Wood Colouring and Antiquing
I have been asked by several different customers to change the colour or tone of wooden doors or furniture to bettermatch colours of floor boards/tiles, other furniture or an interior colour scheme. Perhapse the furniture has been inherited and has sentimental value but is not inkeeping with the other furniture in the house or perhapse the customer likes the furniture they already have which is good quality and potentially cost a lot of money but would like to give it a new lease of life. I achieve these effects with various watercolours, oils, waxes and stains. The picture below shows a set of oak double doors; the left is unfinished oak whilst the right has had the grain opened and has been coloured with watercolour and finished with a liming wax.
The mirror frame below was white all over and not anything of particular beauty, it had knocks and scratches and other markers of age. The customer wanted it to be an antiqued gold and wanted the gold to match the abstract painting that would hang on the opposite wall. I used hree layers of black which were textured and several passes of two different tones of gilt cream to achieve this antiqued effect.
The customer wanted this piece (pictured below) to look aged in a shabby chic style. To achieve this the grain was raised and two different colours of paint were used (one with added texture).
