A Twist on Provence....

I was beyond giddy when a friend of mine asked me to paint this antique oak dresser she had recently acquired!  Of course I forgot to take a before photo!

The oak was natural and beautiful and thirsty for some paint....

Does that make sense?

What I mean is that it is a treat to paint real natural wood.  

I was even more thrilled when we decided to go with a 50/50 mix of Provence and Old White Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan.  Provence is one of my favorite colors and I think I loved it even more with the Old White in it!!

The natural grain of the oak was beautiful so we decided to keep some of it showing through by doing a wash of Old White on top, and sealed it with some Clear Soft Wax.

The original handles were a great aged bronze.  So instead of Dark Wax we used Royal Designs stencil creme in Bronze Aged and rubbed in areas to add an aged look.  I then sealed it all with Clear Soft Wax.  I was super pleased at how the stencil creme finished this piece off.  The "predictable" outcome of distressing and using Dark Wax just would have been too "predictable"! Ha!

My friend is using this as a nightstand on her side of the bed!