This is one of my projects for Painters In Residence, a commission I had from Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to use the paints, varnishes, and other products from her range. This cupboard and chair were bought on ebay, the chair was missing its seat and the cupboard had seen better days but the shape and detailing was lovely and typical of the Art Deco style with big cog like shapes on the legs.
The photos above show my progress.
I chose the colours Florence and Graphite with leafing in brass and copper. The copper under the brass gives it an extra depth and ties in nicely with the skull fabric on the chair seat. The fabric came from Van Asch who, as you probably know, I work with regularly on ideas and looks. To achieve this finish paint the area required with Gold Size, wait until it becomes clear and then lay the leaf over the area, brushing away the loose bits to leave the metallic layer stuck to the gold size. Very easy to use and highly recommended.
I painted over the Florence chalk paint with a crackle finish that is also an Annie Sloan product. It comes in two pots called Craqueleur, paint on the first layer and let it dry, then paint on the second layer, in a warm place, and it will dry with fine cracks in the surface. It changes the colour in a different way to the wax. Over this I applied both clear and dark wax, purposely leaving it dark in places to give depth and age to the surface.
Graphite on the cupboard was also dark waxed to make it more black.
I styled this all together with a graphite wall and cut a deco style stencil for the wall above. To this I also applied brass leafing.
If you have lovely shaped furniture but don't like different wood colours or too much brown this is a perfect way to give a cohesive look in the room, keep the colours in the same tone range and take some onto the walls as well. A carefully chosen palette is a brilliant way to tie a look together. To continue the look choose frames to add leafing to, gold stands out so well on black, its timeless. The prints in the frames were original book pages bought on ebay by Erte, the father of Art Deco, a Russian born artist living in France. His images are the antithesis of that period.
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