Brown to Grey

I have to apologize for not posting recently. It seems like forever. We had a fire in our house, caused by an faulty electrical ceiling fan, and it took ages to move into a new property and get settled in again. I lost my computer in the fire with all my photos and project ideas. A few pieces of furniture were saved thanks to the quick response of the fire fighters. But the varnish on my wooden furniture is all blistered from the extreme heat. I think it will take months to sand them all down and re-varnish every single item. So, now you can see what I've been up to in the recent few months.

I've started on the sideboard, dining room table and chairs. But in my rush to get everything done, I've totally forgot to take before photos of the sideboard and table. Luckily I remembered before sanding more chairs.

After

I've decided to slightly change the colour. After consulting Pinterest for inspiration, I decided to go with a weathered look, and make grey the main colour. The original colour is a red brown. I first bought a grey stain varnish combination from my local hardware, and it looked horrible once painted on. So, I re sand the test drawer. The look I'm after is done by an American product called Minwax and I thought I will have to get a replacement product. Why is all the good craft products from America? And it is not easy to import something into Australia as you all would know. I decided to Google my options and were extremely surprised and happy to see that Masters in Australia stock the whole Minwax range. And if you go online you get discount the first time you order.

On Pinterest they used a colour called Weathered Oak, which looks grey in the photo, but upon closer examination it seems to be more brown on the sample board. So I bought two colours instead; the Weathered Oak and the Classic Grey. I was also impressed by the price (around $30 for a 1L tin). I believe the one tin should also be enough to finish all of my furniture. The product has an oil base, so it is really smooth and easy to use.

So back to the test drawer. I did a small area in the Weathered Oak and a small area in the Classic Grey. Although on its own, the Oak is beautiful, it is still to brown. I found the grey beautiful but still not the exact look I'm after. So I make a mix of two thirds Oak and one part grey, and it worked perfectly. It came out exactly the colour I wanted. You can still see the wood grain underneath, but it seems like old weathered wood, with only a hint of brown. Perfect!

I still had leftover clear wax from Annie Sloan (Another American Product) that I used on a makeover before, and I thought I would just use that to polish the finished pieces, and it worked really good. Leave the Minwax to dry over night, otherwise the polish will wipe the Minwax of.

Old Before Colour