How to Make a French Image Transfer

Happy Monday everyone!!

I hope you all had the beautiful weather we had! I got so much spray-painting finished and even took some photos outside … even though everything is dead. We watched This is Where I Leave You which was really good. Our new carpet in the basement was installed, is incredibly gushy, and Gracie our pup keeps rolling all over it, so even she knows it’s a lot better. We then had to carry all of the furniture back down and reassemble everything, which took a lot of time. We decided to move our giant sectional to face the opposite way, and it feels like we are living in a new house. I now have to figure out what goes where, and I have some new motivation.

I also worked on a desk for one of my favorite clients, and I tell you this piece is going to be the death of me.

Anything that could go wrong did, and by the end of the day I needed a beer and a massage.

Here is the before:

First I cleaned all of the years of filth off the desk and removed the hardware from the drawers.

I then painted the entire piece with two coats of Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint in Lace.

Standing-back and looking at the desk all one color, I decided it needed a little something on the top.  I went to The Graphics Fairy and picked out the French graphic I wanted to use (and then typed it into Google Translate … just to make sure I knew what it said). Next I went to blockposters.com and followed their three step process on how to print off your graphic the size you wanted — mine was only two sheets wide. I taped my sheets together and then went over the back of the sheet with pencil.

Then I flipped it over and taped the graphic on the center of the desk with painter’s tape to keep it in place.

I then firmly traced the letters on the front of the paper so that the pencil lead/dust on the back would transfer onto the desktop.

I used a Sharpie Oil Based Paint Pen to trace the penciled letters that had been transferred. I also filled in the letters using the pin. I let the graphic dry overnight and went over it lightly with a fine sanding block to distress it.

I taped-off the drawers with Frog Tape and painted the middle of them with the same chalky finish paint in Timeless.

I then painted black stripes to tie-in with the black graphic, and I stenciled the side of the desk with Royal Design Studio’s Harlequin stencil.

I spray painted the hardware a glossy black and coated the whole piece in Americana Decor’s Creme Wax.

I was really happy with how this one turned out! I hope my client is too!