Revamped Revived Reloved

Bonjour!

It’s good to have you back. Today I honestly had no idea what the heck I was going to write about. I have a few ideas running through my head but I think I’ll share those a little further down the track being as this is only my second post and I didn’t want to talk myself up too much as I’m always learning new techniques and still make plenty of mistakes along the way, trust me they’re there. You just get used to fixing them and disguising them the more you work with chalk paint.

So today I thought I’d do a quick post on my process of how I go about choosing colours for a piece of furntiure or even a project that might be smaller. And I must say, this is just the way I do things, we all do things differently and really it’s an individual thing as to how someones process works for them.

I have to say that I’ve been blessed by many friends and family who have gifted me furniture to revamp and sell on to new owners who love my work. These pieces have been gifted because otherwise they would have ended up at the local op shop or worse….landfill! And I don’t like any furniture that’s still got life in it going to landfill and my friends and family know that. So they’re happy to pass on to me their unwanted pieces. I also source unloved pieces from Facebook Marketplace, op shops and even the side of the road when furniture has been put out for council collection. I also do comission pieces for those that want their old pieces updated.

So there are a couple of ways my process works and it might sound a little strange but it’s just how things work for me and it’s what I do because it works. First of all there’s the process where I can simply look at a piece of furniture and know immediately what colour I’ll do it in, how much gold leafing I’ll do (you can never have too much gold) and if I’ll do any ageing with dark wax. This is the easy part, once I know what I’m doing then comes the prep work before actually putting paint on a brush to put on the piece. This big picture visualisation process happens with quite a few pieces and I love it when it does because it makes getting the piece done easier and it seems to happen quicker. And when it turns out how I visualised it, then I’m really happy and more often than not there will be some kind of celebratory happy dance because I’m thrilled with how a piece looks. My hubby still gives me strange looks when I get overly excited but when you do something that makes you super proud of yourself, then why not celebrate.

My second process (if you can call it that) is when I receive a piece, look at it and have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it. This is what I call ‘letting the piece talk to me’ and believe it or not, I have pieces that I’ve had for over a year that still haven’t spoken to me. This happens more often than I care to admit but I can usually conjure something to help me decide what to do. I will do some research and look for inspiration on pinterest, magazines, Annie’s (Annie Sloan that is, not you mum..sorry x) Instagram page and other resources that are out on the internet. Now, I have to say, looking for inspiration is not copying someones work. Inspiration is looking for ways to use a colour you may not have thought of before or even combining colours you didn’t think would go together. Thankfully Annie is always giving tips on her FB and IG pages on how to colour mix and use her products. Sometimes I’ll look through what decals or decoupage paper I have on hand and that will get the ball rolling on where to take that piece of furniture that isn’t talking yet. Once the ball is rolling it’s usually smooth sailing and all goes well and I’m again happy with the piece and do a celebratory dance.

However, if I ever find I’m creatively stuck on a piece and I just can’t come up with anything, then I will leave that piece alone for as long as it takes. I don’t believe in trying to force the creative process because I find when things are forced, that’s when mistakes happen, that’s when it’s not enjoyable and that’s when I just want to give up and throw in the towel, which I did a few months ago when a piece wasn’t going how I wanted it to. And it’s still in a que waiting to be finished, though not for too much longer because she finally spoke to me the other day and now we’re both on the same page.

So, that’s it. My process is mine and mine alone and while I’m sure there are some of you out there who have a similar process I know we all have our slightly different ways of doing things and there’s nothing wrong with that. What works for me might not work for you but just find your process and roll with it. Here’s to getting some paint on your brush this week and I’d love to see what you’re working on. Take care for now and I’ll write again soon.

À bientôt….Michelle x