Shelf Clock & Dining Room

I'm still debating about the curtains... so I haven't put them up yet.  Or even drawn out the design.  I've got some fabric and I'll have to take a few pictures of it so all of you can get an idea of my choices.

So while I thought about that I decided to make the dining room furniture.  I don't want it to look like a set so I made sure they didn't match perfectly.  I wanted the table to look a little newer...though I might still scratch it up a bit.

I started with a kit.

And then painted it black.  I traced a circle in pencil on top of the black paint and another, then filled it in with gilt.  I did the design in the center and along the perimeter of the table freehand...I'm actually feeling pretty pleased with how it looks.  And I used a black metallic paint to fill in the circle around the design and make the waves on top of the gold, as well as from the gilt outwards to the edge, just to give the table some different sheens.

The different blacks don't show as well as I'd hoped, at least in the pictures...

I finished it all off with gloss poly.  I might take some sandpaper or a nail file to the top and 'antique' it a little then repolish it.  It still looks a little new for my taste.

For the chairs I stared with another kit.

I wanted four so I just did two kits at one time.  The fabric was one of the possibilities for the curtains, but I think it's better on the chairs.  Red, but not super bright.

I painted the chairs black, then tried a red wash over that but it just made the chairs look brown.  Not what I wanted.  So I went over them with black again and added some dark red to the edges and inside the chair backs.  That gave the illusion of red chairs painted black and worn on the edges and corners.  It's not easy to see on camera but I know its there.

Then I just took a little bit of gold and dry brushed it on a few spots, as if there'd been a design that got almost completely worn away.  I smeared it around with my fingers and then took most of it off with a cloth.

Then the gloss poly again. 

And here's the whole set of chairs and table together.

I also worked on a cabinet for the kitchen.  It's small enough that it'll fit next to the sink and with a few additions I made it tall enough to be a regular counter height.  It even has a toe kick area.  This was another kit, but I threw the box away before I remembered to take a picture of it.

I painted it the red you see inside of the drawer and cabinet and then painted black over it, using a stiff brush so the paint would scrape through to the red.  So it looks worn and old (hopefully).

I used different drawer pulls and silver head pins as my nails and then painted the knobs that came with it for the cabinet doors.

I also finished my shelf clock kit.  I painted it black and then painted and painted this thin red over it.  When that was finally dry it had that nice lacquered look you get with old furniture.  Then I added the gold paint I'd bought.  I'm pretty pleased with it.

I'm working on a couch, but it's slow going.  I need to make some trim like Kris's tutorial so the edges look pretty.  The kits are very vague on how to measure for the templates and how to make everything nice and even.  I don't want to scrap all the progress I've made...

I'll have to show you all when it's done.  Maybe I could go over some of the edges with a nail file or some soft sandpaper and make everything look frayed and worn.  An old beat up couch? Rescued from the Goodwill Store?

With some of Brae's gorgeous cushions on it and a nice throw?