You can certainly make a *glaze* from a different color paint. If you are not using a glazing medium, and just adding water, you will have to work quickly, or at least quick-er. (I'm assuming the base coat has some sort of sheen). Do a test area and if that looks good, do the rest. Just make sure that if you don't like the test area, you have extra base. You will also have to experiment w/how much water. Too much and it will run, not enough and hard to drag. Good luck and hope you post a pic!

Hi Paintergirl! If this dining room decor works out at all, I'll be posting so many pics you'll be sick of me! We're not doing any kind of huge makeover, just trying to decorate the space since moving in, but once again, all of the projects will be finished at once, so it's either going to work out, and come together just like I see it in my head, or be a disaster. We're having a lot of people over for Thanksgiving, so if it's a hot mess, I may just cry.

It was a cheap unfinished pine piece, and I thought it would be fast and easy to paint, but you don't realize how many visible surfaces the thing has, until you have to sand, prime, and paint them all! I was worried about the base color, but I think it's going to be great.

My only other issue with the piece is the hinges. I replaced the plastic (!!) pulls with vintage brass, but couldn't ever find nice replacements for the shiny brass plate hinges.

I stripped off the shiny brass, and tried spray painting them an antique brass color, which looked ok, but I'm not thrilled with it. Now I'm wondering if I should paint them the color of the cabinet, just to make them blend in until I can find better replacements.

For the hinges, Michael's sells little 2oz. bottles of no-prep metal paint. You can mix your own color. Of course, you can just paint them the cabinet color, I've done it myself.
Have you tried the glaze yet?

I never get sick of looking at pictures!

LOL! No, I haven't done the glaze yet! Did I mention that this project is taking a LOT longer than I expected? I just finished the first coat of paint today. That's the first coat on the base cabinet, the drawer, the door backs, and the back sides of the shelves.

I was hoping to get a second coat on today, but I just ate a plate of Mexican food twice the size of my head, so I think it would be a bad idea.

Tomorrow I'll do the second coat, then start the flip sides of the doors and shelves. THEN I'll do the glazing. And paint the inside of the cabinet and drawer (I'm doing two different colors.)

I'm a fussy painter, and I usually paint the WHOLE thing, especially that sheet of plywood on the back. Even if it gets just one coat of primer and paint, it looks so much better, and I don't care if it is going up against a wall, you can still see it. For me, nothing ruins a good paint job worse than opening a drawer and seeing the sides unfinished, or that sliver of the back with paint slopped on it.

I'm going to keep playing with those hinges. And I may make a trip to Michael's tomorrow anyway, so I'll check out those paints.

Sorry, didn't mean to rush you!

No problem! I'd rush myself if I could! Really, I think it's going to turn out fine, but this is the sixth piece of furniture that I've done in the past two months or so, and I'm losing my steam.

I'm taking a break when this one is done.

This china cabinet sounds awesome!

Just seeing this post and Paintergirl gave you some good advice.

Making your leftover paint into a glaze is no problem but adding some float or extender to the paint will make it easier to work with and give you more open time. You can thin it using water but as already mentioned it will dry quickly and you will have to work fast(er).

As for the No-Prep Metal Paint, I love that stuff! It covers well and is extremely durable.

And I'm with you on painting the whole thing. My opinion is if you're going to paint anything at all you might as well do it right the first time. Makes for a better looking finished product.

I can't wait to see your pics!

I swear, I need an assistant! So, I had a bunch of errands to do today, got busy tracking down some furniture, and forgot to go to Michael's. Got home this afternoon, and thought I'd have time to get another coat of paint on, but the garage was too hot by then, and I botched the finish on the drawer! After that, and then dropping the paintbrush on the floor, I called it a day! More painting early tomorrow.

So, this no-prep paint...is it sturdier than regular spray paint? I put two coats onto the hinges, and in just gently handling them there's tiny bits of paint flaking off already.

