Sunday, April 21, 2013

Painting a Vintage Jewelry Box with Faux Marble DIY

Good day! After a horrible week in the news.. Boston bombs, West, Texas explosions, floods in Illinois, etc, I needed some paint therapy! Wishing everyone who had a tragedy this week some healing and peace.  I just finished up painting this pretty vintage jewelry box. If you're out scrounging at thrift stores or flea markets, you've probably seen those old, kinda ugly, wood jewelry boxes. Well, they're easy to paint and make them better than new. They were really well made and worth saving. This one even has a working music box that plays 'The Theme from Love Story'! 








I've been seeing those great painted dressers lately in many different colors all over the bloggyland.A few have been in a mustard shade that I have been wanting to try out on something. I can't possibly lug one of those big bureaus home by myself, but I can get the look with this miniature version, a  musical jewelry box. So let's see how I did it! Shall we??? (Don't answer that, just keep reading...)

Sand it! Just a light sanding to rough up the wood using medium sandpaper.
Clean off the sanding dust with a damp cloth.
 
Prime it! I like this stuff. Zinser Bulls Eye 1-2-3  is a good water based primer. I used some blue painter's tape to mask off parts I didn't want paint on.

Marbelize the top! It's easy and I'm going to walk you through it so you can use this technique on bigger pieces.

I used those little 2 oz. bottles of acrylic craft paint. I put out 3 colors--gray, white and black. You could skip the gray, but I had it. You could use other shades like browns or greens, depending on the color of marble you're going after.

Grab a scruffy looking brush and dab it into a couple of the colors. Now start dabbing it on the box top in a diagonal pattern. Keep picking up more white,  or black or gray on the brush. Wipe off the brush occasionally on a rag so the colors don't just come out gray. Keep moving across the box until it's all covered.

Wipe off the brush again and blend the colors together until you like how it looks. Don't overwork it or it will just all be one color. You can still add more white or tiny bits of black and blend those in too.
 Next, you're going to add the marble veins. You can look at some real marble or just use this method.
Using a small liner brush, dip into some white paint. Work while the top is still wet and drag the brush. The brush is almost lying down sideways. You're getting white paint on, but also dragging a line into the wet paint.
 Paint the lines in a diagonal, squiggly-criss cross, X pattern. If you hold the brush lightly it works best. Then  add some little branches off the white lines. I hope this makes sense when you see the picture. If you mess up, just stipple over the whole thing again. I like the lines to continue off the edge and not stop in the middle. Don't want it to look like lightening bolts .

 
Next, you add some black lines. My lines sort of shadow the white lines. Use the black sparingly. (You might notice in the picture below that it is different than the one above. I didn't like the darkness of the painting so I just started all over, adding more white.)
 
Use your dry scruffy brush and mottle the lines a little, here and there if you want.

I used the same marble technique for the bottom molding on the jewelry box.
YAY! You made it through the marbelizing! Now onto the easy gold painting.
 
I started again with 3 shades of gold  and mustard paint and some white. I used a flat paint brush and applied paint to the sides and drawers. It needed 2 coats, so the first was just getting some color on there as a base.
For the second coat, dip your paint into a couple of the gold colors, slather it on, add white paint, slather more.. Mess around until you like it! ( Don't you love my detailed instructions?)
Distress the gold painted sides and drawer by lightly sanding the edges. See what I mean in the picture below?
I decided that the little drawer pulls needed some color.. something to highlight them. I used some teal  paint, then lightly brushed them with robin's egg blue to bring out the details.
One final step, I rubbed on some Fiddes and Sons Wax. When it was dry, I buffed it with a soft cloth, to a nice sheen. I found the wax on Ebay and it's my favorite furniture finish lately.
And here it is! All waxed and pretty and ready for some jewelry!
If you got all the way here, thanks for visiting the Sunset Coast! I would love to have you follow this site and sign up for emails too!
Have a Marble-ous Day!
Cindy
 Check out these blogs I'm sharing at...
The DIY Showoff Rose Chintz Cottage Nifty Thrifty Things Twigg Studios The Tablescaper
 USS Crafty FlamingoToes Underthetableanddreaming AlderberryHill Dwellings ModVintageLife
Cozylittlehouse CraftyTexasGirls BetweenNapsOnThePorch CupcakesandCrinoline 
Art@Home KammysKorner not Just A  Housewife Our Home Away From Home Cozy Little House
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia ElizabethandCo SavvySouthernStyle A diamondinthestuff
Gingersnapcrafts Hollys Stamping Addiction I Gotta Create Cupcakes and Corndogs The Shabby Creek Cottage 52 Mantels House of Hepworths A Delightsome Life No Minimalist Here
The Girl Creative PJH Designs The 36th Avenue Southern Living Saving 4 Six Craftberry Bush FrenchCountryCottage Shabby Art Boutique The Thrifty Groove Redoux Interiors   Domestically-Speaking The Rustic Pig My Simple Home Life Jennifer Rizzo Tatertotsandjello Vintage on a Dime MockingHillCottage LavenderGardenCottage SnapCreativity The Answer is Chocolate Life On Lakeshore Drive
Made to Be a Momma  Green Willow Pond

