Blue is my favourite colour but it doesn't show up much in my clothing or interior design choices. I bought an antique dresser that had a thick coat of cracking white paint, and I decided to have some fun with it by painting it bright blue. Most of our furniture is wood/dark wood stained so I am definitely in need of something else, too matchy matchy doesn't look good.
I had a tiny pot of absolutely delicious looking ultramarine blue linseed oil paint that I bought without having an idea of what I needed it for. When I bought the dresser I immediately went for the blue thinking it would be absolutely perfect for it.
It took me a few days to get off all the old paint and varnish, and sand it down. There was a bit of white left in the crevices of the decorative elements but I could not be bothered to get it all off it'll be fine.
I only had 2dl of the blue paint and that was just about enough for one coat, I knew I had to buy more but I went ahead and did the first layer right away because it would take several days to dry anyways. It's extremely hard to capture the true shades of the bright blues, but I hope you can see how red based ultramarine is on the picture below. I chose to paint the inside of the drawers white because I want to store clothes in here and the white would make it easier to see what's inside.
The paint looked more true blue in the pot but I'm sure the red pine underneath also adds to the warmth of it. Anyways, I had a decision to make, buy more ultramarine, or mix a different blue. I do not like purple at all, so I decided I'm gonna mix a more cool toned blue myself in the hopes of getting the perfect blue for me.
Linseed oil paint is basically just boiled linseed oil and pigment, maybe some chalk and drying medium, so it's fairly easy and cheaper to make yourself. I ordered a couple blue pigments, ultramarine and phthalo, a phthalo green, along with some others for different projects. Ultramarine pigment is so saturated that the camera's histogram shows an error on the highlight in that blue, it's insane and a picture does not do any justice to it.
I kept mixing the blues, and a hint of green, with the linseed oil, making a paste and then adding more oil. It took me a really long time because you have to break the clumps of pigment with a spatula and really work it to make it all even. These synthetic blues stain like a motherfucker, so I had to clean up immediately if I spilled even just some of the pigment of the table. I swear next time I'll put down some brown paper before I make a mess. I don't do measuring and I eyeballed everything adding this and that until I was satisfied, I used about 1dl of ultramarine, 0.75dl of phthalon blue and a teaspoon of green, to 3,5dl of oil. Hindsight, I think I could have used way less pigment, and just added chalk to make the paint a nice consistency, will try that another time. In the end I poured the paint though a gauge to make sure there are no clumps in the final paint.
Here's a reminder of what the dresser looked like when I bought it:
And here's the end result after two layers of my own paint:
The gloss is uneven because the oil has soaked in more in some spots, but it should end up evenly matt in the end. I will have to monitor it and see if I need to oil it or something like that if it seems like the blue pigment comes off if touched. Blue is a hard colour to work with and mixing linseed oil paint myself for the first time might not yield perfect results immediately.
I am very very happy with the colour and this was such a fun project to do. The pictures do absolutely no justice to how regal the blue is, but we'll just have to live with it.
What colour would you have chosen for the dresser?
Ps. My next project is the old green floor you see in the pictures.
That's a great tone you mixed up, I like it, it stands out and says "Look at me!". I've never used linseed paint before, but it's probably far better for the wood than enamel. I enjoy these kinds of restoration projects and you did a wonderful job.
I swear I’m never letting any other paint touch wood after I discovered linseed oil paint, it’s just superior. There is a learning curve but it’s just such a joy to paint, it even smells good and isn’t toxic. And it doesn’t go bad like other paints, I just had to toss an opened paint I had from another project because I thinned it with water and it basically ended up going moldy. I keep different colour brushes in raw linseed oil so they last for years and years and are always ready for another project or touch ups!
I need to find some of that paint, it sounds fantastic. I absolutely hate using thinners and with enamel you have no choice. I've not dabbled with chalk paint before after hearing horror stories of having to paint five or six coats for the colour to be uniform, who has time for that?
As for moldy paint, gaaawww that smell is so gross! Makes me gag 🤣
How are your knitting projects coming along these days? I missed your last post, just caught up on it now. I'm in the middle of a pullover. You are going into winter, best time for knitting, I didn't knit much this winter but maybe this year I'll knit through summer. I'm quite inspired by your knitting.
