Beachy Subway gets a matching table!!

Behold the throw-away table my sister picked up off the street! At first I said, "nah, what the heck am I going to make with this clunky thing??" But she brought it over anyway. 

I'm really into the beachy subway art theme so I thought why not try it on this table?

It's not going to cost anything but my time. 

Here ya go! Kinda glad I gave it a shot!

Here is the Art piece I had done first.

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VANCOUVER ART subway art tall dresser

Ive been wanting to do a true tall boy subway dresser for some time.

 

And recently a couple of my fellow blog ladies have inspired me to get moving on that project.

First up is Bliss @ Bliss Ranch with her Kodak Dresser.

http://blissranch.blogspot.ca/2012/04/my-kodak-moment.html/

  

And secondly is Suzan @ Simply Vintageous

 http://suzyq-vintagous.blogspot.ca/2012/04/my-ny-subway-dresser.html

My main inspiration started with this fabulous shaker style tallboy @ Lindauer Designs

http://www.lindauerdesigns.com/nyc-subway-sign-dresser/

But I had to do it in the VANCOUVER style,

and add what Im calling my signature typo.

Only those who know Vancouver should be able to find the spelling mix-up,

but for the most part you read it the way you are suppose to. 

  

Next time Ill share how I transformed this mid century look into a shaker style,

in a few steps.

Let me know if you see the typo ...

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I just finished my second subway art project. Its been sittin for awhile.

All of the beach names where stenciled and painted by hand. 

Yessiree Bob it is quite the time suck. 

I just used some pieces of Douglas Fir wood, attach them together from the back, sand, 

stain (walnut) and gave em quick coat of ASCP Pure White.

I did the stenciling in 2 different fonts using the 2" and 3". 

After penciling all the names, I went back in with an artist brush and used

graphite color chalk paint to fill in the names.  After it was dry, I used a sanding block 

to distress the words and gave it coat of clear and dark waxes. 

Easy but time consuming. 

It needs a home. Not mine. 

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HOW TO SUBWAY ART subway art tutotial

There are a few tutorials available around blog land showing how

to achieve a subway art look, so why am I offering another?

I wanted a certain finished look and was able to achieve it using

some of the unique qualities that Chalk Paint possesses.

I used vinyl letters creating a reverse stencil on top of white chalk paint,

The letters were made with commercial adhesive vinyl

left over from my contractor days.

I used my PC and Printer to get the size and shape

then cut them out by hand.

I did not want all that extra white coming through areas that were going to be distressed.

Because Chalk Paint is water soluble (before its waxed)

I scrubbed the extra white off as seen in the photo above.

The remaining steps I took are:

#1 painted over everything with graphite

#2 remove the vinyl letters once the graphite was dry

#3 wax your complete drawer face

#4 distress with sand paper

#5 wax and buff to a shine

Coming soon to an email near you ...

Within a day or two I will be able to show you what Ive been doing with this graphic.

For those interested in what it says Ive translated it.

Cologne

specially distilled by

Giraud Son Paris

for

colonial society

department stores

Saigon - Hanoi

Here is a sneak peak taken late at night while the elves are working.

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BRITISH SUBWAY ART british dresser

This dresser couldnt get more British unless it was still in the UK.

Yes, it originally came from England, and now it has the British Flag pattern painted

on the face, and it even has British subway art topping it off.

The original cherry cordial finish was in pretty good condition

and its so unique I wanted to work with it.

It still has some bruises in the original finish but it is has a completely new look now.

  

The bright white stripping of the Union jack flag pop incredibly on this deep Burgundy color.

The original top had a large sun stain where a doily sat so the plan was hatched to cover it up.

There is over 40 different British destinations listed in the subway art, even a misspelling.

Its not an obvious one and you cant see it in the photos here so stop looking for it.

The answer to the question of how long did it take you ... many, many hours over several days.

... and GREAT PATIENCE!

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