A Dose Of DIY Reality

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This weekend I bit off more than I could chew.

You see, my armoire has been bugging me for a long time.

Not the armoire itself — I love my armoire!

It’s rustic.

And perfectly imperfect. Worm holes and all.

But the color of it?? Not feeling it… So orange…

So on Saturday afternoon I decided I was going to do something about it.

It’s got a wax finish on it so I knew I couldn’t paint it or whitewash it.

But I knew I could go over it with more wax. So I had ordered some liming wax a week or so ago. Liming wax is a white semi-opaque wax that you rub on and it makes a piece look pickled or whitewashed.

I thought it would be a quick, easy fix…

I thought I would be done by Saturday evening…

And I would snap some pics of it...

And post them Tuesday morning…

And everyone would think I was brilliant…

And marvel at the transformation…

But then…

There’s DIY REALITY…

There were definitely some HITS and MISSES on this project:

MISS: The liming wax I ordered was petroleum-based and smelled so toxic I lost thousands of brain cells just opening the lid of the can..

HIT: So I came up with my own colored wax by mixing equal parts chalk paint and sealing wax. This mixture is AMAZING! (If I do say so myself!) I used Valspar chalk paint and Valspar Sealing Wax. (For a more subtle look, use less paint).

The wax is kind of the consistency of a good moisturizer so it really mixes nicely with the chalk paint.

You just paint the mixture on with a brush and wipe it off with a rag.

MISS: The finished color is not at all what I’m looking for. I used the white to begin with but there was still a lot of red coming through.

So then I applied a coat of a warm green-gray wax over that hoping it would tone down all that red.

Then I added more white on top of that so it would look more whitewashed. It’s okay but I don’t love it. It’s too light and there’s kind of a violet tinge to it now…

HIT: The wax finish is incredible! After it’s dried a little, just lightly buff it with a clean soft cloth and it’s satiny smooth.

So now I had a decision to make…

Should I post this like it is??

It’s not finished…

It’s not perfect…

I still want to tweak it to get the color just right…

No one is going to think I’m brilliant…

BUT…

They’ll probably think I’m human…

And they’ll see that sometimes this is DIY REALITY…

So here goes…

I’m going to keep working on it when I have more time…

And get the color just right...

And I’ll show you how it turns out...

And I hope you’ll think I’m brilliant...

But for now, this is DIY REALITY.

See this armoire all finished and decked out for Fall HERE

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