Magnificent Medallion

This past summer I found this cute little chair at Goodwill for around $6. I originally bought it to sit at my vanity but decided to use it as a sewing desk chair instead. I painted it the same pink as the table I use as an office desk in my sewing room. It has been adorable pink but I was itching to stencil this pretty medallion design (Martha Stewart from Michaels and seen in this post on furniture in my sister's booth) on something. This chair was the first thing that volunteered for the job. :-) I described stenciling more in this post if you want to read about it, but I will briefly go through it again here.

 The key to stenciling is to use thick paint and to not load your brush with too much of it. You don't want the paint to bleed under the plastic of the stencil. This chair was a bit of a challenge because it was not perfectly flat. If you are a beginning stenciler, I suggest trying it on something flat first.

 

These special stenciling brushes (they have especially stiff bristles) are sold at Michaels or any other crafts store. I bought mine for 2 or 3 dollars. Make sure to hold the brush at a 90 degree angle to your surface. It needs to be held straight up and down to prevent paint creepage under the stencil. Just sort of dab it up and down (a technique called "pouncing") until enough paint is transferred to your surface. I tape my stencil down for extra security but if it is a small stencil you could get away with just holding it steady with your fingers. 

Carefully lift your stencil away and viola! Behold the stenciled chair.

Stenciling is such a quick and easy (not to mention cheap) way to dress up a piece of furniture. When I was stenciling with my sister a few months ago she told me she could remember my mom stenciling on chairs when we were younger... pineapples I think she said. It is so funny to me how these trends come and go. A few years ago I could not imagine I would ever want anything stenciled in my home. Now I love it! The more the merrier. I am working on some stenciled Christmas deco now... posts about that project soon!

This post is linked up to Sew Woodsy