Somerset Bay features some of the most beautiful painted furniture, with a focus on cottage and coastal palettes that will make you feel right at home. Their collections are inspired by the coastal influences of Nantucket, Newport, Carmel, Bar Harbor, to name a few. Each piece of furniture is handcrafted and [...]]]>

Somerset Bay's Painted Furniture

Somerset Bay features some of the most beautiful painted furniture, with a focus on cottage and coastal palettes that will make you feel right at home. Their collections are inspired by the coastal influences of Nantucket, Newport, Carmel, Bar Harbor, to name a few. Each piece of furniture is handcrafted and features the finest mahogany and premium veneers. Somerset Bay's furniture collection features a beautiful select range of available paint finishes with exceptional finishing techniques such as distressing, dry-brushing, and antiquing.  Their faux painted furniture certainly catapults their furniture above the rest in their field.  Check out some of the beautiful painted pieces below

Somerset Bay's Painted Furniture Avon Decorated

Sommerset Bay's Painted Furniture Long Key Chest

Sommerset Bay's Painted Furniture

Sommerset Bay's Painted Furniture Indian Key Chest

Big Pine Key Chest Painted Furniture

Somerset Bay's Painted Furniture Topsail Decorated

Most people are not naturally talented free hand artists.  If you love the look of detailed hand painting on furniture, but do not have the thousands to afford genuine antiques, you can achieve the look on your own with a little hard work, and some tracing paper.

One way of being able [...]]]>

Painted Drop Front Desk Seller Fireside Antiques

Most people are not naturally talented free hand artists.  If you love the look of detailed hand painting on furniture, but do not have the thousands to afford genuine antiques, you can achieve the look on your own with a little hard work, and some tracing paper.

One way of being able to transfer an image with precision is old fashioned  tracing paper.  Detailed hand sketching and  painting is quite a bit easier when tracing an image that is perfectly proportionate.  Using tracing paper and a pencil, an image can look quite stunning as a chest worth several thousand dollars.

(All these chests pictured in this post are quite a bit of money, because they are genuine antiques)   

Graphite TRANSFER PAPER-Tracing-Sketch-Drawing,  EXCEL Burnisher with 4 assorted tips

Depending on the style, your first step is to paint the overall background color on to your painted piece.

{It is always important to lightly sand your furniture piece before painting, which prevents peeling.  }

Consider using a flat or eggshell finish as your base paint, as it accepts drawn images on the surface than semigloss paints.  The finish is just like paper, so it will be much easier to use as a canvas with liquid pens.  Once the image is drawn on to the furniture piece, use a colored pen to go over the traced images.  From there, follow your inspiration pattern for color filling and additional colors.

Illuminated Initials in Full Color: 548 Designs features an archive of extraordinarily beautiful and decorative letters of the alphabet splendidly ornamented with geometric and curvilinear motifs interwoven with royal and saintly figures, mythical creatures, knights in battle, exquisite florals and much more. A wonderful glimpse of the ancient art of manuscript illumination.

Decorative Flower and Leaf Designs, 4000 Animal, Bird and Fish Motifs: A Sourcebook

The The World of Ornament brings together the two greatest encyclopedias of collections.   Illuminated manuscripts, textiles, ceramics and a wide range of designs are there to inspire you to design beautiful hand painted furniture.  The ornamental designs encompass a wide range classic Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Asian, European, Etruscan and medieval motifs as well as many designs through the 19th century.  The price is well worth the investiment as it also includes a DVD-ROM containing high-resolution scans of all individual ornaments for unrestricted use.

The Treasury of Floral Designs and Initials for Artists and Craftspeopleis an  archive of over 700 wonderful graceful and imaginative designs featuring flowers, leaves, and vines in delicate interlacements.

Fantastic Ornament: 110 Designs and Motifs , include cartouches, frames, doors, trophies, cabinets, friezes for textiles and wallpaper, decorative scutcheons, stone balustrades, arabesques, roof cornices, and much more.

3,000 Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World, Plants and Flowers: 1761 Illustrations for Artists , Chinese Flora and Fauna Designs

French Architectural Ornament: features designs from floor to ceiling, and spanning grand facades, supremely rich ornament and detail envelops the enduring landmarks of France.

French Baroque Ornament (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Early 19th Century French slant top painted desk Louis XV style By Jacqueline Adams

Hand Painted Italian Lacco Povera Commode Furniture Seller John Yaconetti Antiques

Italian Painted Commode Seller John Yaconetti Antiques

Stenciling can be one form of adding genius to your painted furniture. Forget the country craft stencils popular in the 80's, as todays modern stencils are more intricate, unique and timeless. Todays hottest painters are thinking outside the box when it comes to decorating [...]]]>

Great French Bombe Decorator Painted Commode Dresser Ebay Seller Lake view Style

Stenciling can be one form of adding genius to your painted furniture. Forget the country craft stencils popular in the 80's, as todays modern stencils are more intricate, unique and timeless. Todays hottest painters are thinking outside the box when it comes to decorating their furniture with stencils. Lauren author of InDecorous Taste is fabulous painter with an incredible amount of talent who uses stencils in a new direction combining the natural wood and layering different patterns and opposite colors to create pieces worthy of rich empire looks.   Here she combines hand painted leopard trim against a block pattern in white with gilt accents on a beautiful chest.  While some of us are really good at block patterns, she is really talented at adding multiple patterns to form one design which works fabulously together.  Here she shows a hand painted throw animal print rug, and a french chair whose upholstery is hand painted in an elaborate tiger print.  Again, the hand painted landscape and the animal printed chair mixed in with fabulous french antiques is a room designed for royalty.   Her attention to detail islayered from the stenciled french walls, to the florentine mirror and paintings all with their own exquisite colors.   Featured in this link is a  faux-marble accent table in orange marble with white which looks superb against black wood.   Empire decorating, is one of the only styles which incorporates the most richest elements, such as marble walls, beautiful lavish colors mixed with natural features such as marble,  fur throws, flame mahogany, and gilt wood.   Lauren's hand painted pieces show interesting ways of adding color and combining patterns that work together, and painting delicate detailswhich might be other wise overlooked.

Stenciled Wall Featured From Royal Design Studio

Designamour featured this outstanding picture of an entry way using Royal Design Studio's Moorish Trellis stencil using black on black.  This is a popular approach to using stencils, and one of the most elegant patterns and the easiest.  Not only does it look timeless, but it is fairly simple to accomplish using any color.

Using a suggested eggshell or flat paint as your base, and using the same color, stencil in your pattern in a gloss paint.    Lauren uses the same technique on a serpentine secretary and finishes the interior in a faux tortoise shell.

Don't discount the common patterns you find in your local retail stores.  Napkins often feature the newest designs, and are quite inexpensive to purchase.  Your local fabric store will also have an array of different geometrical patterns that can be large enough to trace on a blank stencil sheet.

How do you go about making your own stencil?

1.  Using a small tip permanent marker, transfer your pattern on to a Blank
Airbrush Stencil Template. Using a  Black Sharpie Permanent Marker, Ultra-Fine Point  copy the pattern you intend to use on to your blank template.  Sharpie pens are excellent pens for transferring patterns because most of them are permanent.   You can also find blank Stencil Templates at {most} craft stores.  They usually come in thick clear sheets without patterns.

2.  After your pattern is transfered, use a Cutlass Stencil Cutting Kit tool which heats up and with its fine point, cuts your designs as you trace away at your pattern.  Be sure to use a piece of glass under your transfer sheet.  Using an X-ACTO Stencil Knife Set can create sharp edges, but comes in handy for small details that are hard to get to.  Use the heated cutting tool for the majority of your cutting.  It will save you lots of energy and time in detailed stencils.  Stencil knives should also be available at your local craft store, or buy all your items at Amazon in one bulk purchase.

3.  Transferring the paint from your brush to your wall or furniture piece can be a little tricky.

A: One way of  transferring your stencil is to use spray paint.  Obviously you would have to dry off your stencil with a paper towel in between two or more uses.  This is a quick way of getting the stenciled image  done quickly.  This trick also only works with flat surfaces, so you may have to let your piece dry and do the curved parts by hand.  By spray painting, be sure to cover your furniture and floors with a old sheet.  The overspray from the paint will be very noticeable after you are finished.  Spray paint is ideally an outdoor solution than an indoor fix.

With any stenciling project, there is going to be mistakes with the color going outside the stenciled area.  After your piece is dry it will need to be touched up with the original color.