Linseed oil paint often requires several thin coats too, but the colour is very saturated right off the bat. If you hate waiting for paint to dry, this one ain’t it for you, it takes sooooo long. Though your climate is probably more favourable 😅
I unravelled the top part of my latest project three times and now only have the collar to make. But I’m afraid I made the whole thing too small and might have to start all over. That’s what you get for freehanding it! How do you prevent sweaty hands if you knit in the summer? 😂😅
Lol, ok maybe I'm just really impatient when it comes to painting stuff. I'll still give it a try though as it seems like a better option than enamel.
Seriously? Three times? Yes, you definitely have more patience than I do. I can't handle having to pull out knitting, it feels awful. Well if it's too small for your man, would it fit you?
Sweaty hands? I just end up washing my hands a lot. Apparently there is chalk that you can use, but I haven't gone that route (yet) 😉
That's a very pretty blue! Which is saying something for furniture (it's either too dark or too bright usually, no?).
neon pink.
No. Probably some shade of blue, also, maybe lighter.
If I had the skills to do it well ofc. xD Congrats, it (all) looks stunning. I like how you apply your creativity to so many different fields. So many people seem to get stuck in just one thing, you know? So kudos to you really. What are your plans for the floor?
I forgot to mention it but the ultramarine looked too dark also so the pretty details almost disappeared and that would have been a shame. The light blue dresser in your example is the kind of paint job I hate, the fake distressed, let’s not do that 😝 but you totally have the skills, it’s not rocket science! Find a cheap dresser secondhand and try it out!
Not sure how creative this was but I did feel like an artist when mixing the paint. Honestly, I’d be so bored with one avenue of interest.
I’m currently scraping the paint off the floor and will eventually paint it again but the plans are still very open because the white walls need to go and I hate the ceiling too, so the project might escalate 😂 Time will tell!
It is creative, though. Why redecorate and take all this time and effort to do everything manually when you could crack open an IKEA catalog, you know? Not to mention that many people wouldn't have the first clue what they want from a dresser. Even your comment on that one being fakey and distressed shows natural creative insight. If you think of all the people going through life simply thinking "oh, that's nice".
Can't wait to see the final outcome! xxx
My bff always says: ”you can’t argue about facts, you can only argue about opinions”. And I think my opinion about decor is always the right one 😝
But just like anything, it takes time to train your eye to know what works and what doesn’t, and your taste will always be developing.
How can anyone argue with that? ;)
Electric Blue of Klein ?
I was not familiar but I googled and to me that looks very similar to ultramarine, so a very red based blue.
Je réponds en français c'est plus simple pour moi.
Yves Klein est un artiste français célèbre pour une nuance de bleu qu'il a peinte à des nombreuses reprises dans ses monochromes. La couleur du meuble m'y faisais penser : très jolie couleur par ailleurs.
Ca change du noir que l'on voit partout, chez moi y compris ! C'est l'influence de Pierre Soulage...
I don’t usually like it when people comment using a language I don’t know but you get a pass because french is a beautiful language and your comments are genuine. I always try to understand your comments without using the translator first so it’s like a game.
The only Yves I know is Yves Saint Laurent, who was also French, as you know, and I’m a big fan.
Using ultramarine blue does feel very luxurious, but maybe that is for me because I know it was originally made from lapis lazuli and of course was very expensive.
Blue is healing and they say it is men's favorite.
I wonder if that is because of the sky and water, people find them very beautiful and relaxing.
That shade of blue is on point. I really enjoy deep blues, and have 2 pairs of sneakers in something close to that shade.
Its only of the reasons that my business logo is close to that colour too.
I usually opt for blue details in sneakers too if there is any colour :)
The blue definitely suites the locker.. and such a beautiful creativity dont with so much confidence, like hell you were trained to do this, i myself would have the paint splashing all round the floor. You did quite a nice job
So, you were feeling blue about the blue, and bought more blue to mix a different blue so you were no longer feeling blue about the blue.
Smart.
I've already said this, elsewhere but, legit blue! the dresser looks great. As for what colour I would have painted it...blue. Nah, just fuckin' with you. I think a distressed white looks nice so I'd have gone with that. Or blue.
Always feeling blue. But I’m happy with this blue, and enjoy the blues.
There is a place and time for distressed white (woman), but not in my house.
I was actually surprised to see that blue is your favourite colour. It's not what I would have expected.
I know I seem like a Barbie girl, but I’m full of surprises!
Bluebie Girl.