French Provincial Vanity in “Elegance”

Hi friends!

This month I am participating in another round of the Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest.  I have participated twice before – you can see those projects here  and here.  This month, the sponsor is Country Chic Paint and the theme is “Bling Bling.”  I jumped at the chance to participate this month because I have long been wanting to try out this particular brand of paint.

I decided to use the color “Elegance” which is a very pretty gray blue.  The paint is a clay based paint from their All-In-One line, so it needs minimal  prep and does not need a top coat.   I also chose their new metallic accent cream in the color “Pocket Watch.”  I was so excited when my products arrived.  Even the packaging is adorable.  I took this photo after using the paint, and I messed up the label a bit, but still soooo cute.

How gorgeous is this metallic accent cream?   It’s a water based cream that can be used to add metallic effects to furniture and home decor projects.  Country Chic has a short video on how to use it here.  A little really goes a long way – I’m pretty sure I could decorate Liberace’s mansion  with this one tub and still have some left over.

For my furniture piece, I picked up this French Provincial style vanity at the Goodwill.  I chose this particular piece because I felt that the color would complement the French Provincial style and I wanted to use the gold accent cream to give the tarnished hardware some “Bling Bling.”  Here is the before photo.

This particular paint does not require sanding or priming on most pieces.  Because my usual procedure is to at least lightly sand, that is what I did.  Old habits die hard, I suppose.  I just gave it a very light sanding using 220 grit sandpaper.  It took no more than 5 minutes tops.  I then wiped it down to remove any dirt and dust.  I brushed on 2 coats of the paint, also lightly sanding between coats.   Once dry, I used a sanding sponge to very lightly distress the areas where it would naturally wear.  I wanted some of the wood tone to show through.

Here it is all finished.

I gave the hardware a good cleaning.  I then lightly brushed on the metallic accent cream and let it dry.

Here you can see the before and after of the hardware.  This metallic cream was so easy to use, and I love that it is water clean up.

I didn’t want the pulls to be solid gold, but rather, I like some of the darker tones showing in places for a more natural effect and added dimension.

For this piece, I interpreted “Bling Bling” in a subtle way.   The style of the vanity is very elegant, as is the paint color aptly named “Elegance. ”  I didn’t want to over do it with the gold. Just adding it to the hardware, in my opinion, was all that was needed to make this piece shine.

 While I was working on the vanity, I found this vintage book at the Goodwill.  It’s titled “Elegance” (I know!) and it was written in 1964 by French style expert Genevieve Antoine Dariaux.   Elegance, French, style.  How perfect is that?  Of course, I had to use it to stage this piece.

I love the glamorous curve of the top and the legs.

I have this piece staged as an accent table, and it works perfectly as one.  But, it is also a vanity and the top opens up.  It has a small storage compartment and a beveled mirror inside.  I chose to leave the interior in its natural wood to contrast with the painted exterior.

After finishing up this piece and getting ready to stage it, I came across the gold framed Degas poster (also a Goodwill find).  I thought it would look lovely with the vanity.  It has the same color blue, gold, it’s by a French artist, and it has ballet dancers as the subject.  What more could I ask for? Oh I know, it was just under $20.

Linking with Seeking Lavender Lane and Refresh Living