The Garden Pavilion changed color from white to green

I am Kirsi, a passionate upcycler and vintage enthusiast. My paid job is in the interior design and furniture industry, and my free time is spent pretty much in the same vein. One of my Insta friends even calls me the "project queen".

I couldn't live without these DIY things of mine; they are also therapy for me, allowing me to relax and detach from everything else around me. When you always have "a hundred irons in the fire" and a couple of new projects in mind, time really never gets boring.

I have promised to show you some finished projects that I have completed with Frenchic Paint products. Hopefully, these will also inspire you to pick up a paintbrush and boldly try something completely new!...

A small garden pavilion was built at the back of my garden seven years ago.
During the construction phase, the interiors were painted white according to the trend of the time and my own wishes.

Well, trends change, and my own mind and taste have changed a lot towards a more colorful direction in recent years.

I have always admired Swedish country homes, the skill to decorate warmly and homely with muted colors.

My home has received quite a color wash over the past four years, and now it was finally the garden pavilion's turn.

Looking for pastel green

My biggest fear in the project was probably that the garden pavilion's interior would become too gloomy and dark, and not summery and fresh. I thought about the right color for a long time and finally chose green.

After this, I pondered for a moment the right shade of green; it shouldn't be musty or too dark, nor too light, because then the change wouldn't be big enough.

I compared different shades of green in the Frenchic Paint online store and finally settled on wall paint and the shade "Apple Barn". I tried to find pictures online and on Insta of walls painted with this color, but with little success. The finished result will therefore be a complete surprise.

Lovely easy painting

The gazebo walls are rough raw planks, which were once covered with white oil paint. Chalk paint sticks to almost anything, so the surface treatment was just a wash with Frenchic's Sugar soap and a coarse root brush. I also used a brush for rinsing, as sponges and cleaning cloths stuck annoyingly to the rough surface of the planks.

Because Frenchic's chalk paints already include primer, it saves time and effort in DIY, and your wallet will thank you. And since the paint also dries in just a few hours, you can easily apply two coats of finished surface in one day.

After the first coat, the surface was quite blotchy, but immediately after the second brushing, the true shade began to show, and the more I painted, the more certain I was that I had chosen just the right, spring green!

Since I also painted the gazebo's interior ceiling with the same color, I used a total of one and a half cans of paint. A smooth wall surface would certainly have taken much less paint, but the rough plank wall has just the right rustic atmosphere.

The best results were achieved with Frenchic's oval brushes in sizes M and S. I also tried the XL size brush, but it felt a bit heavy when painting upwards on the ceiling.

Wax treatment of the white ceiling beams

The gazebo also has two white-painted ceiling beams, and I decided at the start of the project to give them a rustic treatment with Frenchic's brown furniture wax.

After a Sugar soap wash, I rubbed wax onto the beams with a round wax brush mimicking the natural patterns of the wood, and once the wax dried, I brushed the surface with a soft root brush.

With just one treatment, the beams got a beautiful, antique patina that harmonizes nicely with the green ceiling and walls.

I left the window frames white, and they now nicely freshen up the dim overall look. The shade of green varies amusingly with the light; sometimes it is quite bright and leans towards yellow, other times very soft and pastel.

Color creates the atmosphere

Now my gazebo has a lovely English garden shed atmosphere. The light wooden furniture and my brown clay bottle collection fit perfectly with the green wall.

And could the name of this green color be better than "Apple Barn", since the four apple trees in my garden grow right next to the gazebo. The gazebo is now my summer "Happy place".  

Hopefully these tips will inspire you too to pick up a paintbrush and boldly try something completely new!

Follow Kirsi on Instagram: @pieni_paivansade