A Bit Wordy

Custom orders can be so fun, but I also think the pressure is amped up just a bit.  I mean someone gives you some prize possession and wants you to freshen it up a bit.  I always worry that they really do have a picture in their mind of the end result...and what if I don't deliver.  Dadada DA. Anywho, D.S. thought she would take a chance on me and brought me 2 antique pieces that she wanted restyled.  I WISH I had thought to take before shots.  These were quite ornate with lots of roses decorating every drawer front, and flat surface, in a very Victorian fashion.  It was quite lovely, but the colors had begun to fade and it was looking a little tired.  I was given free reign once we had decided on the base color.  I have to admit to being a bit intimidated to begin.  The base is AS Chalk paint Paris Gray over Old Violet which was not a dramatic change from the warm gray that had been on the pieces.  Then I knew we needed to redecorate these pieces again.  What to do?  Numbers, stencil, resist stencil, number words, hmmm.  A friend said, "I see words, but I don't know about number words."  That's when the light bulb went off!
How about words of Inspiration?  I'm going to apologize in advance for the photos.  I was in a hurry and to top it all off, when my computer crashed it messed up my photoshop program which I still need to fix.

We reused the clients drawer pulls which were these grand brass and black pulls.  So I opted to use black on the lettering, outlined it with a gold pen.  Then I did use some stencils in other places with antiqued gold rub n buff as my paint.  I sanded both the stencils and the words back so they looked more time worn and fit in with the gentle shabby finish on the paint.  I finished these almost 10 days ago and I swear it took that long for AS Wax to really not feel tacky.  Ack!  Learning curve with the use of that I think!

The dresser does not have the large mirror attached in my photos as we were moving it to prepare it for pickup.  My client hasn't actually seen this yet, so I'm hoping she will approve of the changes!  Beware of giving the painter too much freedom!  (Nervous chuckle) 

I really wish I'd been able to photoshop these photos because it is so much prettier in person.  Next time maybe I'll paint the words "trust" me.
Happy Mid Week!
Deb
Linking to:
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/11/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_22.html
http://missmustardseed.com/2011/11/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party/