There is so much history behind me painting this purple Hollywood Glam vanity.....but I really want to focus more on the creation of the piece rather than the "why".
If you'd like to know more about the lovely lady that commissioned me to do this work....I wrote a detailed Facebook post and you can see that here.
I was asked to find a vanity for very glamorous dressing room. When I say glamorous, I mean REALLY glamorous....as in white shag carpet, glass cabinets, imported crystal knobs and a ginormous dripping chandelier. So with surroundings like that.....not just any vanity would do!
I found this vanity on my local FB market place listing. I paid a LOT for it! In fact....it is the most expensive single piece of furniture that I have ever purchased for my business.....as a makeover piece.
To be honest.....WAY back in the day....pieces like this went for next to nothing....but now with the trend of painting furniture being a full blown business on every corner...people know they can ask a fortune for used pieces and get it! Yep! They got it from me this time!
It needed little to no repairs. The top surface is NOT perfect.....with a few discolorations and ridges in the wood joints....but I chose to leave them. The fancy dressing room is part of an expansive ranch house.....and I felt a little dressed up rustic-imperfection was actually very fitting.
Several of the drawers needed sanding back.....to keep them from sticking and making it difficult to open and close. I sanded the sides and edges and gave a good rubbing of Dixie Belle's Orange Grove Butta. It not only conditions the wood and but it helps the drawers to glide easily and also leaves a really fresh scent to a previously owned piece.
I then gave this beauty a shower in White Lightning. With all the deep carvings it would have been impossible to clean all the dust. So a good shower and rinse and repeat did trick!
I primed both the vanity and mirror with BOSS in white after it failed a bleed through test**.
**A bleed through test is simply choosing a small area of your piece to paint a small patch of paint...let dry....and apply a top coat. It may bleed through immediately....or it may take a few hours to show. Bleed through will appear in a variety of colors but most often appears as a pink or wine color. Sometimes it will instantly turn a white to a golden yellow. This would be a bleed-through test fail and your piece should be primed prior to painting
My client asked for purple! That was it! Purple and possibly butterflies!
I began with the basic purple colors offered by Dixie Belle such as Amethyst, Aubergine, and Lucky Lavender. While these colors are gorgeous on their own.....I just needed more variety of shades. So I began blending the areas I wanted to pull lighter with Fluff and Drop Cloth. And the areas I wanted to pull deeper with Caviar. I even pulled in a little Cobalt Blue, Plum Crazy, and Peony to get various tones.
Blending is not difficult....it just takes patiences and COURAGE! If you are afraid to blend ON your piece.....try it on a board or even a paper plate first.
I blended directly on the piece and several times got some really ugly results that I had to walk away and let dry....or wipe back and start over! I'm not afraid of paint and I'm not afraid of messing up....because it really is just paint! I finally started seeing colors that spoke to me....and continued to repeat this process over and over. Since I rarely paint with JUST purples...this purple Hollywood glam vanity was like a science experiment to me and I really had fun with it!
I have an insider tip for you!
TIP #1: Did you know that Dixie Belle has blending suggestions?? Yep....and I used them! For example....if you go to purchase Lucky Lavender.....and you click on the product description....there is a photo and recipe of how to obtain Mauve by blending Lucky Lavender with Peony! Or how about Aubergine and Apricot give you Pewter! Yep....did that on this vanity too! So if you own two colors....you really own three (at minimum)!
I share this with you so you will be encouraged and inspired to try something like this yourself!
TIP #2: And let me give you another little tip.....blending colors over a lot of carvings is more forgiving than blending colors on a smooth/flat surface! So find yourself a heavily carved piece....and look up your blend suggestions on DB website....and give it a go!
I gave all the carvings on the front of this dresser a final color-wash with Aubergine ....the darkest of the purples. I covered each drawer completely with watered down Aubergine and wiped back immediately. This allows the dark purple to settle into the cracks of the pewter/white fronts of the drawers.
I then applied the Monarch Grace design transfer to the inside of the leg hole area. My friend had asked for a nod to butterflies and I felt like I could give her this in this subtle location. Once the transfer was applied I gave it a light sanding with the DB sanding sponge to release any air bubbles or loose pieces.
I've used the design transfer one other time on my Butterfly Bombe chest with texture and a little bit of grunge. You can learn more about that piece HERE.
I then coated the entire purple Hollywood glam vanity in Gator Hide.
HOWEVER......did you notice a little sparkle in the finish? That is a Posh Pigment that has not yet been released. It doesn't even have a name but I'm going to refer to it as fairy dust! I stirred a good amount right into my Gator Hide top coat and did a little dance with how much shimmer it gave me! I repeated this top coat three times for a high gloss and high shimmer shine!
I then mixed my Posh Pigments Silver into Gator Hide and carefully chose its placement on specific carvings. I just chose them based on balance....top of the mirror.....right and left sides.....balance on drawers......etc. I didn't want to paint ALL the carvings silver or the entire piece would have been covered. It was difficult to hold back as you know how much I love GAUDY metallics!
Last but not least......I secured my #fancyfairydoor! My granddaughter has already been captivated by it .....has knocked on it multiple times....called out to Tinkerbell saying..."Tinker....are you in there? It's just me....Harlow". AHHHHHH.....my heart!!!!
I enjoyed creating this purple Hollywood glam vanity so very much and I hope you will try creating something gaudy and glamorous too!
More Purple Furniture Inspiration
While I don't use purple very often, I do have a couple of my purple pieces to share with you...purple colorful color pour dresser and my Whimsical Alice in Wonderful dresser (times TWO...see the second, more recent version HERE)
Click on any photo below for more details and additional pictures...
Shop: purple Hollywood glam vanity
The products listed here are what I used for this project! Dixie Belle Paint company offers amazing products that will make all of your projects successful no matter what your skill level! Just click on any of the products shown below! You can also find my favorite products and tools in my Amazon influencer list here.
Here's how it works...these products are attached to my name. When you purchase by clicking from my blog.....then Dixie Belle offers a kickback to me for referring you! It doesn't cost you any more to use my links....and the support helps me to bring you new projects! So I thank you in advance!!!
See you next week!
XOXO,
Tracey
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