Yes, it's unbelievable, but there really is no prep! I just make sure the objects are clean and dry, then I paint. Once they're fully cured, they are indestructible. Kraftymom likes it, too!
And, I like it because I am way more comfortable with a brush than a can of spray paint!
By the way, don't know where you live, but I'm very jealous that your garage still gets hot in the afternoon!!

Paintergirl, I'm in North Central Texas. The garage is insulated, but not heated or cooled. I keep a thermometer with a humidity gauge in there specifically for painting, and sure enough, after seeing the paint drag and pull, I checked the temp, and it was 94! Duh!

So, I wonder if I could do a fake antique brass finish with that paint? I see they have gold and bronze colors. I'm not that great with faux finishes, so I may just lean toward the cabinet color. Or, I wonder if I could use a dark brown muddy color, then brass it up with some Rub 'n Buff? Hmmm...I'll take one of the pulls with me and see what I come up with.

Totally unrelated, I bought a new chair yesterday. I was wanting a pair, but we may have technical difficulties. The chair is 32" wide, the doorway is 31" wide. I'm hoping I can gently squish together the upholstry on the arms and squeeze it through, or maybe turn it on it's side and curve it in. The chair doesn't come apart for shipping, so it'll either fit or it won't. I'm also *mostly* sure the upholstry fabric will look fabulous in that room, but there's only one way to know for sure.

Some days, all of this decorating is so fun and rewarding, and other days...it's not. I still haven't posted pics of our bedroom redo, because I'm not happy with it. It doesn't look horrible, it just didn't turn out how I envisioned it.

Ahh. We're in the southern part of CT. I keep telling my husband that we need to think about moving south...
Anyway, I'm not a big fan of rub 'n buff, after a while, it does wear away. You can mix the metal paint colors for any kind of effect. For my son's dresser, I painted a red base and brushed on silver. For my daughter's desk, I painted the base black and wiped on gold with my fingers for a real antique look. For a brass color, paint the base a dark brown and use the antique gold. And then, for a more aged look, rub black around the edges. Get a few tubes and experiment!
I know it's hard, but try not to put so much pressure on yourself.
For the chair, maybe you can remove the door, it sometimes gives you that extra wiggle room. To get our couch in, we removed the door. Didn't work. Removed the mouldings, perfect. Of course, it's never gonna leave this house!!

Well! It's been a very productive day! An early start and cooler, more humid weather allowed me to make some progress. Here's what's left (besides the hardware): second coat on the shelf tops and door fronts; contrast coats 1&2 on the inside of the cabinet and drawer, then the glaze! Woo!

The furniture is so big these days! We bought a couch last year, and only got it in the door after much pushing and shoving. We scuffed up the trim paint, but now the couch is here forever, unless it shrinks.

I know that decorating is a process and all, but it can be so frustrating to spend a lot of time and money on a room and still look at it and say "eh." I'm trying to do a lot more reading and researching, and looking at things that do work and trying to figure it all out.

Franksmom, sometimes you can turn a chair or couch over partway and the take it through the doorway sort of at an angle. Once you manage to get the leg portion through, the rest usually goes pretty easily--just take it slow and easy, a little at a time. Good luck.

I would be so upset if I worked hard repainting a piece and then the paint flaked/chipped off of it. I know allot of people on the blogs are using spray paint and it seems to be working fine for them. I would imagine a good coat of primer is helpful.

I'm sure your room will be lovely, and you will have the satisfaction of knowing you "created" it rather than just moving in purchased pieces.

Luvs

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Luvs! You're always so sweet!

Ok, so it's all painted!! Finally got all of my coats and colors done, and tonight tried the glazing.

Good news and bad...thinning out the paint and washing it on just didn't work for me. I tried, but it just seemed to smear everywhere I didn't want it. So, I just used the paint straight out of the can with a small craft brush. I worked in small sections, painted in the grooves, then wiped it off with my finger. Bingo! It's all still drying, but I think it's going to look fine. The color difference was pretty subtle, but that's what I wanted.

