A bit of paint distressing

So I haven't gotten around to working on the chairs just yet.  They do look really nice in the dining room, and I'm excited to get started on them, but there are other projects I need to finish first.

I've had this really cute magazine rack that my brothers gave me for a birthday gift a few years back that has been hiding on the far side of the sofa.  Not because it needed to be hidden but it just became a catchall for books and magazines and the mess of that needed to be hidden!  So I decided it would be hidden no more!  But I also decided that the blue that it was painted wouldn't quite go with the blue dresser already in the living room ......... and I wanted a chance to test out some paint I had bought for the dining chairs!

So I got to work ............ well, here's a before picture first:

It's a nice shade of blue but it doesn't really work with this blue from the dresser (in my opinion):

The color I chose, Martha Stewart's "Enamelware" is a lighter blue but I think it works better with the blue of the dresser.  Here you can see it on the magazine rack after I primed and painted it:

It's a different shade of blue, with a slight greenish tint but I think it works well with the other colors in the living room.  I also wanted to try to show-off the details of the magazine rack, especially those cute floral cutouts so I got out some sandpaper and sanded all the edges down to the wood surface to give a nice contrast.

Here you can see the finished product:

And a bit closer of the edges:

And the floral motif:

 

And here it is holding my home decorating/fix-it magazines and inspiration binder of ideas I've cut-out from past issues.

Hopefully now that I have the magazine rack visible my magazines will find their way there instead of scattered over the coffee table!