WORKING WITH DECOART CHALKY FINISH PAINT AND CREME WAX

Hi everyone!

It's Spring and I was in the mood to redecorate my half bathroom off of my kitchen.  I wanted to give it a more romantic, shabby feeling.  Before it was done in blacks and tans and was decorated with African animals.  So, quite a big change!

As I was shopping for items to put in the new bathroom, I came across the sweetest little angel.  She is supposed to be a yard ornament but I loved her and knew she would be perfect in my bathroom.  She looks like she's made out of concrete but she is actually quite lightweight.

Her original coloring was that dark grey concrete color. But that did not scare me away because I knew that I had some new DECOART AMERICANA CHALKY FINISH PAINT and she could be easily transformed!  Check out the link above to see all of the beautiful available colors of chalky paint.

I chose "Lace" which is a light ivory color.  I wanted my angel to be light and I would add a darker wax to bring out all of the details later.

This paint is SO EASY to work with and I totally LOVE my new and improved angel!  Let me take you through the very quick and very easy steps to completely transform ANYTHING!

As I said, I chose "Lace" to paint over my angel.  There is no prep work at all other than maybe wiping off any dust before starting.  I used a regular acrylic brush about 1" wide.  I shook up the paint really well and stirred it a little bit with the wooden stick end of my brush.  Then I started to paint over the entire surface.  Be sure to dab the brush into all of the cracks and crevasses (and smooth the paint out) so that all of the original grey color is covered up.  Let it dry and be sure to clean your brushes thoroughly after using.

Here is my angel ... already taking on such a lovely new appearance!  There were little areas that I had missed on my original layer of paint so I simply went back over those areas and touched them up and let it dry again.  

Now for the really dramatic part ....

I used a medium brown DecoArt Americana Golden Brown Cream Wax to create all of my detail.  Again, just shake up the wax and begin painting it all over the piece.  I worked in sections so that the wax would not begin to dry too fast before I had a chance to move it and work with it.  But, the wax is water soluble so it is easily manipulated with a damp lint free cloth.

I used the damp cloth to remove all of the excess wax that I did not want on my angel.  I was also able to blend traces of the golden brown wax color over the lace paint where I wanted to add some shadowing effects.  You can add more color or wipe away excess color with the damp cloth.  SO easy and fun!!!

There were areas where I wiped off too much of the brown wax.  So, I simply reapplied more wax on top of the areas I wanted to create more depth and gently wiped away the excess with the damp cloth.  Repeat this process until you get your desired results.  Once the cloth has some excess wax on it, it's fun to use that wax to add some shadowing effects as well.

Here is my beautiful new and improved angel...perfect for my bathroom decor!  From here, I could had added more hints of different Chalky Finish Paint colors to the leaves and flowers but I really wanted her to be super simple: just the Lace and Golden Brown Cream Wax combination.

These next two pictures show you the detail that is able to be pulled out of the statue by brushing on the brown wax and wiping away the excess with a damp cloth.  

Just amazing!  She's so much prettier as a light angel than the grey concrete one!  And I think she looks a lot more expensive, too!  Like something that could have been picked up at an antique market or something.  

You could add a patina effect to her.  You could add some metallic gilding, you could add color to her face, cheeks, hair and flowers, etc.  It's all up to you and your imagination!

If you've never experimented with DecoArt American Chalky Paints, I highly recommend that you do it!  They are so fun, so easy and the results are amazing!  You can paint pretty much transform anything: statues, cabinets, frames, furniture: you name it!  

   

Here are a few pictures of my new bathroom.  It's hard to photograph a small area in full.  I love the corner cabinet full of teal accents and a few of my own art pieces mixed in!

 

And finally, a beautiful metal piece that I found and dearly love to the left and my sweet little angel to the right.

Thanks for stopping by!