Transfering the Projection Way

I am always in bliss when I see graphics on furniture.  The way it gives each piece such character is just so appealing.   There are many ways of transferring images onto furniture.  Some people like to stencil, iron on, hand paint or by using the overhead projector.  Personally, I am more of a freehand kind of girl, but some of that old French Typography graphics as gorgeous as it is can be intricate and would be quite difficult to simply look and paint it.   At least for me that is!  So,  I've been experimenting with different ways.  The Graphics Fairy blog has some amazing graphics or clip art for FREE, my kind of place! She has everything from vintage images to DIY crafts.  I have use it many times for iron on transfer for pillows and lavender sachets.

THE ROMAN CLOCK GRAPHIC I USED FROM GRAPHIC FAIRY:)

So my latest project was my husband's grandfathers liquor cabinet or bar.  This piece is probably from the 1960's I'm guessing by the style in the front and the hardware.  It was originally a very dark walnut stain, which my husband and I thought was way to dark for our style.  So about 10 years ago my husband took on the time consuming job of stripping, sanding and staining it in a lighter walnut color.  It was much better, although  I've secretly had  thoughts of painting it for some time now

(I know shocker, right?).  Not to mention at that time painting it was  just out of the question in my husband's mind!  Fast forward to today, and my husband I believe,  has finally jumped on the wagon when it comes to  painting furniture, yay!

My Dining Room,  with all of it's painted goodness.  I did refinish the top on the table,
 so that you  get the best of both worlds. (Inspiration, Miss Mustard Seed)

Now what to do with this piece.  It has very somewhat geometrical style doors on the front which I'm not crazy about, so I wanted to do something that would kind of take your eye away from that.   It is a bar of course so a pretty pink or light green wouldn't fit.  The top is a black laminate so refinishing that was out of the question.

Black and white, that was it!  Now what for an image?  Something big of course, but needed to be unique and go with the theme of the bar.   After looking at The Graphics Fairy Blog,  I found a really cool Roman Clock,  perfect!

These are the doors of the cabinet with one coat of Annie Sloan Old White
and the black is Miss Mustard Seed's Typewriter.  Of course, I should have a before of the whole
piece, but I'm a little impatient and started before taking a before shot.

The cabinet took 2 coats of paint and a lot of trimming up, but I was finally ready for the graphics.  You can print an image right from  The Graphic Fairy's blog onto a transparency sheet, and then line up your image onto the piece of furniture the way you feel looks right.  You may need to adjust the size a bit as well.  

It's best to start from the left and move right or vice verse if
you are left handed just so that you don't smear the paint.
I love this picture because my 3 year old
daughter took it with my cell phone, my little helper:)

The graphic I used didn't have the hands on it so I printed that out separately and of course better time to have it set other than 5 o'clock, perfect for a bar don't you think?!  Two hours and a bad cramped hand later, I had a wonderful vintage liquor cabinet that went from boring to fabulous with lots of character.

And there you have it!  A gorgeous and functional  conversation piece:)

I left the inside natural.  It looks nice against the black and white, I think.

Hope you enjoyed, now go paint something!!