DIY Faux Malachite

I would have never guessed a couple years ago when I made this double wide desk from IKEA components, that I'd still be using this inexpensive combo today. I really love it - it's great to have so much work space - but it was time to change up the look a bit. When Sherwin-Williams invited me to use some of their green paint to dream up a project for National Painting Week, I knew my old trusty desk was going to be the lucky target.

I shared last week that I've been dying to try my hand at a faux malachite painting technique, but I've been a little intimidated. I had no idea just how easy it would be! Here are the paint colors I used, all of the colors were mixed in Sherwin-Williams All-Surface Enamel Latex Gloss, going clockwise from top left: Cape Verde (SW 6482), Active Green (SW 6986), Country Squire (SW 6475), and Faux Impressions Clear Glaze.

I put a coat of primer down on the desk, just make sure the surface was smooth and clean. I did a little sanding too, just with a hand block.

Then I brushed on a coat of Active Green for the base of the malachite.

I let that dry for at least a couple of hours.

I made glaze mixtures in both the dark green and dark teal colors. The mixture was about one part paint to three parts glaze, and then it was mixed well.

I think the secret to doing a very easy faux malachite is two sizes of fan brushes. If you can find something very small and another very large brush, that would be ideal.

The malachite pattern part is fun and easy. I started at one end and worked in rows. The trick is to layer the swirls on top of each other. You cover up the start-stop part of each swirl with the smooth, round part of a new swirl. The glaze makes it so the paint dries a little slower and you can layer on the swirls in a clean way, so that the clear bright green base shows through.

Turn on some music and try to keep a loose hand. :) The trick is to not go over the same part twice, if you can avoid it. Also, rather than doing perfectly rounded circles, add some wiggle to the brush so that the lines of the swirls have some movement. It takes some playing with to get the hang of it, but it's fun to do and it goes really fast!

Don't forget to switch back and forth between the small and large fan brushes and the dark green and the dark teal glaze mixtures. I mixed the mixtures together sometimes too (such a rebel, I know).

I also tried to continue the same swirl pattern and glaze color down the side of the table top for a consistent look.

And here's the dried, finished look:

It's definitely not meant to fool anyone into thinking it's real malachite. It's just meant to be a pretty, abstract look. I love it!

I like how much blue there is in the finished desk - I think the SW colors were perfect! I'm really loving how they look against my dark gray walls and with my leopard Eames chairs.

And now for the barrage of photos of the desk at all angles!

I loved getting to try another faux painting technique - especially one that had such quick and easy results! A big thanks again to Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring LGN and letting me participate in this year's National Painting Week. And be sure to catch the thirteen other design bloggers' projects this week! Today, Cassandra at Coco + Kelley has another green project (I love the color she chose!) and tomorrow Erin from House of Earnest and Justin and Cassity at Remodelaholic will share their yellow projects. It's going to be a colorful week in blogland! :)

Studying Malachite

Last year, I worked with Sherwin-Williams on their National Painting Week campaign and I was assigned the color purple. I chose a soft shade of lilac to make a faux inlay effect on my daughters' vanity dresser. (Here's that post).

Malachite painting from the one and only Tony Duquette

This year, I was thrilled to work with Sherwin-Williams again and I thought it would be a good opportunity to try another faux painting technique. My color is green this year, so of course there was only one option: malachite.

Antique inlay box from 1st Dibs

Lamps from 1st Dibs

Malachite sheets

Console from 1st Dibs

Lonny console

Michael Kors malachite dress

Lonny wallpaper

These were some of the images I referenced before starting my project (and I'll be honest - it was a little intimidating to tackle this one, but it ended up being a breeze!). I decided to do a bit of a bluer shade, like the colors in this Celerie Kemble chair, but just a tad more green.

Before I started, I also looked at the techniques other DIYers have tried. Here's a little round up of the posts that were super helpful to me:

Malachite boxes via The Aestate (a seriously awesome blog)

Inspired by The Aestate's tutorial, a cute tray via Burlap and Lace

Also this one, via Mimosa Lane

Malachite mats via Everything LEB

Piano bench via A Thousand Laughing Starfish

Faux malachite lamps via Gorgeous Shiny Things

Faux Malachite walls via Apartment Therapy

Faux malachite knobs via Teal and Lime

This scan below from a vintage book of faux painting techniques was an interesting read. I ended up doing something very similar for my project. 

Malachite painting technique via Chapman Interiors

My photos and tutorial will be posted next Monday and I can't wait to share. There are 13 other design bloggers posting their projects all next week too. It's going to be an amazing week of colorful befores and afters! :)

Make-Shift Dining Room Hutch

Our kitchen is so teeny tiny that right after we moved in I realized that most of our kitchen items would need to be stored in the dining room. I planned on using the red credenza in there and I thought about painting it a really dark plum color.

Also, I didn't have a place in the brownstone to put the HUGE bookshelf from the loft's laundry room and it didn't fit down the stairs to the basement, so we had put it out on the curb, but only for about 15 minutes.

As I unpacked all of our kitchen stuff, it was pretty clear that my plates and bowls and servingware weren't all going to fit in the red credenza. So we hauled the giant (heavy) bookshelf back up the stoop and set it up on top of the credenza.

We were shocked and thrilled that it actually fit, but the ketchup/mustard color combo was not so appetizing to me. :) I thought about still doing the plum idea for the whole piece, but really, it is such a huge, huge piece and the room is so small, I thought a big block of dark color would overpower the space. So I decided just to try gloss white. But before I painted it, we secure the shelves to the wall and I added two pieces of wood to the base of the bookshelf to make the whole thing look less disjointed and more like a single piece of furniture. (We did a similar trick with our Billy bookshelves)

I used a 2x4 for the bottom of the base and a 2x6 for the tall part. I made a couple of 45 degree angle cuts with my miter saw, screwed the pieces together and caulked and filled the holes and gaps. 

I painted it all out with Rustoleum's white gloss enamel and I used a bit of my favorite Penetrol to help reduce the brush marks (this stuff really does work - as long as you use the recommended amount!).

I decided to leave the insides of the shelves the navy color from before and I like the contrast. I know it's busy - there are so many dishes in there! I've since edited and taken some of the things out, but really this space needed to be about practicality (isn't every small space?). I've considered adding doors, but you don't really see the contents of the shelves from any other angle in the room (and not at all from the entry). Mostly, it is SO nice to have easy access to all of this servingware and I love that my girls can easily grab the dinner plates from the bottom shelf to help set the table by themselves.

I like that the white sort of blends into the pale walls and helps to make the small room not feel even smaller. Though, some days (usually during breakfast, when the light is so pretty in here) I start to daydream again of painting the whole thing dark, dark, almost black, plum. We'll see if my better judgement holds out. :)

It's a fun challenge for me to figure out ways to make furniture from previous homes work in (very different) spaces. I'm usually tempted to get rid of everything each time we move, but it never really happens that way and I usually can find a way to make our old stuff work (which is probably for the best) :)

What have you done to make your old furniture work in new spaces?