove-tailed drawers? You have to pay a small fortune to buy furniture made that way today.

20170310_133808watermark

I gave the piece some new Cynthia Rawley knobs. I love the touch of glamour they add.

IMG_9350watermark

Another thing I love about vintage vanities is that if you remove the mirror, they also make fantastic desks.

IMG_9340watermark

Here are a few before and after shots.

ChairBeforeAfter

beforeandaftervaity

I just love how the rich and moody black, along with the crisp and clean stripes, play against the warmer wood top and the touches of brass on the knobs.

20170310_133350watermark

Another makeover in the books! What do you think? Do you love black and white as much as I do? Leave me a comment below!

This piece is for sale locally, here in the Regina, Saskatchewan area. If you are interested please email me at [email protected], or message me via Instagram or Facebook.

Signature

 

 

 

Disclosure: This post was created in collaboration with Country Chic Paint. I received product to use in this project, however all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *