Another day, another project. It seems as if I always have something to improve or piddle with around my home. Just when I think I’ve designed my ideal space, I’ll discover a new object of inspiration or color scheme to send my mind reeling with different ideas. If I gave my style a name, it would be “collected”. Sure, those design show rooms revealed on TV, completed in a few days, are amazing, but perhaps not so personal. Items gathered over time reflect a persons evolving personality and style. Looking back when I first got married, my style was odd to say the least. One of our rooms had a lime green ceiling and bright sunflower walls! Today, I’ve come to appreciate the refined and classic, although, still love bright colors. Eclectic rooms, with vintage to contemporary findings fill my home. A plus with this style is that anything I fancy can be added; no fuss!
we had a few minor renovations made to our home to take it from builder grade to more detailed. We added tall base & crown mouldings, lowered our bi-level kitchen counters (to give me more baking space), added granite and a deep one basin sink; I ADORE using the space now! We left our existing cabinets for the time being. When we moved in ten years ago the cabinets were a grainy light colored wood, so I painted them a creamy white for a consistent appearance, but I’ve always admired cabinets with an espresso glaze adding depth to raised panels. When I was given the opportunity to try an Annie Sloan Unfolded product, I knew just what to choose! Annie Sloan Soft Wax -Dark would be just what I needed to add dimension to my white cabinets and tie it in with our new cream, brown & black countertops. Along with Annie Sloan Soft Wax, I received an Annie Sloan brush which was dreamy to work with and totally necessary for my project. It’s deep tapered bristles easily reached into the recessed areas on my cabinet panels.
Before I began, I grabbed a few other supplies; rubber gloves (because the wax can irritate skin) and cheesecloth for wiping off wax (a nice lightweight option that doesn’t soak up too much wax). To start, I tapped my brush into the can of wax lightly (very little wax is needed), then pounced it onto the recessed areas of my cabinet. Next, I used pieces of the cheesecloth to wipe away excess that got on the cabinet and not in the crevice. I didn’t want my whole cabinet to pick up a brown color, so it was important to remove the excess wax right away and avoid staining. To add a little more dimension, I took my brush, using only the tapered edge and tapped it gently along each raised edge and corner, giving the overall cabinet more of an “aged” feel. It only took a couple hours to complete my whole project. I felt like an artist playing with the amounts of color and detail I wanted. Fun and simple to do. Very little product was used; my guestimate about a couple tablespoons worth which leaves me a TON for future projects. Although my cabinets are cream, this technique could be done on colored cabinets and would look fantastic! Also, my cabinets were painted with Latex paint, however, Chalk Paint decorative paint by Annie Sloan, would be a great option if you’re going to paint your cabinets since they are developed to work together.