Mom’s etagere . . . or étagère, if you prefer

About a month or so ago I shared a picture of my mom’s etagere and told you I was planning on chalk painting it. Well, I finally did!

I love having Mom’s etagere. It’s one of two, actually—my brother and sister-in-law have its twin. But the brown stain didn’t go as well with my current decor, so . . . enter chalk paint!

Here’s a BEFORE picture . . .

And some AFTERS . . .

I chose Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg Blue (a color I’ve long loved) then used her dark wax that really deepens the color and brings out the distressing in the wood.

Can you see the color difference in the image below? The left side is before the dark wax has been applied (a lighter blue/teal), and the right side is after (a deeper teal).

I love the distressing process, which you do after you paint. Distressing really brings out the character of the piece.



Someone asked me if I was going to change out the hardware. But I decided not to. Because it’s the handle mom used, so I just painted over it then distressed it.