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I get so many questions about how i paint furniture and the tools that i use – so i am going to break it down into a couple of posts. 

This post will be about how i glaze furniture – i guess you probably can gather that by the title, but, just in case you didn’t read the title (how dare you)

Besides distressing a piece of furniture, this is my most favorite thing to do to bring a little life to a piece.  I do this on a lot of furniture that i paint – because i LOVE the way it looks.  Plus its a style that i really like, but i don’t personally have anything in my house that is glazed – so this is my way to get my “fix” – see what i am saying, did i loose ya?!

So, i am totally jumping ahead, i should do a post 1st about the tools that is use, then how i paint, and then maybe the glazing.  But this is my blog, and i am very disorganized and these are the pictures that i have taken so far :)

I first start off with a freshly painted piece of furniture.  This is a cedar/blanket chest that i just finished.  I painted it with a $5 oops paint that i got –  i love this color – i use it a LOT.  Its a creamy blue/gray/green – LOVE IT!!  It makes me want to paint all my walls antique white and repaint all my furniture this color (hmmm, that’s an idea, that i have been secretly thinking about….)

Before paint…

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After paint and a little bit of distressing…

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For this piece  i used Valspar (Lowes) translucent mixing glaze and walnut stain (you can use any color of stain, or even paint).  I mix mine about 3:1, you really don’t need too much stain – a little goes a long way.  But, you can add as much stain/paint as you want – it just depends how you want the final result to be. 

I use glaze because it helps me to be able to work with it longer – if you just rubbed paint/stain on a piece of furniture, you wouldn’t have a lot of time to work with it before it dried, that’s what the glaze is for.  The glaze is completely clear – you wont see any if it on your furniture.  I know that i am not explaining that very good – sorry…

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So i mix everything up in a little plastic cup, then i use a cheap paint brush to brush it on the furniture.  My husband is asian – so we have chopsticks.  Well, i found that chopsticks were the perfect mixing tool for a lot of things.  But, i was using all of our “good” chopsticks – so now when we get chinese take-out, i take as many of the freebie chopsticks as i can – don’t tell :)

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I start by brushing the glaze all over one part of the furniture.  You don’t need to be careful – go crazy, paint like your in 3rd grade.  Make sure you get into all the little cracks and imperfections – those are what will make your furniture look good when its all done.

Beautiful isn’t it…?!

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Then take your best linens and wipe that thing down….not really, just use an old t-shirt

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You can take as much or as little off as you want too – just depends on the look that you are going after.  Make sure and leave glaze in the cracks – because it looks good…

How long before you leave it on before you wipe it off just depends.  It depends on the temperature in the space you are working on, how porous the furniture is and how much glaze you want to stay on.  You will just have to play around with it.  Its fun.

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When i was done with the front there was a few spots that i thought needed a little more, so i just slapped some on and re-wiped.  You can even do multiple coats to build it up.  

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Its that easy…so try it with a piece of furniture that you already have – it will totally change the feeling of it. 

When all was done…

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See how the glaze settles in to all the little cracks and dings…perfection :)

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Oh, can i tell you how much i love my red ruffle pillow – i got it at Target – and it was recent so i am sure they still have them.  And i LOVE blue and red together – so cute.  I also love my books that i tore of the covers and then tied them with burlap ribbon – who needs to read books – just use them for cute little vignettes :)

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So, this bench is for sale.  Don’t tell my husband that i priced it high, because i secretly really want to keep it.  Its perfect for the end of my bed.  Please don’t sell… please don’t sell…

Ok, go glaze something :)

Linking up to these fun parties – go and check out all the projects!