French Memories (Before & After)
 |
| Parisian Piano Bench (After) |
There is a wonderful French patisserie in Cohasset Village called French Memories. I love going there and I thought of it while working on my latest furniture before and after. With thoughts of buttery croisants, fruit tarts, cappuccinos and petit fours swirling around in my head, I began to paint with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen.
You may want to see what the little piano bench looked like before:
 |
| Piano Bench (Before) |
Nothing wrong with the bench, but she just didn’t make any statement.
I found this fantastic Paris postal graphic at my friend Heather’s Etsy shop – Antique Graphique. She has so many great vintage graphics. My good friend, Fiona, over at Just Paint it White told me about a transfer technique using carbon paper.
 |
| Carbon Paper and Antique Graphique graphic |
I picked some carbon paper up at Staples. It was really quite an easy method. I placed the carbon paper under the graphic (graphic facing up) and traced the image with a pen. This is what it looked like after:
 |
| Transfer outline |
I painted over the graphic outline with ASCP in Graphite to get this:
 |
| Paris Postal Graphic |
 |
| Parisian Sheet Music |
 |
| Inside Piano Bench |
The sheet music was affixed in quite a haphazard way. I wanted it to look like it was just thrown in:
 |
| Parisian Piano Bench (After) |
I also wanted to let you know that my good friend, Nancy, at the Sea Rose Cottage will be carrying Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in August. Isn’t that exciting? In celebration I will be doing a special giveway with her to make it twice as fun. Stay tuned for the Giveaway and more news! I know how much you all are dying to get your hands on some MMS Milk Paint (I know I am!)
 |
| Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint Giveaway Coming Soon! |
Featured on:
Linking to:
Love it! Good luck on the Boutique! Giveaways are always exciting!
Holly
New follower popping by to say hello!! That is adorable! I love the sheet music inside!
Diane
Diane,
Thank you so much for you kind comment! I love the sheet music too. Thanks for following along!
Danielle x
Best wishes on the boutique!! The bench is AMAZING
Stacy
I just LOVE this! I’ve been keeping my eye open for an old piano (and bench) to purchase and paint. I may be stealing your idea in the near future. lol Have a great week! Judy
Love it. 🙂
-revi
I. LOVE. IT. Wow, fantastic job!! And can’t wait to use some of MMS’s paint too.
Found you from Elizabeth & Co.
Jeannine @ The Concrete Cottage
It’s fantastic Danielle, love the graphic and the placement, and the way you painted it. I also love the inside – it really does look like you just threw a few music sheets in !
I hope the boutique went well ? !
Thanks for the shout out xx
You took such an ordinary bench and made it quite beautiful. I especially love the pages tossed in. Can’t wait to see your giveaway about the paint. Fun stuff.
Liz
Oh my gosh I love your blog, just found you from The Dedicated Houses party and I am so in love with your project…I’m your newest follower!
I love this table. It’s so cute and I love the stencil that you used on it. Thanks so much for sharing on Marvelous Mondays! 🙂
Julie
what an adorable project, it turned out so wonderful. And I think I learned how to use graphite paper. I can’t wait to try. Never knew paper should be damp before mod podge step.
I’m Leslie from Gwen Moss blog
Came over from Primp to see your piano bench. I can’t decide if the classy legs or the inside surprise is my favorite. I think the sheet music wins. Just a nice touch.
Distressed Donna Down Home
Love it! What a great job!!!
What a beautiful idea for a piano bench–now I am going to have to be on the lookout for an extra bench at the thrift store so I can try it out! Nice extra storage in the piece and great extra seating that could fit in most any small space.
Thanks, Athena. Yes, I think it would provide plenty of storage and could be used in all different ways. I hope you find a spare bench.
Maybe I should remake my piano bench to look like yours! Love it!
Thanks for sharing at Potpourri Friday!
Well, that is just practically perfect! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
This is so cute! And I absolutely love your use of the graphic. I have seen graphics used, but still haven’t built up the courage to try them out! Visiting from Today’s Creative Blog.
Allison
This is beautiful – so classy! I’m your newest follower from “Days of Chalk & Chocolate” blog hop. If you get a chance I would love a follow-back: godsgrowinggarden.com
Thanks
Angie
Wow~! I’ve never seen such a cool piano bench, you are super talented. Love it!
Beautiful! I need to try that transfer technique 🙂
So Pretty! Love the little surprise in the bench! You did a fantastic job! I hope you sell lots of things in your boutique! Thank you so much for linking this up to Rustic Restorations Weekend!
Love this! I’ve wanted to do this with mine, but then wonder what to do witht he rest of the piano. Not too craxy about a miss matched piano, but definately don’t want to do the piano! I keep pondering….Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks, Dori!
what a gorgeous bench!
Thank you, Heather!
This is gorgeous. The graphic is perfect – but the inside is my favorite. Wonderful job. Thanks for sharing at our party!
Great project. Thanks for the source of your postal graphic. I have been looking for one myself. A special thanks for linking up to Hot Fun in the Summertime.
So pretty….great touch to add the sheet music inside!
Visiting from Sunday Show off !! What a brilliant idea to do over a piano bench. Love the touch of the French sheet music. HHL
Thank you so much for you kind comment!
This is really pretty – inside and out!
This is gorgeous! I need to get that color of ASCP. Love it so much 🙂
Love the bench and the carbon paper idea. Brilliant. The postmark is so sweet. I am a new follower.
~ ~Ahrisha~ ~