On to that No-Prep paint. I've looked at Michael's and Joann. The lady at Michael's said they don't carry it anymore, and Joann's had the Patio Paint, but I read that it's not quite the same paint.

I might just order it from the Deco Art website, and hope it gets here quickly, but there's another Michael's/Hobby Lobby/Joanns a few towns over that I'll try tomorrow if I have the time.

I'm going to post pics when it's all cured and put together again! I'm excited to see it finally done!

This is a great post and I'm so excited for you FM to be so close to finished. It was sweet that paintergirl stayed with you on this project. She is so knowledgeable and seems happy to help. I too love pictures and can hardly wait to see what you end up with.

Punk

Hey, thanks Phonegirl! I do like to help, as does everyone else here. It's fun to see how others solve their design dilemmas.
And Franksmom, trial and error never fails! Too bad about the hunt for no-prep paint. Michaels does differ from store to store. Weird.

I'm grateful for evryone that helps out on gardenweb! I've gotten excellent advice on the gardening forums, appliance forums (I was able to fix my own washing machine thanks to that!) paint, woodworking, and here! It's such a great resource for people to share their expertise and others to learn something new. I've seen your work, Paintergirl, and I'm so happy that you hang around and offer help when you can!

Yes, the lady at Michael's knew what I was talking about, said it was a great product, but for some reason, they decided not to carry it anymore. It's on sale on the website, so if I don't find it today, I'll just order it.

I'm still waiting on the chadelier to be finished, but that room is coming together!! This is such a relief, as I thought I'd have more time, but the rest of life kind of got in the way.

PAINTERGIRL!!!!! I got my paints in the mail, and gave it a shot today. I am VERY happy with how those hinges turned out!! They were shiny brass plate, but I stripped that off, and underneath they were a sort of cheap tinny silver colored base metal. I found a set of vintage brass pulls, so I wanted them to match. Looky what I did:

I used a mix of brown, black, gold, and copper for the base coat, then mixed some black and brown for the edges and recessed areas. I am just so pleased with how it matches the pulls I can't hardly stand it!

Here's a peek at the appliques with the glaze:

Like I said, it turned out really subtle, but that's ok. I'm afraid if I'd gone darker, it would have been a mess.

I got the chandelier back, still need to rehang some sheers and have some mirrors cut. This is a crazy week, but I hope to have pics of the finished room by next week.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Love the hinges, so glad the paint worked out. I especially like where you have glimpses of the metallics.

Waiting patiently to see the whole thing...

I couldn't wait!! I was going to do some yardwork today, but it's too cold and windy, so I went ahead and put the whole thing back together.

Before:

Done!

I am just so happy with how this turned out!! I may go back and make the glazing on the trims darker, but not before the holidays are over. Thanks so much everyone for all of the good advice and encouragement!!

Your cabinet is fabulous!!! Just stunning with the white finish. Makes it look so elegant now. You should be so proud of this. Great choice on the pulls, hinges and scroll work. So happy for you.

Punk

Just beautiful! I can appreciate all the hard work that went into this, so now sit back and enjoy the compliments!!!

What a wonderful transformation! It sure looks amazing! You took a very basic piece, added new moulding, appliques, and hardware and ended up with what looks like a very high end piece of furniture! Great job! I love it!

Luvs

Thanks so much! And thank you for hanging in there when I just went on and on about it! I've painted lots of furniture before, but this one was different, and I learned a lot.

I was almost done with all of the painting, and my husband asked where I was going to put it. I looked at him like he was crazy, and said, "Back in the dining room where it came from!" to which he replied "Well what are you going to do with the cabinet that was in there?" He didn't think it was the same piece, even though I bought that cabinet about 5 years ago, and it had been in that same spot since we moved in!

I'll be glad when the whole room is together and done, and I'm excited for my family to see it all.