Rustic farmhouse table legs...

Well this has taken forever. It didn't help that I got struck down with tonsillitis! I thought it was a wintry illness for children. How wrong I was. You can absolutely get it when you're 43 in the middle of a heatwave. I think it must have been the stress of the arduous table lightening process that got to me. That and a school trip to the woods. In an un-air conditioned coach. It surely was a disease just waiting to happen.

 Anyway, I have scraped myself out of my sick bed (Sick bed? Fat chance!) to bring you the latest in the ongoing saga of our dining table. I think this is part four.Yes I probably do need to get out more.

Here are the legs before...

 

  ...and after...

...up close...

I tried some 'actual colours' and some blended techniques and it just looked pants. (But I really did try.) This was light brown home made furniture paint (plaster of paris) and  just emulsion over that. I forgot to sugar soap (slaps wrist) but I got away with it and I'm happy with the result. It looks a bit beachy.

I read on someones blog first that they always do the legs or body of a piece before they do the wooden top. I don't get this. I always do the tops first. You never know exactly what colour it's going to be until it's done and then you can choose your paint accordingly. The creamy colour here is ON DECK by Wilkinsons which was a perfect colour to go with the top and covered nicely in one coat. I did the top coat of the legs with just 2 tester pots costing £1 each. Bargain! Those tester pots go a long way.

I think I've decide on a wall colour which is a bit more sophisticated than the Pale Powder F&B that's there. And cheaper.

The plumber is coming to take off the radiator this week to allow me to get all the painting done. Then the floors and skirting boards can go in. And won't that make a difference? I cannot wait to say goodbye to the black floor!

I still have a lot to do. You're going to be so fed up of my dining room before I'm done! Back soon with dining room lighting...

If you want to see how I got the top so pale check my previous posts.

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Pitfalls of painting pine...

The dawn of Annie Sloan chalk paint has turned everyone into a furniture painter. And that's a good thing. I think creativity is to be encouraged and up cycling is good for the planet. There is one type of furniture however that requires a little more forethought than just slapping a bit of ASCP on it.

Pine.
The knottiness can ruin your work as the knots continue to seep resin for years and this will eventually discolour your paintwork and spoil your piece.

Traditionally you would use Knotting solution to seal the knots, but this is only suitable when being over painted with an oil based paint. Most modern furniture painting is done with water based paints like emulsion (latex) or chalk paint.
So what's a girl to do?

It's generally safe to assume a factory lacquered modern pine piece will have had the knots treated and should be okay to paint if you're not sanding and removing that treatment. But if it's waxed pine, untreated pine or you're just not sure, then a stain sealing, high adhesion super primer is the answer. It's water based so you can over paint with water based paints, no problem.

I use Blackfriars Problem Solving Primer. One coat over the knots and another coat over the whole thing. 

No they're not paying me to write this. It's just great stuff.

This is a large old pine chest that sits in my hallway. It's the most useful piece of furniture as all the bedding for the sofa bed fits in the top section, and the drawer at the bottom fits the dressing up clothes in. I think it's called a Mule chest.

This floor is NOT staying!

But I don't do pine. I'm totally with the Scandinavians on this. Orange as a colour is wrong and must be obliterated.
So, two coats of Blackfriars on every knot. ( I know I said do the whole thing, but I want to distress back to wood here not primer, and I'm using chalk paint next so I don't have to prime the whole thing.)

Then I chose three paint samples from Wilkinsons, only £1 each and they have some lovely colours.
I turned a few samples of a mid grey 'Mineral Stone' into home made chalk paint with plaster of paris dissolved in hot water then added to the paint. The ratio is 3 parts paint to one part plaster of paris and as much water as you need to make it the right consistency. Because this is a huge thing I had to keep adding more and more water as I went, as it kept on thickening up. Then what happens is the ratio of the paint decreases and the chalk paint becomes less and less opaque as you go. No matter, I did two coats of transparent grey chalk paint then finished with a coat of pure paint so I got the coverage I was after.
This piece of furniture has been previously waxed and that's why I wanted to use chalk paint. That's the beauty of chalk paint, you CAN paint over previously waxed furniture. All I did for preparation was sugar soaping and removing the handles.
Once it was all grey I rubbed the corners, edges and mouldings with candle wax. My chosen top coat colour was 'Coastline' from Wilkinsons. It's a gorgeous expensive looking cream. Now the piece had been primed with the chalk paint undercoat, I could just use pure paint without adding anything to it. Those sample pots go a long way, even on something this size.
And that's as far as I've got. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend. I want to add some embellishment to the panels on the front...

I've got paint all over the floor, but that's okay as I'm on the verge of ordering our new wooden flooring and these nasty tiles will be covered soon. You might think that after a four year wait I would know exactly what I want for the floor. Well, I did but when the samples came, I decided the grey washed oak I had wanted, looked a little too frantic. I've had to go back to the drawing board, you can only order 3 samples at a time and they take 5 days to come so it's a long process. It's a huge expense and I don't want to make a mistake! I was about to place an order yesterday, when I became paralysed by fear and ordered more samples instead. This could take some time...

You can see how the chest turned out here.

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