They Faux Real...

...oh, yes they are!  You'll "marble" at how closely they look like the real thing.  Who are they?  These guys!

Now, before you run upstairs to your guest room to check that the two YOU OWN aren't missing, let me tell you they aren't.  (We ALL own a set of these or have at one time, am I right?)   These two nightstands were lucky enough to fall under the care of Sally from Once More Decor Painted Furniture.

Sally admits that these two were a pain in the patootie to make over but the end result totally made that pain worth it.  The saying "No pain, no gain" TOTALLY applies here.

Sally scratched the heck out of the tops so she wouldn't have any issues with the plastic surface. She wonders, and so do I, why they have the plastic-y tops in the first place?  First person that can answer that gets to bask in the glow and adoration of being the first person that answers that for us. 

She decided to go for Annie Sloan Louis Blue, because it's a great bedroom-y color.   She applied a few silver accents on the edging around the drawer and Old White for accents on the side.  After she distressed them, she antiqued them with a little bit of watered down gel stain.

Here comes the "faux" part: The tops she painted solid white and then sponged on some gray paint mixed with glaze to get a mottled background.  For the veins she prefers to use a water color pencil.  Sally says that you get a more defined line than with a brush.  Finally, she says you can't make it look like marble without softening it with a badger hair brush.  To complete these two beauties, she applied a matte/flat varnish on the tops and wax on the rest.

Are you ready to see the final finished pieces?  I AM!  Here you go...

And let's look at a close-up of the gorgeous faux marbling...

Pretty fantastic, don't you think!?!  You can see more of Sally and her work on the Once More Decor Painted Furniture website.  If you live in the Asheville, NC area, well, then you are luckier than I because YOU can go see their items in person and pick up something for yourself at Oddfellows Antiques.  Finally, for you Facebook fans (I know you are out there, I've seen ya!) you can check out the Once More Decor Painted Furniture's Facebook page.   Let Sally know you saw her flip.  After all, she gave you some fantastic tips today.  

Thanks Sally for sharing your very lovely furniture flip!