Pressing On: Betsy Ross Painted Cabinet

I've pinned on Pinterest and been inspired by all the beautiful Union Jack dressers, pillows and other items. I really wanted to do something like this on a plain cabinet I have.

I mentioned it to my husband and showed him a photo. He said "Not in this house. Ever. We went to war so we don't have to have that flag in our house" or something to that effect. I think his face may have gotten flushed, but I'm not sure...

On to plan B.

I chose to go a little vintage and use the Betsy Ross flag as inspiration.

I could have added "Live Free or Die" OR "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" on the side, but that's a little overkill, hehe.

In honor of the coming Independence Day I worked hard to complete this redo. It was way easier than I thought it would be, but it was still a labor of love. All completed in 24 hours...seriously.

I won't keep you in suspense any longer...on to the reveal!!

This cabinet is a simple laminate one from JCPenny and it just carried no personality (despite the cute little bun feet).

When I do any painting of furniture, the piece sort of speaks to me and typically becomes something very different from what I planned on. I'd originally wanted something similar in color to Courtney's, but after getting the main color on, this piece needed a vibrancy those pale tones wouldn't add.

Before:

AFTER:

Cool huh? We're all loving it, especially the kids.

Here's how I did it.

First of all, it's completely loaded with school books and kids art supplies. Unloading it would be a pain, as would asking my husband to help me pack it out to the garage. My solution was to paint it right in the entryway.

I'm spontaneous like that (read: impatient)

I started off with a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue. I covered every area I was wanting to paint with a layer of this because ASCP sticks to ANYTHING with no sanding or prepping. (I did not paint the interior of the cabinet for expediencies sake)

I won't say we didn't have any mishaps since I was doing it in the entryway/kitchen/living space with 5 kids running around.

Here's proof Lydia is ornery, but it was only once. :) The cool part is that ASCP is non-toxic, so at least for this coat, I didn't have to worry too much.

I added another coat on the areas that would stay blue.
Then the doors got 2 coats of homemade chalky paint in white (using plaster of paris).

I taped off an area for the stars and painted it in a custom mixed dark turquoise/navy.

After I removed the tape.

THIS is why homemade chalky paint does not work the exact same as ASCP. It gives the same look, but not the durability.

Time for the stripes...Valspars Grenadine (sample size)

The stars were done with a cheap little stencil and a tiny art brush. I had to freehand most of the shape since it wasn't flat, but the stencil helped some.

Lookin' good Betsy, lookin' good.

Except for damage the tape did

I decided to just go with the distressing the tape caused, so I lightly sanded the doors to smooth out the peeling latex. Then I used (for the first time) this antiquing glaze.

Much better! This stuff worked so well to get the just right amount of aging. It didn't smell bad either.

For the final step I did a coat of Polycrylic. I probably could have waxed it, but since the kids are the primary users, I wanted a little more instant durability (my impatience shows itself once again).

All finished!

I've thought about eventually replacing the red stripes by painting over it with the duck egg blue to tone it down. Does anyone have thoughts on that idea?