faux fireplace revamp

A few weeks ago Rhett's mom gave me permission to test my painting skills on a faux fireplace they used to have in their game room upstairs [but was currently in their storage unit]. I snatched it up, read some furniture painting tutorials on Miss Mustard Seed, and got to work! Here is the starting point: relatively untouched wood.

All I had to do was sand it down a little and wipe it off before I added my first coat: Almond Cream by Behr. I only did one coat because I knew I wanted to do some pretty heavy glazing at the end.

Then I taped off the inset rectangles and painted them Violet Shadow by Behr. After those were dry, I rubbed on a small amount of flat Cathedral Gray for texture. 

After that dried, I covered the entire thing [piece by piece] in Valspar glaze in Leather Chair. You really have to put it on thick in the beginning and then wipe off however much you want. It's a back and forth type thing [put a lot on, wipe too much off, put more on, etc.] until you get it how you want it. The glaze is really forgiving. You can wipe almost all of it off if you don't like the way it's turning out. 

After the glazing was dry, I sanded around the edges and nooks in the wood.

Then all that was left was to put it up in my room and decorate the top! Here is the final product [my apologies for the blah lighting]. 

The old window hung above it is from the church where my parents were married. How cool is that?? 

Overall this was a really fun project to do and I will enjoy it for a long time. That being said, it did not come without its frustrations and touch ups. That's not stopping me from paining more furniture finds! LOOK OUT! Not even your own furniture is safe.