B.  Using a Wood Handle Stencil Brush, you can hammer in the paint with your stencil.  I have found in the past, that using a spray glue to keep the stencil in place only causes the finish to be messed up later as you use glaze and antiquing techniques.  ALTHOUGH, most people use spray adhesive, because it is very hard to keep the stencil in place. ( Use what is best for you. ) When I mention hammering,  you are apply the paint with your hand going vertically with slight force.

C.  You can use a Foam  Stencil Ink Fountain Roller to roll on your paint.  This might be one of the easiest ways to stencil.  Each of these ways are easier, and do have limitations.  Figure out what works best for you to finish your small or large stenciling  job.

If you have more than one color for a complex pattern using a number of colors, do not try to do it all at once.  Let your project dry, and add the next layer.

The biggest trick to stenciling is to remove most of your color on to a paper towel before applying your paint brush to the stencil and on to your surface.

Why?

When you apply too much paint, your color will bleed outside the stencil.

Stencil 101 Décor: Customize Walls, Floors, and Furniture with Oversized Stencil Art

Stencil 101 includes 10 reusable stencils.  1- Houndstooth 2- Butterflies
3- Polka dots, 4- Honeycomb hexagons, 5- Chain links (interlocking ovals)
6- Birds on a wire, 7- Lattice (interlocking squares) 8- 3-d Effect "stair steps"
9- Moroccan petals and 10- Quatrefoil
Each design is meant to be tiled simply line up each corner's registration marks to get a paint-your-own wallpaper effect.

The Encyclopedia of Monograms: Over 11,000 Motifs 

Geometric Patterns and Designs for Artists and Craftspeople

This chest is one of the most spectacular painted chests I have seen.  The designer Delphine Groult is known for her life size pop art and her brightly colored wooden furniture.  Delphine Groult was selected to represent France at the world fair in Aichi in Japan. Her beautiful furniture can be found here.  [...]]]>

This chest is one of the most spectacular painted chests I have seen.  The designer Delphine Groult is known for her life size pop art and her brightly colored wooden furniture.  Delphine Groult was selected to represent France at the world fair in Aichi in Japan. Her beautiful furniture can be found here.  Delphine Groult Coporation

Doing quick furniture makeovers is one of the most rewarding hobbies a person can have.  After all, who doesn't love looking at furniture before and after pictures.  I am always amazed at what a couple of coats of paint can do.  Painted furniture can really add that "wow factor" to a room.  Not only is it fun to see a dramatic transformation, but in many cases what was once a throw-away piece can become one of the most unique pieces in your home if you give it a different color scheme.

When I am all out of ideas to paint furniture, I look to silk scarves for inspiration because they often feature geometrical designs which can transfer to furniture.  Silk scarves feature carefully designed geometrical patterns or like-minded shapes which can give you ideas for painted furniture.

Whether you have a ranch home with contemporary-neutral colors, or have a rococo inspired home with pastels and high impact colors, there is a silk scarf that fits your style.  In fact there are hundreds of silk scarves all with different scenes and interests.

Gilt metal chair frames work elegantly with virtually any color.  Contrasting colors against gold have high impact.  Colors such as purple, mango,and apple green look outstanding with gold.   Adding ormolo hardware will go a long way to creating a statement chair.

If you do plan on working with silver or gold consider gold leafing.  Working with gold leaf can be tricky, but there are simpler methods of getting the finish to replicate real gold.  Gold leaf accents dark and bright silk colors beautifully.

If you choose to use a silk scarf to upholster an accent chair, be sure to use interfacing.

Silk is not recommended for upholstery, so in order to make your scarf durable to use on a chair, you will need to purchase iron-on interfacing.  Interfacing is a durable fabric with glue on one side which when heated will fuse together this durable fabric permanently with your scarf making your fabric much tougher.  Be sure to try it on an extra "throw away scarf"  before trying it with the fabric you intend to use.  I use interfacing on all my upholstery projects.  Below are examples of interfacing.

Fusible Non-Woven Interfacing- 15 Inch W x 3yds, Medium Weight Iron-On Fusible Interfacing- 20 Inch W x 1yd

Here are some additional patterns which would look outstanding painted on furniture.......

Silk Scarf Inspiration

Coach Silk Scarf, COACH Stripe Muli Legacy Colors Silk Scarf Ebay Seller Sassyamcouture, Gucci Bamboo Silk Scarf

Hermes Silk Scarf FAMOUS EX-LIBRIS PURPLE