Recently I purchased a section from an old oak bookcase. I decided that the raised panels reminded me of the grid of a Union Jack and decided to paint that design onto it.
I also had some iron pencil legs in my stash of stuff and used those to raise it up.
Here's the final product:
And here's what it looked like when I purchased it:
The first thing I did was to remove the hardware; then scrub, sand, prime and paint the whole piece with light gray paint. Next, I taped off the top and painted inside the tape with a darker gray. (I added black to some of my original paint until it was as dark as I wanted.)
I then moved on to the front. I inserted the drawers sans hardware. I wanted the top design to cascade down the front of the cabinet.
Of course I couldn't stop there. I moved on to the back side and continued the center + onto the back. Notice that I put some small pieces of tape in the sections I DIDN'T want to paint.
After the dark gray painting was complete I added a black stripe and painted the + an off white. I then added the legs and it was done.
Here's the view of the completed back.
 |
| Back Side |
Then the front with the hardware put back in place and the legs added.
So, will you give the Union Jack a try? I have to say that there's a lot of taping going on. And of course you know about my spacial relationship defect. I actually had to draw the pattern onto a separate piece of paper and constantly refer back to it. If you compare the photos you'll notice that I decided to paint all the raised panels around the top perimeter gray near the end.
Hint: Press down the sides of the tape before you paint. I used the edge of my fingernail.
Then remove the tape as soon as the stripes are painted. This prevents leaking under the tape and gives you a sharp straight line.
It was quite a project but I love the result. I do admit to being geometrically challenged.
For some reason--time of day, blue gray paint--it looks more blue than gray in the final photos.
Kathy