44 comments:

  1. That's gorgeous. Great job! I need to visit the thrift store and find a jewelry box now!

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    Replies
    1. Ellen, I'm glad you like it! Happy Thrifting!

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  2. visiting from Flamingo Toes....beautiful paint colors. Great job

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    Replies
    1. Christine, The paint colors were a bit different but I like it too!

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  3. Wishing you peace this Sunday morning~ Your marbling looks fantastic! I love this project...it's truly lovely!

    xo,
    RJ

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    Replies
    1. Ricki, So nice of you to comment! And such nice comments too!

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  4. Nice, Cindy. I always wondered how you did all that marbleing. I will have to try it sometime. I love your blog!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting my blog! Hope you'll follow my site too. xoxoxo

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  5. Great to have creativity to dig into!

    Wonderful to have you be a part of Seasonal Sundays.

    - The Tablescaper

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  6. So pretty, love the colors and marbling! Thanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

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    Replies
    1. I wasn't sure I would like the gold, but I do!

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  7. Amazing transformation, looks beautiful!

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  8. What a great transformation! Life to the full! Melissa @ DaisyMaeBelle

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    1. Th anks Melissa. I like that--- 'Life to the full' back at ya!

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  9. Great job! Love the marbling and the yellow and blue together :)

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    1. Kirstin, Thanks! Glad you checked out my post today, too!

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  10. Thank you for your tutorial. I love learning painting tips. Love the marble effect.

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    1. I'm glad you found it readable! Any questions, just email me! Cindy

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  11. Love it, great idea and the color is perfect. Thanks for joining Inspire Me. Hugs, Marty

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    Replies
    1. The color choice was a little different for me but it's nice!

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  12. :D You've made me happy by linking-up. YAY!!!

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  13. Beautiful job! It turned out so pretty and you give a great tutorial on the marbling effect. I'd love for you to share at Transformed Tuesday. I know my readers would love to see it. http://pjhdesignsoneofakind.blogspot.com/2013/04/transformed-tuesday-35-features.html

    Hope you have time to stop by.

    Hugs,
    Peggy~PJH Designs

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Peggy, I'm hooked up on your blog at Transformed Tuesday!

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  14. Awesome job! Love your technique. New Follower.

    Jody

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    1. Yay for new follower! And thanks for visiting and commenting, too.Cindy

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  15. I had to look twice, cause it look like a real dresser. Love the look, excelent Job.

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  16. I actually have a very similar one in my closet - put away but not thrown away because I've had it for years - Painting it had never occurred to me! Love what you did to it - looks terrific - great marbeling! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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  17. This is lovely!! You did an amazing job!
    Thanks for sharing at Artsy Corner, hope to see you again this week :)

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  18. Wow, this looks amazing! You did a fabulous job. Thanks for the awesome tutorial, too! Love your blog. Your newest follower. Thank you so much for sharing with us at A Bouquet of Talent!! Happy Friday.

    Kathy
    lifeonlakeshoredrive.com

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  19. So much creativity you showed through this post. Love to read it.
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  20. I'd like to invite you to my Friday Flash Blog, where you can share your best blog entry of the week! The party goes on ALL weekend at thejennyevolution.com. And who knows, you may just get featured next week.

    Jennifer
    thejennyevolution.com

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  21. What a party last week on Friday Flash Blog! Thanks for joining us. I hope you’ve visited some of the other community members and you're having a splendid week.

    Jennifer
    thejennyevolution.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Nice job! Your jewelry box turned out lovely. I found the exact same box at a thrift store some time ago. I painted and decopauged paper on parts of it. You can see it here: http://www.greenwillowpond.com/2012/07/its-still-hotter-than-bank-robbers.html

    Thank you for sharing it at to What We Accomplished Wednesdays.
    Deborah

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