Hi Friends! I have an adorable client project for you today. Suzanne had this child’s rocking chair, and she wanted it updated in PINK as a gift for her granddaughter, Rose.
It was in great shape, and didn’t need any repairs. I started by cleaning it with White Lightning. This was my first time using the TSP blend, and I don’t know why it took me so long. I put about half a teaspoon in a small squirt bottle with warm water and shook it up. Then, I sprayed it on the piece, and wiped it off with a shop towel. Lastly, I wiped it down with straight water to remove any TSP residue. Don’t skip cleaning a piece before painting it! This is the most important prep you can do!!
Blending Paint
I’ve been honing my blending skills lately, and here is what I have learned. Use a different brush to apply each color. Brush them generally in the area you want them, but you don’t have to be too precise. For the seat, I painted Pink Champagne in the middle and Tea Rose around the edge. I misted it with water, and used one of the brushes to start blending the colors together. The goal is a seamless transition from light to dark. There should be no defined change from one color to the other. You may have to add more of either color or both and more water to blend. Once you’ve got it pretty close to your desired look, the final step is to take a dry brush (I like the oval medium for this), and lightly brush over the surface in every direction. This will blur everything out, and give you the perfect blended finish.
Decal
Suzanne went on Etsy and picked out this bunny decal. It’s not an adhesive transfer; it’s a water transfer. I was pretty worried that I only had 1, and might mess it up. It traveled all the way from the U.K.! My husband helped me because I needed an extra set of hands, and someone to blame if it all went wrong. LOL. It was comical because his big fingers couldn’t really grab onto anything.
First, you soak the paper-backed transfer in warm water for 30 seconds. Then, you place it where you want it and try to roll the paper off the decal from underneath. We got it a little folded under in places, but I was able to lift up the edges and use a fingernail to scrape the edge out flat. There was a longer working time than with adhesive. Then I smoothed it down with my fingers, making sure there were no air bubbles underneath. Voila! Isn’t she cute?
Hand Painted Word
Suzanne also wanted her granddaughter’s name, Rose, on the rocker. I am not talented at hand lettering, so I printed it out in a cute font from the computer. I took a pencil and using the side of the lead, I shaded the back of the paper behind the letters. Then I taped it into place on the chair back, and traced over the letters. This gave me a good outline to paint inside of. I wanted to pull a color from the decal for “Rose”, but I didn’t have anything similar. I mixed up this mauve-y rose using Tea Rose, Aubergine and Reclaimed Barn.
Using a thin liner artist’s brush, I painted in my traced “Rose”.
Sealing
Lastly, I wanted to make sure the decal was well sealed, so this cute little rocker can be preserved and passed down through the generations. I gave the seat 2 coats of Gator Hide, and sealed the rest with Easy Peasy spray wax.
Here are the products I used for this project:
Resource list
(These are affiliate links, for which I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)
- Child Rocker (client-owned)
- White Lightning
- Tea Rose
- Pink Champagne
- Bunny Decal
- Aubergine
- Update: Flea Market Décor Reclaimed Barn was discontinued, but Honky Tonk Red is almost an exact match
- Gator Hide
- Easy Peasy Spray Wax
If you like this project, you might like this other chair re-do too. Please Pin!
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