Seagull Gray Trio

The weather in Pennsylvania today is perfect for blog writing. There's a constant breeze blowing and it's cool enough to wear my favorite lightweight hoodie and yoga capri's. Jake is curled up next to me out on the porch and I feel like I'm finally able to take a deep breath and relax for a minute.

I just finished up a photo shoot of three pieces that were for the daughter of a very sweet customer. They turned out beautiful and she is quite happy with their new look. I'll be delivering them tonight with Marc's help, and this morning was spent delivering a different trio of custom pieces to another sweet customer.

The past few weeks have been all about custom commissioned work, and my work load is now down from nine pieces to three. There is a potential fourth in there, but for now, I'm sooo happy to be breathing a bit easier now that some pieces are finished. Don't misunderstand me, I'm thankful for the work and all of the pieces I've completed so far have turned out amazing. The six pieces I've completed so far were very labor intensive, so I'm looking forward to a lighter work load!

I wasn't able to get photos of the trio that I delivered this morning, but I did have time to do a proper photo shoot of my second trio that will be delivered this evening.

A few months ago, General Finishes contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in being their Featured Blogger for the 2nd Quarter. It took me all of two seconds to say "yes", and they graciously sent me some paint supplies to crank out a few projects. One of the products that I picked was their gorgeous Seagull Gray Milk Paint.

Seagull Gray is the lightest shade of gray in the GF Milk Paint collection, and it's a bit of a chameleon color in that it can take on different appearances depending on the decor around it and the light. Sometimes it pulls gray, blue or even a bit lavender at times. You can see how it compares to the other grays on their color chart.

It's a lovely shade and it was the color my customer chose for her daughter's three pieces. Everything worked out pretty well if I do say so myself!

She wanted her three pieces to be full coverage without any distressing, so it was a no-brainer to go with General Finishes Milk Paint. This premium interior/exterior acrylic based paint is ideal to use if you don't want a chippy or distressed look. It goes on smoothly and lays down quickly. It's also self-leveling, which helps to minimize the appearance of brush strokes. It dries to a low-luster sheen and mimics the look of true powdered, casein-based milk paint. That's why it's called "milk paint" but it's really acrylic based. It has the look of old paint but the durability of new! It can hold up to low-medium use without a topcoat, but my customer wanted a lovely semi-gloss sheen, so I applied two coats of General Finishes High Performance Topcoat.

Because my customer's daughter is still young, having several coats of this water based topcoat will help to protect it against the wear and tear of life with small children.

The first piece is this sweet table with turned legs.

This piece came to me with several layers of chipping and peeling paint. I sanded it down quite a bit with my palm sander and smoothed out the surface before a drop of paint ever touched the surface.

You don't see any of that unevenness in the paint anymore, do you? That is the power of proper prep work, my friends. Taking the time to create an even surface to paint is well worth the effort!

I also primed this piece using two coats of General Finishes Stain Blocker. Because Seagull Gray is such a light tone, it's best to prime your surface first if you're painting over a dark finish. The original colors that were on this table were an off white and a bit of green, but I had to sand it down to the raw wood in some spots, so primer was needed to keep the wood from bleeding through.

The second piece I painted is this adorable nightstand.

I'm not sure if it had a door on the bottom at one point, but it didn't come to me with one, so I painted the entire interior of that little cubby space.

My customer wanted gold hardware, so I used a bit of spray paint to help with that part.

This piece was a bit tricky because it had the most caked on bits of paint, especially around the raised details on the sides. I took my time sanding by hand and rubbed away drip marks and brush strokes so they wouldn't show through the new finish. I also had to pay special attention to those raised details when I was applying both primer and GF Milk Paint to ensure there weren't any drips.

This piece was a bleeder as well, but General Finishes Stain Blocker took care of that! This piece had an original mahogany finish, which is notorious for causing bleed through. Whenever you are going to paint a piece of mahogany furniture in a light color, make sure you always prime first!

I saved my favorite piece for last. Check out this gorgeous depression era dresser!

Oh you guys, this piece was so much fun to paint. I absolutely love working on dressers like this.

The details are simple but pretty! I mean, c'mon...look at these legs!

The gold spray paint carried over to the original pulls on the dresser as well.

I also had to take care to watch for drips and puddling paint on these detailed bits too.

See all that beaded trim? Those are prime places for paint to puddle up and collect. Applying several thin layers of paint as opposed to fewer thicker layers will help avoid that issue.

I think this dresser is soft and feminine without being too girly, don't you think?

After we're finished delivering these pieces tonight, Marc and I are going to start getting ready for our summer vacation to the beach. We're going with his brother and sister-in-law and a buddy of his from hockey. He was also a groomsman in our wedding, so we're going to have a blast. Marc's brother is on the far right and his wife is to his right. His hockey buddy is the third in from the left.

Once we get back, I'll start getting organized for my Summer Sale at my home workshop. You can check my Facebook event for more details and see some of the items that will be available. (Please excuse the photos because they were taken in my basement workshop. I will, of course, have the sale staged and styled out in the driveway.)

I also need to get cracking on my remaining custom pieces. My paintbrushes don't stay still for long!

If you would like to get your hands on the General Finishes products that I used on these three pieces, you can pick them up in my booth at Morgantown Market or find a General Finishes retailer near you!

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