PARIS GREY BUFFET TUTORIAL

There are just some jobs that I love to do!!! We were in DC for a work weekend at my daughter home.

They live in a 90 year old town home on Capitol Hill... the house has such great bones, and they have been breathing new life into it for the last 3 years.

This weekend Bobby helped Jonathan install real wainscoting in their dining room and I helped Jacqueline transform an old buffet into a beautiful "grey lady"...

This is how the buffet looked before we let the paint and brushes do their magic...

Great lines, but very tired!  We had already removed the doors, one drawer and hardware.

We began by giving it a good scrub and cleaning.

Then we turned it upside down on her dining room table to paint it. It is so much easier to paint chairs and tables and buffets like this upside down. We were painting while the boys were working in the same area... now that's what I call togetherness!

This was the first piece Jacqueline had ever painted. It was so much fun to instruct and help her.

After two coats of Annie Sloan Calk Paint in Paris Grey we gave the body of the piece (not the drawers or doors) a light coat of clear wax and massaged it into the paint with 320 grit sandpaper.  I learn this technique and I almost always use it. It leaves such a gorgeous finish on a piece.

Our work station was a the end of the table.

The doors and drawers were also given two coats of ASCP in Paris Grey and left to dry.

Then we put an ASCP Pure White wash over the Paris Grey and wiped it away with cheese cloth.  This leaves a striped/grainy look. This is my favorite technique.

When everything was dry we put a thin coat of clear wax over the doors and drawers, and messaged the wax into the wood with 320 grit sandpaper.