This week’s bonus Before & After comes to us courtesy of one of the shop’s Painters in Residence, Tricia. Tricia, like most of the staff is a DIY and Chalk Paint addict, who is always ready to move on to her next project, even if she hasn’t finished the last. We love how she transformed this piece with dark wax and a couple coats of Chateau Grey.

This adorable French Provincial table was a Craigslist score. The actual piece was in great shape, but the white paint, which had been sealed with some sort of Poly Top Coat had yellowed really badly (especially along the top.)

I decided to paint the table in Chateau Grey, a beautiful soft olive green that may be my new favorite neutral. Usually, I don’t bother painting the inside, but this piece had that Vintage smell, but magnified. So, since I already had the leftover paint, I also decided to paint the inside in Duck Egg blue. And, I have to say…that might be one of my favorite color combinations right now.

With the smell gone and the inside painted, I moved on to the exterior of the table. I painted it in two coats of Chateau Grey, working in thin coats to avoid drips on the slick surface.

Although I loved the color after I finished painting the whole this, it just looked a little flat to me. Which is why I decided to use dark wax to highlight the amazing lines and details on the piece that got a little lost once painted.

To start, I applied a coat of clear wax all over, wiping off the excess. As you can see from the picture on the left, it looked a little flat. Which is why I decided to take a small, flat-headed artists’ brush and apply a thin layer of dark wax (I used the Miss Mustard Seed Antiquing wax!) along the ridges and low points of the piece to highlight the areas.

I dipped my brush in a little of the wax and then rubbed some of the excess onto a nearby paper towel, before applying the wax left on my brush to the lines I wanted to highlight or shade.

I absolutely love the result it gave me, but in the interest of full disclosure, it is not a task for the faint of heart. It was definitely time consuming, but mindless enough that I worked on it on a rainy day as I binge watched the Hallmark Channel.  Keep scrolling to see the difference it made!

Can you tell where I had shaded using the dark wax? It was so easy to do and I liked the look so much, that I decided to add more dark wax into my piece.

I applied another layer of clear wax on to the flat sections of my piece. Instead of wiping off the excess, I mixed the Antiquing wax in to the corners of the squares. Using one of my Better than Cheesecloth towels, I sort of wiped/buffed in the brown wax to soften the lines.

I did this all along the flat faces of the piece, including the top. It created so much depth and dimension to my piece and was SO EASY. I find the tinted waxes intimidating and unpredictable sometimes. but this turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

We absolutely love the results of the dark wax! Are you thinking about using Dark Wax or Antiquing Wax on your piece? Check out this list of our favorite ways to use it.

Then send us your Before & Afters for a chance to be featured on the blog!