High Performance

Beautiful kitchen cabinet makeover with General Finishes Antique White Milk Paint and High Performance Topcoat in flat 

"What do I love most about this dresser? It has built in drawer stops to ensure that the drawers don’t slide all the way out, making it perfect for a child’s room. This dresser was painted in General Finishes Reverent Gray with my Fuji Spray Hvlp spray gun for a perfectly smooth finish without brush strokes, ideal for a mid century modern look. The drawers were stripped and then sealed with High Performance Top Coat." 

This bowl is made 100% from recycled skateboards, and is finished with General Finishes High Performance Top Coat (gloss)!

This Mid-Century piece was a disaster when we found it all alone, abandoned on the side of the road. Lucky for this piece, we saw that it had potential! We sanded off all of the old finish, then applied Merlot dye stain. It looked even better than we imagined! The dye stain really made the wood grain pop. We topped off the finish with three coats of High performance Semi-Gloss. This piece was totally revived thanks to a little elbow grease and the amazing products of General Finishes.

These cabinets were custom built to satisfy a unique need for our clients! They had a limited space, wanted to maximize their storage options, enjoyed clean, modern lines & needed a place to house their wine bar! These were custom designed & finished with Java Gel Stain for a gorgeous finish!

I loved the lines of this petite china cabinet but almost didn’t buy it. It was missing a glass panel and shelves and had a couple other things wrong with it. But my friend made me a good deal and challenged me to “make something cool”. Never one to shy away from a challenge, I loaded it in my car. It lingered in my studio for a long time before I knew what to do with it. Taking my cue from the architecture of the piece I decided an Indian inlay look was the way to go. Playing off the...

Her golden crown sits atop copper highlights in her hair. The Sea is a wash of watery blues and greens. She is Athena, queen of the Sea. 

A 50/50 blend of General Finishes Linen and General Finishes Holiday Red, then I wet blended with Linen applying both the mix and the linen with the same brush.  The 50/50 blend was then placed in a water bottle with a 60/40 water to paint ratio, and I sprayed starting at the top of the dresser for some cool weathering and a drippy effect. General Finishes Driftwood was used for the top, I then sealed everything with with High Performance Topcoat in satin.  The IOD Transfer was applied, then...

Lovely kitchen cabinet makeover in General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint by Goodwillhunting Lawson!

"This antique pew is absolutely breathtaking! Refinished using General Finishes Java Gel Stain with a High Performance Flat Finish; the perfect finish for this character filled piece. Talk about the perfect entryway bench!" - ReFind Design by Coco Clare

Where to begin.... viewing the before/after you can barely see this is the same space! The selection of GF Antique White and Driftwood Gray is the perfect combination for a bright, modern farmhouse design. Add in the gorgeous red island and this space looks as if it is straight out of a magazine!! 

Ahhhh.... the snow white dream kitchen! Who wouldn't love to shuffle into this beauty each morning for that perfect cup of coffee! These cabinets once boasted a stained and glazed Tuscan look, but the final stage of this kitchen transformation was painting the cabinets a beautiful pristine white. We all know how hard pure white can be to achieve that perfect look, but General Finishes milk paint in Snow White rose to the task! The island compliments in General Finishes milk paint in...

This house was flooded and took 2 years to rebuild into a dream home. This kitchen was raw. The client wanted a unique finish to tie in the center of this breathtaking kitchen that over looks the cove of the lake. 

Key West GF chalky finish was used to create a blue water finish to tie into the barn and tin ceiling and crisp clean white cabinets. 

This kitchen was overload of honey oak, when starting, making it outdated and dark. It was quickly modernized into a brighter space by painting the cabinets and updating the hardware. The kitchen island was painted a different color to add some contrast. 

This ordinary builder grade oak bathroom vanity has gotten an high-end makeover! I am often asked how to approach deep grain oak cabinets. My solution is embrace it! Using General Finishes Milk Paints, I created a faux gray stain that has transformed this vanity into an undeniable beauty fit for a Pottery Barn Catalog. New DLawless hardware was the perfect touch to this stunning makeover.

his honey oak kitchen was needing some love! 

For this project, I cleaned the cupboards and doors three times using dawn and water, krud clutter, and then plain old water. Next, I sanded the wood with a 220 grit and cleaned off with rustoleum branded tack cloth. 

Because I was painting oak, I primed the cupboards with 3 coats of Kilz Stain blocking primer, with a light sand in between each coat with a 400+ grit paper. The top cupboards took 3 coats of...

"This antique chest of drawers was once built-into an old home. It was salvaged from the home, but unfortunately, was missing proper sides and had no top other than a piece of plywood. Not to mention the finish was old, worn, and rough. It came to us in hopes to give it a fresh new life. With a new white oak quarter sawn top and sides we were ready to refinish this amazing piece. We used General Finishes Java Gel Stain and a High Performance Satin Finish. Wow, now she’s just a show-stopper...

