The Modern Cottage Company

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I have played with a dry brush technique several times in the past. Mostly with a blue or grey over wood. Devon brought in a low boy dresser dry brushed with a cream milk paint and I died over it. LOVED it! It is in the window of our store right now so I couldn't get a good picture of it.

I wanted to try my own version of this.

{before}

I  like the contrast with the rich dark wood with the creamy white.

I left the drawer fronts wood since it is a big piece and I thought it would be take away from pretty lines of the piece if I dry brushed the whole piece.

There are tricks to doing it right though. It can go from cool to being tacky pretty easily. 

I would stick with a classic shape of furniture. 

Use either a chalk paint, milk paint, white primer {not the spray kind} or an exterior paint. Anything that with one coat is going to stick to the wood and not chip off, you can't  do an overall prime when doing a dry brush technique, you then wouldn't see any of the wood. Basically I would not use a regular latex paint unless you seal it really well in the end. 

{before distressing-I used antique white milk paint. I then distressed where you can see the starts and stops of my brush strokes}

Dip your brush in the paint and then wipe off most of the paint on the inside of the can or on a dry rag. Start at the top of your piece go in one direction {VERY important} and do one long brush stroke all the way to the bottom. GO WITH THE GRAIN! Remember a little goes a long way.

Then distress as much as little as you want, you are going for a washed look. I prefer to use a sanding block, medium grit. 

Then seal the piece with wax, or poly depending on the type of paint you used.

I sealed with a tung oil finish because I really wanted to the wood to shine though.

Pretty right?! So very warm. I love this look.

Feel free to leave a comment for more questions on this technique.

{I know I will get questions about the knobs, these are not knobs you can buy pre-done, I had to come up with a way to put them on and it is sort of my secret :)}

linked up
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/09/furniture-feature-friday-link-party-favorites-5/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://theinspiredroom.net/2012/10/08/fall-decorating/