A Fresh Coastal Feel for an Old Brown Shelf

You may remember a post I did a few months ago called Garage Sale Saturday! My friend Carol and I went garage saling on an already hot August morning, picked up this little shelving unit for her bathroom, and started painting that same day. It must’ve hit nearly 100 degrees in my garage that afternoon.

Needless to say, we didn’t get very far. Instead, we headed for the beach and chilled in the Adirondacks while my husband BBQ’d up some dinner (by the way, it wasn’t the fish that the guys were SUPPOSED to be catching that day. I guess the fish don’t like the heat either).

Since Fall weather is perfect for painting I finally got back to it this week. One very fun thing about this project is that Carol loves everything coastal. Well, these shelves didn’t look at all coastal with the dark brown wood, but from the start I could envision how to get the look she wanted in the carved top detail. My goal was to bring that out with Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint and some antiqueing. What do you think? Does that top remind you of a seashell?

Carol doesn’t care for the look of distressing so in order to bring out the carved detail I mixed a bit of Annie Sloan’s French Linen into my clear wax. Here is a picture of the entire shelf after painting and before I started “staging” it for pictures.

I think the shelves look so fresh with the white paint, don’t you?

Here are some close-ups, showing a bit more detail.

And here are some even closer shots. Do you think the antiqueing is too much for someone who doesn’t like distressed furniture?

I scavenged my house for things to fill up the shelves. Dead Sea Salts for a nice soak on a chilly Autumn evening, (Hmmmm . . . I wonder what I’m doing tonight?)

. . . a Waterford Swan for a touch of elegance,

. . . and bit of sparkle. These remind me of bubbles!

The great thing about chalk paint is that it can be painted over even after the wax has been applied. I think I’ll send the leftover paint home with Carol just in case she would prefer it to be a little more pristine. It’s such an easy fix.

I hope you enjoyed seeing another Old Things New transformation. Blessings to you!