Saga of the Secretary

This whole thing started because a friend suggested I try Annie Sloan Chalk paint.  I painted my bedside table, dresser, and chest of drawers a lovely blue called Provence.  No sanding, no prep, just paint and wax.  I loved the results!  Here is the bedside table.

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 Considering I really did not know what I was doing, things turned out rather well.  Soooo, I decided to tackle my Granny Walker's secretary.  You have to understand that I have loved this piece of furniture since I was a little girl.  All the little drawers and cubby holes were fascinating to me.  The fact that I was not allowed to go rummaging around in all those drawers, probably had something to do with my fascination.  Granny's dogs had chewed on the secretary and it was definitely in need of some sprucing up.   So I decided on two different colors of paint and distressing.  I found a ASCP stockist in Spartanburg at Terris Treasures. I was so excited to find someone who stocks Annie Sloan so close to home.   Terri ( it was meant to be!) gave me lots of great advice and convinced me to try Primer Red over Provence. 

So here is the before picture.  

First I had to put painter's tape around all that lattice work.  That took awhile!  Then a nice coat of Provence.

 So far, so good.  It was tight painting in that small corner of our bedroom.  All the drawers were painted in the guest bedroom where there is a bit more working space.  Next came the Primer Red.  Can we just say that I hated it?  Primer Red is the color of dried blood.  Sounds great, huh?  I wanted to cry but convinced myself to go ahead with the project.  When the whole thing was a lovely dried blood color, I got out my sandpaper, sanding sponge and wet t-shirt.  No, I was not wearing the shirt.  Having no training in distressing furniture, I tried a bit of everything I had read about in various blogs and seen in YouTube videos.  Maybe next time, I should try taking a class or actually buy one of Annie Sloan's books.  My point is that I had no idea what I was doing.  It was very distressing. Pun intended!  I sanded and wiped and sanded and wiped some more.  Then I put on two very light coats of wax.  Of course there was lots of waiting in between the various painting, distressing and waxing phases.  I am not a patient person.  Especially since I was not expecting to like the finished product.  Funny thing though, somewhere along the way, it started to grow on me.  I decided that I liked it after all.  The color matches my new quilt and curtains and doesn't clash with my rusty orange gooseneck rocker, another of Granny Walker's hand-me-downs.  So here is the finished secretary.  It was hard to get a picture of the whole thing that would show up the distressing.  It is a tall piece of furniture.  

I made these photos with my phone and I don't think they really do it justice.  I like my "new" secretary very much.  Now I am wondering if we could paint the rocker or maybe the front door.  I find myself cruising Craigslist for old (cheap) furniture.  My, my.  Is there a support group for ASCP addicts?