As with many words, phrases, and trends, after a while of repeatedly hearing and seeing them, they are visually and audibly overdone and we overlook them and move on to something else. A few years ago the moniker, shabby chic exploded into the decorating scene and was wildly popular with both primitive & cottage look seekers for a new look to their homes. For primitive decorators, while staying true to the look they loved, it was a cleaner look, mostly done in various hues of whites. For the cottage look, it was a way for people who had decorated in the primitive dark shades to change a room to perhaps a more feminine setting.
Myself, attracted to anything primitive and preferring original paint, peeling paint, or never any paint, but still primitive, often found myself with pieces that would be considered either primitive or shabby chic. My house became filled with primitive furniture and collections. And I loved the look. EXCEPT for my kitchen! It was stuck in the 70's! My collections were lost against a dark, busy backdrop. Original birch cupboards, that I had added white porcelain knobs to for a while to change the look, sage green counters and stove. The ugliest and faded print abitibi paneling in greens and golds pattern (definitely a 70's thing, and quite nasty after that look went out), I couldn't figure out what to do with this dark, very outdated kitchen. Not wanting to spend a fortune to completely redo it with new cupboards, and definitely wanting to lighten it, I paid more attention to the peely paint look on some of my primitive pieces and became determined to have white cupboards & walls. But not solid white. I wanted them to look old. A white peely paint wood tray bought in Ohio provided me with JUST the technique I needed!
We bought 3 different Latex ( do NOT use oil ) paints. Good quality. The base coat the sage green of my counter tops. One off white to cover that nasty abitibi and the ceilings, and another color of white close in color to the first one, so as not to have a continual color of the same white throughout the kitchen.
How to:
1. first clean your cupboard wood good to get any oils etc. off them.
2. Next, we lightly power sanded the doors to get what little varnish was on them off. Probably sandpaper would have the same affect.
3. Leaving the cupboard doors on the cupboard, we painted the base coat sage green. 1-2 coats. Let dry good. 1-2 days. Do doors AND the base cupboard.
4. Buy beeswax (NOT paraffin, NOT candlewax). We used a toilet wax ring bought at a local hardware (or Home Depot etc). We had added trim mold to the cupboards to completely change the look. Rub beeswax (not sparingly) on the edges, and wherever you want the 'worn' look (if you have knobs, around the knobs). It will be in small clumps. Drag it down the fronts of the doors. Make sure you also wax where signs of normal wear of fingernails would gouge the paint on the cupboard base . No drying time involved, you can paint right after doing the wax.
5. Paint the first top coat over the wax and base coat. Paint the cupboard base & the hinges. Let dry good. 1-2 days.
6. VERY IMPORTANT. Paint the 2nd coat. Either have 2 people or ONLY DO A COUPLE CUPBOARDS AT A TIME. WHILE THAT TOP COAT IS STILL TACKY (ONLY MINUTES TO 1/2 HOUR) (do not let dry!!!) ( I found an hour was too long. It dries too much. )take a kitchen knife or scraper, and start to drag it down over where you have 'waxed'. You can see the wax clumps, underneath the paint. DO NOT USE SANDPAPER! You want the paint to "peel", not look sanded. The knife will peel the top 2 coats of paint and where the wax was, your base coat will show.
Now let the cupboards dry! We didn't use anything over top to preserve them. My once dark, very outdated kitchen is now light, white and primitive. I LOVE it!. Cost? 3 gallons of paint (didn't use it all), the inexpensive wax ring, and some elbow grease. One admirer wondered WHERE I got those old cupboards!
If you have any questions, email me at byers@highbuttonshoe.net
~ Pat Byers
