If I could only plug you into my brain for a moment, the chaos would be overwhelming to most. This chaos exists every second of my life, but when I’m trying to reimagine a piece of furniture, I go into hyperdrive. It is pretty maddening and most of the time the piece never goes as planned anyway. So, when I found this petite Art Deco china hutch on Facebook Marketplace the madness began. I was already in planning mode on the way to get it. I had a glimmer of an idea or at least a color planned in my head, but I just couldn’t see it fully. I went over to my Pinterest boards for inspo (I have things pinned via category from ages ago) and scoured through all things art deco. I wanted a deep, yummy mint color and I knew I wanted gold accents. I really racked my brain over this piece way too long and wasted too much time thinking about it because when I finally picked up the brush and started, it resembled nothing of what I had saved.
Going With The Flow
I was going to custom mix a color and then I just decided to slap on some DIY Bohemian Blue, starting at the top and just dragging the brush down. I haven’t really used this technique before and just left it at the stage. I usually get cold feet and continue to paint. The self-doubt and questioning after a decade of painting still baffle me. One would think that I would just do it and say it is what it is but that inner dialogue of doubt about if someone “gets it” just keeps tapping me on the shoulder. Well this time I said, this is it. If no one likes it, it can go to my house. Funny fact…I very rarely have any of my own work in my house. I’ve never painted anything for my own home. Every piece has always been for sale and moved to a booth or on the sales floor, so having this little jewel at my house was a novel idea. I kind of liked the fact that I was painting for fun this time and that there was no pressure to pump out furniture for sale. I could take my time (maybe too much time) and really get it just the way I wanted it which by the way I still don’t like the drawer lining, but it was handy (during COVID) and the right color scheme so I rolled with it.
To Paint or Not To Paint…That was the question
It was the arch that I loved the most about this piece and I almost wasn’t going to paint it, but I just kept going and low and behold, its even more so my favorite part now that it’s painted. Sometimes I worry that I won’t like it painted, but I just let it flow with this one. It really turned out so much different than I planned, but I love it. It is probably in my top ten all-time favorites. I love the drips and variegations in the color which comes from using multiple colors. You can check out the studio recording of me painting it here.