How do you get to Carnegie Hall? . . . . Practice!!

Among my many jobs when I take ownership of the Clocktower Cottage is to paint the kitchen cabinets. This is what they look like now:

They are perfectly good, but just too heavy and "serious" for the casual chic look I am attempting with this house. I want them to be an antiqued white, which will look great against a pale blue-green background. I have been collecting supplies and today was the day I decided to see if I have what it takes to paint and glaze the cabinets. I know I am capable of performing all the steps, it's just that I am nervous that my project will turn out amateurish and I will be disappointed.

So, this morning, I cleaned an old window shutter, painted a medium blue, and put on two coats of Sherwin Williams's Extra White, mixed with Webster's Chalk Paint powder, according to their directions. I haven't ever used chalk paint, but it's the hottest thing in painting furniture, etc. so I decided to give it a try. I have nothing to compare it to, but the paint mixture covered nicely in two coats and dried completely in about an hour.

Next, I got out the Fiddes wax and tried to find a suitable cloth for applying it. Nothing felt quite right until I hit my sock drawer and took out an old pair of white cotton socks. I used one sock for applying the wax and the other for buffing the finish (with one sock over each hand like mittens). Reading about the process made me a little nervous, but once I got going I realized it's done exactly like waxing a car--thank goodness Joe has asked me to help out with that task over the years--I had the hang of it in an instant! Putting on the clear wax is a cinch! It's the dark wax that gives the antique look that is a little tricky to control. I put too much on the first section of shutter, then adjusted my MO for the second piece--alternating between clear wax and a dab of dark, then buffing the two of them together. In places where I felt I had been too heavy-handed with the dark wax, I put some clear on a cloth and rubbed over the dark till I liked the results.

In a couple of hours the shutter was done and it approximates what my cabinets will look like. I got out the cordless drill and put in two holes where cabinet knobs would go, then I added some of my "bling" to see if I was happy with my choices.

Here's my "cabinet" against a similar blue background with the bling. It really gives me a good feel for my Clocktower Cottage project.