project ungava

i interrupt my special posting of "trends for 09" for a special broad cast.... step one and two of my banquette has been accomplished. step one, find paint and antique agent. step two, test out paint and antique agent... the above picture is the finished product of step two. i must say, i am good... i absolutely love the way it turned out... but if you asked my husband {designer in training}, he will inform you, the paint needs a bit more beige... as if! i had to politely remind my husband who was the designer and whose bright idea it was in the first place to antique the banquette. I also had to remind him he didn't even know what antique was until he married his beautiful wife... and so tonight i will be working hard at antiquing our banquette...and since we will be having house guest in a couple of weeks and the stain takes forever to dry, i better get started...

those of you who would like to try this method on you own, see reciepe below;

1 quart of creamy white paint, by glidden {you can use a darker color, perhaps something with a little more beige}
1 can of stain {I used Minwax stain in satin antique walnut}, you can use a darker or lighter shade if you would like
1 paint brush
1 lint free rag
1 sand paper
1 glass of your favorite beverage :)

first clean the surface you are painting. If the item needs to be primed first, prime it and wait until the primer dries. Paint the surface {i only use one coat of paint} and let it dry fully, about 4 to 8 hours. once the item dries, lightly sand the surface. you can sand it a lot or very light, depending of the looking you are going for. using a paint brush, wipe away the dust or you can vacuum it or use a wet rag {but make sure the surface is dry before continuing to the next step}. dip a clean paint brush into the stain {making sure you do not put too much stain on the paint brush}, gently brush your painted surface with the stained paint brush. using your lint free rag to gently wipe away the stain. depending on the look you want you can wipe most of the stain off to give a faint antique look or a more heavier antique look.

* the stain takes quite some time to dry, possibly 8 hours to overnight
**also i would test the technique out on scrape wood before actually using it all over the item you want to use it on

enjoy and i hope you like it as much as i do!