Just because It's Small doesn't mean It's easier to Paint: Episode III

No truer words have been spoken than with this project. Today is the great reveal of my latest jewelry box masterpiece. I find nothing more gratifying than an extraordinary Before and After.

I went way way way beyond my predictable painstaking self on this one. Multi-layered  paint colors, distressing, plus dark wax, once again made this a difficult piece for color-matching in the photo editor. Every change in the sunlight made this piece morph in all shades of Aqua, powder Blue, Spring green, Seafoam, Teal and dusky Blue. If I had a high-end camera and lens, it would certainly speed up the editing process......Someday.....

Before.....

After.....

I was sort of bored with the idea of a plain top, so I painted a border with the Teal paint. Still not interesting enough, I went further and created a stylized version of a compass rose. I think I was in a bit of a pirate-y treasure chest kind of mood. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm ALWAYS in that mood........Anywho, I I used the 2 blues and added metallic bronze color to coordinate with the draw pulls.

The interiors of the drawers were red velveteen corduroy. One of the drawers had some black ink spots in the fabric, and after removing most of it, I still wasn't satisfied with the result. If I was going to so much trouble creating a masterpiece on the outside, I didn't want to resign myself to a less than stellar interior. So I bit the bullet, and ripped out all the fabric, choosing to re-line the drawers. After lots of scraping to remove cardboard and old glue, I came up with a promising plan of attack. So so many options, but the final result is nothing short of fabulous.........

Since the top design is a stylized compass rose, what could be more apropos than map-lined drawers? I chose to cut individual pieces for every side and bottom, so the sides wouldn't be random. Then after gluing and sealing the maps, I tinted them with alcohol ink to mesh with the antique look of the exterior.

My inspiration for the colors were from this frame I painted recently.

Since I loved the color combination so much, I wanted to use it again. Don't these look  lovely together?

So the next time you're out thrifting, and you see a darling jewelry chest with stained or ugly interior, consider it the perfect opportunity to re-line the drawers with something fabulous.

I am seriously digging this design, and I think it's my favorite chalk paint project so far. I can't believe after all the loving labor I put into this, that I intend to sell it in my Etsy shop.......I just keep reminding myself that if I did it once, I can always paint another one just for me. It's so nice to have my own personal vault of skills, that are ready to use any time I want to.......such a luxury.

Linking To: