I call her Victoria

This beautiful bed offers real solutions for difficult painting challenges.

Join me on my journey.

I hadn't expected a problem with this bed. I sold it to be customized according to my customers choices and she provided me with pictures of the room she wanted to put it in.

We went with a beautiful taupe by Wise Owl called Gray Linen and I thought I could incorporate a bit of blue peeking through. She agreed to trust me in respect to the finish and the bed was amazingly sturdy so a plan was set.

I had cleaned, sanded lightly and used 2 coats of the best primer available. I let it set a couple days and checked it for adhesion only to find the primer was peeling off in sheets. What a nightmare! How was I going to get the primer off of every nook and cranny of all that detail without damaging the piece? I tried sanding but that was not the solution. 

I was very upset, so I phoned a friend. Holly is... well let's just say she thinks differently than most of us. She knows every mechanical, chemical and interaction of everything paint related. She knows so I don't have to. I can call and instead of needing an education I just get an answer. She's awesome. She suspected this old piece probably was coated with Teflon or something like that as was not uncommon in that time period. Soda blasting was her solution for removing the primer. So I bought a compressor, a blasting gun, soda, protective mask and glasses and I went to work.

Yes, it did remove the primer but it also removed plaster like texture and there were pits also to deal with now.

After the blasting I followed Holly's suggestion to clean with mineral spirits and then denatured alcohol followed by a good wash and rinse.

From the very beginning I knew this piece was not one to be perfect but rather perfectly imperfect embracing the historic charm that drew me to it. Saltwash came to mind because it offers a thick covering that would hide imperfection. This wasn't easy going because my mix was too thick and required a lot of sanding to smooth out the surface. I had lay a coat of varnish and antiquing glaze and it was a disaster because the dark glaze went into the gazillion cracks and crevices and it would not wipe off as it normal would only leaving a hint of color. Going from one crisis to another was exhausting. Once I got that smoothed out, repainted, varnished and glazed I moved to the body of the headboard.