A valuable lesson while upscaling my wooden candle stand

I’ve had this wooden candle stand sitting in the corner of my living/dining room, like forever. Almost discarded, I would say. Probably because I didn’t much like it. The carving is pretty but the colour didn’t do it for me…. So I made a mental note, admittedly quite a long time ago, that one day I would do something about it… and so the day arrived.

I can make the excuse that I just didn’t know HOW I would upscale it. What colour(s) I would use, and so on. There was also a bit of arguing going on with my inner voice as to whether people would criticize me for painting over wood. I am aware that to some the act of painting over wood is pure sacrilege.

However, I finally got over it and took the plunge. The rebel in me was winning over.

Now normally I would use my acrylic or Flashe (vinyl emulsion) paints to paint on wood or ceramic surfaces with a base coat, which is what I began with – a base coat of gesso, that is. But then I remembered that I had been wanting to try chalk paint, which I thought could be more suitable for furniture and such decorative accessories. So, after working out my palette, I ordered a couple of colours from Chalk of the Town in Athens plus some cold wax, which was recommended for finishing it off.

But I’ve jumped ahead of myself. The first thing I did was to work out what I was going to do with it. So I started going through some of my saved inspo images on Pinterest and it wasn’t long before I found something I had liked in the past. Using the image of the pretty jug I found I then worked with my photo of the candle stand and ‘painted’ it digitally to see how it would look. (See image to the left below).

Having ordered the desired chalk paints I then proceeded according to my digital mock-up. I loved painting with these paints. I only needed to dilute slightly with water and the colour went on so smoothly and beautifully. I probably didn’t even need to apply a base coat as these are pretty opaque. Still, I did need two-three coats in some places as I’m pretty fussy about getting a really matte and opaque finish. I must also say that these paints have really good coverage, meaning you don’t need much to get the job done.

Then, as I usually do when completing job, or the first phase, I sat with the candle stand for a couple of days to see how I felt about it because something was niggling me.

And then, of course, the inevitable happened. I just couldn’t help myself. I just felt the pull to add more colour. A little bit here, a little bit there….. and before I knew it, well, I was having fun.

The paints I used for these extra colours were my all time favorite Flashe vinyl emulsion matte paints, which I have a lot of, and, I might add, worked superbly with the chalk paints. Yes, I did mix them sometimes to get the desired matching/harmonious colours and they mixed very well!

So what was the valuable lesson I gleaned off this project and how it turned out?

Well, if I’m honest, when I began this project I was still trying to create something that would be universally liked and accepted. I was afraid that I would get a lot of criticism painting over wood. So I was still trying to be reserved, playing it safe (aka not going my usual colour-crazy self). I was holding back my true impulse to play with the colours I love. In essence I was holding back my true self and authentic self-expression. I was still trying to fit in. And most importantly, I forgot that I was supposed to be having fun!

It so happened that the week that I painted it was my 60th birthday.. A major milestone in anyone’s life. So much so that I thought to myself,