a tone on tone furniture makeover with amy howard one step paint

After I gave the walls in our open kitchen, dining and living space a fresh coat of greyish white paint (Sherwin Williams Shoji White), I quickly discovered that I wasn't crazy about the way our cream colored/antique beige dresser-turned-buffet looked against the new wall color. (Check out how it looked in the dining room in our old Kentucky home .) Once the walls in our new house went to the new greyish white color, the antique cream looked more yellow and dirty instead of soft and vintage-y. So I gave it a new look. I decided to go with a little tone on tone action and paint her a slightly darker grey than the walls.

And I really love the results! It gave this little spot a fresh, slightly more modern look.

And it had the added bonus of visually making this piece of furniture "disappear" into the wall, which is perfect considering that the wall where this dresser/buffet/bar lives is a main walkway in the house.

Now it blends in, instead of sticking out like a soar thumb. Yet the slightly darker color of grey and the satin finish give it enough heft to keep it interesting.

In terms of what I used to give this dresser/buffet a new look, I made one trip to Ace Hardware for some One Step paint by Amy Howard. I used the color Luxe Grey, which is a light shade of true grey - not too blue, not too brown. The great thing about this paint is that you don't have to sand or prime; it really is just one simple step - paint. I gave her two coats of paint. And once the paint was dry I used a satin finish polycrylic as a top coat. I like the wipeability (that's totally a word) that polycrylic gives, and it's easy to apply with a brush. Since we'll be using this buffet as a bar and for entertaining purposes it just made sense to finish her off with something that would be easy to wipe down and keep clean.

Have you ever used Amy Howard's One Step paint? It's so easy to use, and I really dig the no prep work. What do you think of the tone on tone look? Would you ever consider painting a piece of furniture the same color as the walls? It's a great little design trick, especially in areas where you want to create the illusion of more space.