Petite French Chest Reveal

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Last week I shared with you the little chest that I was about to transform for DecoArt.

Well, after much blood, sweat, and tears, I am now ready to share it with you!

Ok, I may have lied about the blood part, but it truly was a labor of love!

Are you ready to see the "after"?

Voila!  Here she is!

 And if you forgot what the "before" was like, here she is.........

 I am so happy with the end result, all of the work was worth it, I think!

And after so many hours, I decided to keep this puppy for myself!

 One of the reasons it took me so long was first, I had to come up with a plan.

DecoArt challenged us to use at least 8-10 colors. That is indeed a challenge for me!

And the project was supposed to involve textures and/or faux painting.

So I spent a great deal of time just plotting and planning.  Often if I just look at a piece for awhile, inspiration will eventually hit.

 Since you know how I love all things French, I thought it was fitting that I give this little keepsake chest a makeover with a French Twist!!

I love mixing paint colors, to create truly one of a kind looks.  That is how I came up with this pretty blue that I painted the spindle legs.

 Plenty of distressing, followed by dry brushing several different colors, gives instant aging and dimension.

Ok, I skipped ahead of myself a bit.

Here is the chest (I took the lid off while painting), before I dry brushed the legs, but after I painted the chest portion in my favorite creamy "Lace" chalk paint.  I painted the inside a few shades darker.

 Another reason why this was such a lengthy project and labor of love was I tried out a new to me product by DecoArt, called "Dimensional Effects".  It is a water based dimensional paste which can be used with stencils to create neat raised effects.  I found it quite tricky to work with initially.  After plenty of trial and error, I think I finally got the hang of it!  I used it to add fleur de lis to both sides of the chest.  

Because what could be more French than the fleur de lis?

 Here I am applying it with a putty knife.

You can mix paint with it before applying, or let dry and then paint. 

I chose the latter, as I wanted to paint the raised designs several different colors.

 You can apply several layers, to build up even more of your design.  

I wasn't happy with how it was turning out, so I ended up adding another coat to fleur de lis that you see below.

 I also used the paste to the swirl motif on the lid.

As a fun surprise, I decided to decoupage pages from a vintage French book to the inside of the chest.

 I think the chest would be perfect for holding treasures and mementos.

 Oooh, la, la!

 Below you can see some of the raised detailing I did along the front of chest.

 I also used a pearly paint as a finish over the raised designs.

Love the subtle iridescent look it gives (which unfortunately you can't see in my photos).

 I am so happy with the transformation, and I think my little chest is loving it, too!

 Here is one last look!

Au revoir!