"The top and drawers were completely sanded down and refinished using Nutmeg Gel Stain by General Finishes and sealed with High Performance Topcoat in Semi Gloss. The body was painted in their Lamp Black Milk Paint and sealed with High Performance Topcoat in Satin. The hardware is original and the drawers are in great condition inside." - Eight Hundred Furniture, LLC.

We did a bathroom remodel for our very tiny master bathroom. We needed a small vanity.  We had my husbands parents old microwave cart just sitting in the garage and realized it was the perfect size but hated the yellow oak.  I decided to give the General Finish Gel stain a try.  It was my first time ever using it and I couldn’t believe how easy it was!  I sanded the top down to the raw wood but wasn’t able to get the legs completely sanded down so I was concerned it would be splotchy.  It...

This was a piece for the books. She was old, moldy, dirty, barn fresh, bird poo covered, but yet still had a lot of potential. We needed a bathroom vanity for our bathroom and I knew she would be perfect! After lots of elbow grease, she was thoroughly cleaned. For some reason she had lots of drill holes all over so those were filled with putty. This dresser was sanded and prepped, we cut her legs off and cut her depth down to fit in our super tiny bathroom. Her base was painted in GF...

This beautiful piece features a worn General Finishes blackish finish, natural legs, with black and white floral lined cabinets and drawers. Full of original character and mixed with a modern finish, this piece will undoubtedly make a statement in your home!

• 50:50 mix of General Finishes Antique Oak and Black Cherry Water-Based Stains (top only)

2018 GF Design Challenge 3rd Place Winner - Upcycling Category - Roll Out the Burl-El

My client contacted me about redo'ing this piece of furniture for his wife as a surprise for her birthday. Her grandfather used this piece as his tool/work bench.  I loved the story and was determined to make it beautiful again, so I gave it a lot of TLC. I ended up stripping the whole thing about 5 times to get years of stain and grime off of it. It was also breaking in areas due to the weight of the heavy tools, so those areas needed fixing. After that, I cleaned and sealed it really well...

This beautiful burl was hidden under layers of gross varnish & oils. We were excited to bring it to life.

Painted in GF Lamp Black & sealed with High Performance Satin, this Finch Fine Furniture Company buffets real focal point is the stunning drawers!

I love reading cool facts on woods & researching furniture history. Wood burls are like the diamonds of forests, so when we find veneer that is burled (typically, burled wood was made into thin sheets of veneer...

Oh I love the flame burl and the inlaid on this federal style buffet.  I loved it from the moment I saw it.  I picked it up from a woman who was moving out west to go work at our national parks.  She was emptying her townhome.  I told her I would give the buffet new life and a lot of love.

In prep I cleaned her up with dish soap and water to degrease then scrubbed with a 50/50 mixture of denatured alcohol and water.  The top and the drawers needed to have that beautiful wood grain...

6 Chairs: I painted an undertone of GF Driftwood, followed by a custom mix of GF Snow White and Antique White, then lightly distressed to bring through the Driftwood color. 

Table: The base of the table was done exactly like the chairs. As far as the table top goes, I stripped and sanded it down so you could see the beautiful herringbone pattern. I sealed the top with Oil and Wax by Old Barn Milk Paint to help bring out the natural raw beauty of the wood, but everything else is the...

I fell in love with this 1950s Beautility brand cocktail sideboard as soon as I saw it and marvelled at the hideaway drinks compartment that cleverly folded out of a seemingly much too small hole! However, even though I loved it on sight and it clearly had good grain going for it, it would only become a lot clearer what a beauty it was once it was fully stripped back using paint/varnish stripper and lots of elbow grease / wire wool too! 

The fronts of the doors are a Walnut Burl...

This unique oval desk with the burlwood top begged for the burlwood desktop to be the star of the show, and man o man, is it ever! To play up it's stunning beauty, I chose to downplay this uniquely-shaped desk's "body" with a 50/50 blend of General Finishes Bone White Chalk Paint and General Finishes Antique White Milk Paint...a perfect blend, in my humble opinion. The body is finished off in three coats of General Finishes High Performance Top Coat in Satin. But the real stunner of this...

First I removed all the wax and dirt with a good scrub of wash up liquid and water, and then cleaned with methylated spirits and water until all the wax was removed, then sanded smooth.

I primed the piece with shellac bin primer, then 3 coats of custom grey linen:lamp black 5:1, on the body and I then added a coat of the hptc and champagne pearl effects mix, 50:50. The drawer fronts were painted in linen 

I used efex and resin mouldings, both painted in the grey and pearl...

Once upon a time this piece probably served as a potato bin but when I caught sight of it I knew it was the perfect mail station just waiting to be transformed for my mom since it also just happened to be Mother's Day weekend. I worked quickly and finished this gem using GF Queenstown Gray, stunning appliques from D. Lawless Hardware and new crystal knobs.  My mom was and still is in love with it and it has quickly become the gorgeous front door staple in her house I knew it was always meant...

Love the new General Finishes Gulf Stream Blue!

The top & legs were stained with the new General Finishes Water Based Wood Stains Graystone, layered over Provincial. The entire piece has been sealed with High Performance Satin using my new Dixie Belle blue foam applicator (the best $6 I've ever spent).

Media stand/dresser in General Finishes Coastal Blue Milk Paint with High Performance Topcoat in semi-gloss by Flipping Fabulous.

Light Brown Dye Stain with High Performance Topcoat

Custom Green of Emerald + Linen + Dark Chocolate

Antique Walnut Top and High Performance in Flat

This antique, solid wood dresser was hand painted in a custom gray made from General Finishes milk paints using a blend of Linen and Driftwood with Pitch Black glaze effects over all those details and crevices. The piece is sealed with multiple layers of High Prformance Top Coat in satin for extra protection. Silver leaf gilding wax adds the final bit of sparkle to give this beauty all the drama it deserves. 

Elegant makes a comeback with this mirror that was transformed from boring bronze to something one woud find in France using Seagull Gray Milk Paint, a wash of French Vanilla and dry brushing as well with gilding wax applied along raised areas and details in Gold Leaf, Ebony and Silver. Sealed with High Performance Top Coat in Flat. 

PRODUCTS USED

• GF Seagull Gray
• GF French Vanilla
• Rub N Buff Ebony
• Rub N Buff Gold Leaf
• Rub N...

One of my favourite places for second hand hunting is the Old Fire Station. It's run by two hilarious guys, full of fabulous stories about their house clearance adventures. The whole place is filled with gorgeous goodies, mostly older antiques that wouldn't look out of place in a country manor house, but they often have little bits and bobs and I reckon they enjoy me and my mum popping in. We generally buy all the old tat - garden rakes, old posters, broken chairs. More often than not they...

I was drawn to this dresser because of the combination of drawers and doors. It was covered in layers of sloppily applied paint and I originally just planned to refresh the paint. However, as I was prepping and lightly sanding, I noticed these vertical lines on the drawer fronts coming through the paint. After sanding the drawers more heavily, the wood panels were revealed and my vision began to take shape. I started with a couple of fresh coats of Persian Blue Milk paint. I followed that...

This vintage secretary desk was in rough shape when we rescued her.  She was brought back to life with a major cleaning, sanding, and more cleaning and more sanding. She boasts a combination finish using General Finishes Milk Paint in Persian Blue, and General Finishes Gel Stain in Gray.  She is sealed up for protection using General Finishes HPTC in Satin.  New Hardware graces her exterior drawers, and a fresh glass panel has been inlaid to her cabinet door. Interior panels and shelves have...

"This commissioned piece was updated using General Finishes Persian Blue Milk Paint, Winter White Glaze Effects, and High Performance Top Coat. The finish was both sprayed with our HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer and rolled with Sherwin-Williams Mohair Rollers for a flawlessly smooth finish! My client loved the original drawer pulls but we were missing one and luckily found some very similar ones from D. Lawless Hardware. All of the hardware was sprayed to match with our favorite Rustoleum...

Another one of Grandpa’s pieces that no one wanted. (Insert sad face.) He had started the process and just needed some help to get this beauty back to her glory. She was in pieces, with the mirror and doors detached, and just hoping everything was there. It was! 

Multiple layers of rich color make this antique beauty come to life! A base coat of GF Lamp Black peaks out from under two layers of GF Somerset Gold, showing off each curve and carved details on the drawers and doors of...

What was once a well loved and badly worn vanity, is now a charming pair of long legged nightstands. We began this project by separating the side portions of the vanity from the center to form two separate nightstands. Extensive repairs were completed to fix wood and veneer damage as well as molds being made to mimic missing trim on the draw fronts. Once this lovely pair was structurally solid, we cleaned and prepped our surface for paint and stain. The body of each was hand painted in...

I fell in love with this piece and wanted to give it a modern spin, but keep the natural beauty of the wood.

I painted the body stain blocker and snow white milk paint.  After sanding the wood I loved the natural wood and the different colors that showed with each drawers so I just sealed with with Gel poly and the ombre' wood colors came to life.  

How could you cover up that beautiful wood grain?  Their were some pieces of trim that were missing from the doors.  So, after careful reconstruction the doors and frame received two coats of General Finishes Milk Paint in Driftwood followed by Van Dyke Brown Glaze and High Performance Top Coat in Satin.  The wood grain drawer fronts and top surface were sanded down and stained with General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain followed by GF Arm-R- Seal.

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