Tuesday 13 May 2014

Rocking Chair - WIP


We bought this rocking chair from a friend not long after we moved here. We bought is unseen, and I was a little disappointed when I saw it, as it had a much more modern finish than I was expecting - shiny, pale pine. So it has languished in the corner of the dining room (along with all the unpacked boxes and other bits of furniture that we're not quite sure where to put yet) for the last 2 years.


Pale, shiney pine but a nice style


I have always meant to paint it or sand it or something to make it look more rustic or old but you know how things are, best of intentions and all that.

Then I started hearing about Annie Sloan paint and how it needs no prep work (always a sure fire way to put me off doing something!). With the fast approaching arrival of baby #3 I decided that I would like to use the chair in the nursery for night feeds & painting it white or cream would make it fit in with the white furniture. I decided this months ago, but still wilfed about getting no further with actually buying the paint. Until finally this week I went and got a tin of Old White Annie Sloan paint. I am lucky enough to have 3 different stockists within a 20min drive of here!

Sunday morning, Mr Wilfing headed off to London to watch Spurs annihilate his beloved Aston Villa, leaving me home with the boys. As they seemed happy enough playing on their various electronic devices for a bit, and as Mr W had kindly carried the chair upstairs to the nursery for me on Saturday & I had given it a good wipe down (super dusty!), I decided to bite the bullet and slap some paint on. The lady in the shop advised it would probably need 2 coats to give a nice even coverage (I've had a bad experience with some Annie Sloan paint a few weeks ago when about to paint an old church pew but more of that another time).

Here it is after 1 quick coat - not much care taken as it was getting close to lunch and I was rather hungry!

Much better already!

Not looking too bad, just a little patchy. The paint was really thick and I used an Annie Sloan brush which left quite big brush strokes, so I decided to lightly sand it with very fine wet/dry sandpaper before  applying a second coat of slightly watered down paint.


After it's second coat of thinned down paint using a normal flat paintbrush
Here it is above after the second coat - rather sunny so difficult to see it properly. 
 
 


After a thin layer of clear wax applied with a cloth

And here it is after a layer of clear wax applied this morning. The wax has shown up some patchiness in the paint coverage which is a shame as I thought I'd given it a nice even coverage. 

I'm now undecided as to whether I should do some distressing. I had planned to just paint and wax it and buff to a slight sheen. But in places the paint has rubbed off some edges giving it a slightly distressed look which looks ok. Generally I'm not too keen on the full-on shabby chic look. But i do like vintage and character. Should I go the whole hog and distress more edges or leave it as it is? Any advice/opinions would be very gratefully received! 

I did plan to apply another layer of wax tomorrow, but not sure I can be bothered. It is rather arduous being on my hands and knees waxing & buffing with this enormous belly getting in the way - serves me right for leaving it so long to do it!!

Anyways, please do let me know your thoughts on whether or not I should distress some edges a little more...

2 comments:

  1. I think it looks great as it - are you planning to crochet a cushion or blanket to put on your chair?
    Caz xx

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    1. Hi Caz, thanks for your feedback. I think I will leave as is, and if it naturally distresses a bit on the edges then so be it! I thought I'd put the first crochet blanket tha I made http://www.wilfingmum.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/hooked.html
      But you're right, I probably need some cushions too!

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