black + red

 There's your teaser shot :)

These two beauties came home with me mid-last-week.  My sweet SIL immediately chose the dresser for her home, as she had been looking for a piece like this.  She wanted it finished to match a gorgeous, huge hutch she already has which is done in black with red accenting.

I thought "Of course I can do that!"

And then I wondered "How do I do that?"

{Thanks to Melanie from The Frosted Gardner for your help with this!!}

So the most obvious thing to do was to play around with some techniques.  I tried two things in particular.

*First, I tried painting a board red, sealing it, painting in black and then wiping through the black with denatured alcohol/ lacquer thinner.  This worked, but some of the red came with the black, and the smell was really getting to me (gotta be honest!)

*So then I tried something else.  I primed & painted the board ~ the board I was playing with was very grainy, as are the pieces you see here.  After the paint was dry, I took a dry brush & a rag and worked the red paint into the grain & the details.  Bingo!  The red accents turned out perfectly this way.  This would not have worked with a smooth piece, as the red would have had nothing to stick to, but it was perfect for these two.

 Can you see the red peeking through, in a very subtle way?!  This is the best picture I got of the dresser, as it never made it into the house.  It went straight to my inlaws, which is much closer to my SIL than we are!

Recent finds...

 Two of these from a newly discovered Thrift Store (if you live in Atlanta and want to go, it is at the intersection of Roswell Road & Abernathy Rd, just west of 400, next to the Sandy Springs Fun House).

 Bed headboard & footboard from the goodwill.

The tag on this chair said "Old Chair".  Really?  I wouldn't have known!  Can't remember if I shared this one yet or not, but after it is restuffed & recovered, it is going in my dining room.

And because I know you can't resist a fun adventure, check out what happened to me as I was unloading my trunk yesterday.

 The bird you see is not, sadly, on my windshield.  He is actually sitting on the steering wheel.

 Here, he's sitting on the seat back.

And here he is contemplating diving into the bag of Cookie Company cookies in the front seat.

Poor guy.  After I opened up all 4 doors (the trunk was already open), he flew out to freedom.  And lived happily ever after.  The end.

Have a GREAT weekend, everyone!

Kathie

Linking to:

Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday