Better in Black

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We took a little weekend trip and came home last night to a cold house. Guess I will call the repair man to come fix it. Thank goodness it isn't horribly cold out and we have a couple of electric heaters.

 Anywho, the other day I was just standing at the kitchen sink and was looking at the mantel in the great room. I was staring at the urns on each end and then I was looking down at my black sink and a thought popped in my head. Maybe the urns would look better black. You can see how they looked before here.

So I got my drop cloth, paint brush, mason jar, and my Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Typewriter.

 I mixed a very small amount of paint and water in the jar. Very easy to mix this way by just putting a lid on the jar and shake shake shake.

 After painting both urns and letting them dry I took my gold gilder's paste and lightly brushed it on the raised details.

 I left it like that for a bit and they just didn't look quite right. They looked too new. Too perfect.

 So I grabbed my sanding block and started sanding the urns to give them some age.

 Now, they look much better and worn. I also grabbed some clear wax and waxed them and that really deepened the color.

 Of course after gussying up the urns I made a couple of changes to the mantel. I like adding my pheasants for Thanksgiving.

 They came from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago and they got a gold treatment, too.

The mantel will look like this for a couple of weeks and then the Christmas decorations will come out.

Joining the following:

Between Naps on the Porch
A Stroll thru Life