Before and After - Repainted Vintage Fish Wall Pocket

Here is the ceramic/pottery fish wall pocket vase that I picked up at the thrift recently.  The brown paint had spots and blemishes and it was too dark for my liking so I decided to repaint it.  I primed it with many coats of white paint trying to avoid brush stroke marks as much as possible.  It took a lot of layers to cover up that dark brown paint (I used a blow dryer between coats). 

Before painting

Here you can still see the shadowy affect of the dark paint.  I painted 5 to 6 coats of cream after the white to create a warm base color and lighten it up even more.

(after)

I mixed two pink hued paints into a pearlescent white paint and watered it down to create a 1950s pink.  The pearlescent paint has a sheen to it which is nicer than a totally flat paint.  I probably put on a good 10 thin coats which gave me the ability to control the color saturation and also keep the surface smooth. Lastly,  I touched up some of the "mosaic" boundaries with a mix of  two brown paints and added touch of copper metallic to add shine.  It was painstaking, but it was worth it!  This will go in my guest room (pictured) that is a muted pink.  I think hubby was disappointed I didn't paint it turquoise instead, but we have a number of green/blue fish things already.

(I'm going to the thrifts today!  Hope I find something!)