Crackle success and some tips

Crackle looks good when it is done well... I got lucky on the crackle on my entertainment center. It crackled just the way I wanted. 

This pic is of the detail across the top and the top of the glass door. My only regret on this piece: I used a can of white paint left over from the bathroom trim and ceiling. So, it was semi gloss and the shine peaks through a bit. Oh well.. you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told. :)

As I said in my last post, I am not a crackle hater. But, I learned that it is hard to do it justice.

Before

Crackled

 

Details... (and a reflection of the window across the room :))

Dustin stripped the hinges for me. They ended up being silver. It didn't look right so he put a QUICK and LIGHT coat of black spray paint on them. Painted hinges always seem to gum up and chip, so a light coat was the way to go. The screws from the hinges didn't get all the white paint off of them. I kinda like that they aren't completely clean though. It helps them to show up a bit.

We also had these dark knobs left over from baby room projects, so they got drafted into this room. The knobs we took off are painted wood. I'm just not sure what to do with them. Paint them? Crackle them? So, we are testing out these for a while to see what we think.

Some crackle tips that I learned the hard way:

1. Have a practice piece. This was the table for me in my Snap, Crackle, and Flop post. At least I thought of a last minute cute title :) I am also glad that I didn't let the entertainment center be my practice piece. I can deal with fixing/stripping/whatever-I-do-to-it to the little coffee table.

2. Lay the piece flat if at all possible. The glass door and drawers all look better because they were flat. I didn't have gravity working against me.

3. When painting over the crackle, do so in little bitty bits. I didn't load up my brush on the entertainment center like I did the table. You can tell. When I did the table, I was painting it like I would have painted it regularly. Crackle isn't painting regularly. It takes smaller strokes and you need to get the hang of how much paint to have on the brush. This is the key when you can't lay the piece flat. You have to figure out how much you can use without it starting to roll down the piece.

4. Don't crackle in your bonus room/office/room above the garage. I used newspaper, but it just happened to run and drip off the table in the exact spot where I didn't have a paper, par for the course around here. Now, we have a nice teal place on the floor. (I pulled the recently acquired FREE couch over it ;) ) That's how we roll here. 

 

This piece isn't quite finished yet. He is going to cover the back with wood planks. I'm not sure if I'll paint that or cover it in fabric. Before he mentioned the wood backing, I had plans for fabric. But, he's all about reinforcing things so I won't complain :). I also want to look into trying to put a light or two inside shelves behind the glass door. But, it is done... enough...for now... :) 

(I kinda like projects/rooms/the house not being completely done.... what would I do then?)