Marrakesh inspired Media Cabinet

One of  my daughters had just moved into her new Georgetown apartment but desperatly needed help with storage and a place for her television. Nothing like a little plea from one of my chickens to get me going. I set out to find something smallish and affordable but good fortune came my way in the form of a large pine piece without a back at the Goodwill. Did the price tag really say $20? I was skeptical, but indeed it did. Talk about in my budget!! Woohoo!

It was real wood, no veneer or particle board and just needed some love. Well, that and a BACK! A sheet of furniture grade plywood did the trick. Boom-we were in business. It had wonderful raised panel doors that just begged for something special and since my cosmo/boho daughter loves bright colors and bohemian designs (think Anthropologie) I knew I could go a little crazy. Well I did!

I decided to use a wonderful stencil from Melanie Royal Designs that I had in my collection. I started by staining the wood very dark with Faux Effects Stain and Seal in Dark Walnut. Leaving the edges dark, I went on to pull a metallic plaster called Lusterstone (also by Faux Effects) through the stencil which was secured using a little photo spray mount. I used several diffferent colors working wet on wet to get the mix I liked. What's wonderful about Lusterstone is that the colors mix easily and it is creamy like frosting. But it dries rock hard and can easily be sanded for finishing. I am addicted to this stuff! 
The dark showing on the door panels is stain and the design is the lighter part done in Lusterstone. Finally, I finished with a bright orange paint-I love the color saturation in Benjamin Moore's Paints-they just seem to have a little extra oomph. A couple of  water based polyurethane top coats later and my girl had a great TV cabinet and with more storage than either of us had anticipated! Mission accomplished! Makes me want to go watch India Jones one more time!! The heroine was named MARIAN wasn't she?


P.S. these photos were taken before my hardware arrived. :-(