Chalk Painted Pedestal Plant Stand

Bon jour Mes Amis!

Hope your November has gotten off to a good start!

Today I thought I'd share with you one of my latest transformations, an antique pedestal style plant stand that I gave a new lease on life!  Now, I know that many would cringe at the thought of painting an antique.

And if this were a fine antique, I would probably be hesitant to paint it.

But, the stand, which belonged to my grandpa, (my mom's dad) was looking pretty tired and literally dried out!  I had inherited it many years ago, and attempted several times over the years to strip the layers and layers of dark finish from it, to no avail.

 Then it finally occurred to me recently that it could look oh so much better if it were painted!

At first I thought I would use my usual favorite shade of cream, but for some reason it just didn't seem to suit the stand, which lives in our sunroom.

So I ended up painted it my very favorite shade of light blue, and am so happy with the end result!

 The same shade of blue is in the floral cushions of our wicker furniture.

Here is one end of our sunroom.  

It is our favorite room in the house.  I would dearly love to paint those wood walls, but someone 

(whose name will go unmentioned!)

doesn't want them touched!

 Anyway, I didn't have the shade of blue on hand that I had in mind, so I pulled all of my chalk paints out, and mixed up about 4 different colors, til I came up with this!

It only took two coats to cover, yeah!  I let it cure for a day, then distressed it a bit.

Dry brushing is a relatively new technique for me, and I knew that I wanted to try my hand at in on the stand.

So, I kind of winged it, and subtly dry brushed both a light gray chalk paint, as well as dark brown wax.  I could have just used dark brown paint, but I have a jar of the brown wax that I really want to use up.

 I didn't want anything looking too heavy, so if I didn't like the look, I would just wipe it down a bit with a rag as I went along.

 I also used a clear wax for a subtle sheen and protection. I must say that I am 

really happy with the end result!  

And I am glad that I went with this shade of blue, rather than the cream.

Perched on top is my grandma's (my dad's mom) Christmas cactus.  I've had it for many years, and have started new plants from it too.  I just noticed today a few little pink buds showing, so I am excited about that!

I think my plant stand is much happier with its new look!