I've Been Commissioned....

Remember recently I told you about a new kind of paint that I'd ordered called Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint? If not, read about it HERE. Well, the paint arrived few weeks ago and I've had a blast messing around with it lately.

I painted that china cabinet there on the left (I'm not showing you the finished product yet because I still need to get a piece of glass to put in the front,) but I promise, it is gorgeous!  It's a combination of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey and Old White.

Just yesterday, I guess I got a “bee in my bonnet” (as my mom likes to say) and started a painting another dresser, as well as an end table... that I was commissioned to do!

Can I just tell you how fun it feels to say that “I was commissioned” to paint something for someone?! Oh my words...does my ego a world of good! No worries...not overpuffed, just feels nice to have someone else like what I've done enough to want me to do it for them!

Check out this table though. I am so pleased with how it turned out in the end... and the owner, well she was so excited about it that I got even more excited!

Excitement is contagious you know?!

I'm not one of those people who can "play it cool" when I'm excited either.

I really do promise you though that one day I'll forgo my overwhelming urge to start a project prior to taking a “before” picture.

At least this time I got a picture before the stripping agent had completely done it's job. Even with the stripping stuff making it cloudy on top, you can tell that this table had a seriously orangey finish on it...which is what the owner hated. She was going to get rid of it, and I suggested to paint it because it is a super cute little table.  She was thrilled with the idea and I took it with me at the end of our appointment on Friday.  When I got ready to paint it, I realized that I couldn't bear to completely cover the really beautiful inlay. I figured that worst case scenario, I'd strip the top and it'd still be ugly...and then I'd just paint it anyways. But if things went in real life the way that they were in my mind...then this was definitely the way to go. Strip the top and paint the legs.

You all know most certainly by now that some things in my life do not always go the way that they do in my mind. Remember my awesome craft project the other day?...yeah, case in point.

Once in awhile though...I get it right. This time was thankfully one of those times...especially since it wasn't just my own piece I was messing with here.

There really wasn't anything wrong with this table before...it just was a color of wood that the owner didn't love.  I'm more of a dark walnut kind of gal myself, so that's what I went for here. A couple good coats of Citristrip stripping gel (actually smells nice), some scraping off of nasty gooey finish, a good cleaning and then about 3 coats of Minwax dark walnut stain.

The base was painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Chateau Grey, distressed with a sanding sponge to my liking, then finished off with a combination of Annie Sloan's soft waxes in clear and dark brown. I waxed the top with a couple of coats of the dark brown and then one last clear coat to protect it.

I told my client that if she ever wants to get rid of this table, I can find a nice home for it...

in my house.

Don't you just love a semi-BEFORE and AFTER?!

Glory hallelujah...It's Extreme Makeover: Table Edition!

 

If you're thinking that you might want to try the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I HIGHLY recommend it.  You don't have to sand or prime before applying it which saves LOADS of time.  Also, it has the most creamy texture and goes on so smoothly, and I should mention that a little goes a pretty long way.  Sanding it off with just a sanding sponge is a piece of cake (if only my feet were as easy to get smooth!)  It's more expensive than just a can of Oops paint at Lowes, but if you're an instant gratification sort of person like I am, you'll appreciate seeing faster, and more beautiful results with 1/3 of the prep work.  If you like sanding and priming though, have at it...glad you enjoy the tedious part. 

I've made my chalk paint orders from a super nice and extremely efficient gal named Tammy Brinkley, who is a stockist of Annie Sloan products.  Check her out and order some paint from her, she's great! (Do me a favor too and tell her I sent you?!)

 The Periwinkle Pass Studio
Banner Elk, North Carolina
Phone: 828-963-5187
periwinklepass@yahoo.com
www.periwinklepass.com

 

I'll have more of my adventures into chalk paint fun coming up to share soon, so stay tuned!

Refinishing a Dresser....it's easier than you think!

I'm kicking myself.  Once again I did a piece of furniture without a before picture.  I swore I had taken one though, but apparently I didn't.  I've checked 2 cameras and my phone...nothing.  SO just imagine with me would you?

This dresser, but just plain wood.  Pretty color stain though...dark...walnuttish, but seriously bubbled up from being out in a hot barn for too many years.  I don't know why this was in a hot barn...it's gorgeous!  And it was in a set...there's a bed and a desk that went with it.  I talked my friend T into buying the other pieces for her little girl in their new house...I can't wait to see it in a little girl's room.  I was obsessed with this dresser though, so she kept 2 pieces and I got this one.

I painted it with a grayish oops paint that I found for $2.50/qt.  I have absolutely no idea what color this was...but it looks bluer in this picture than it actually is.  It's definitely got blue in it, but not this much.  (And I did take the hardware off to paint...I put all the pulls back on though to use this as a drink stand for our Easter Egg Hunt.)

I'd painted this first coat on before I learned about Annie Sloan's Chalk paint which I just ordered some of yesterday for my next project.  With the Chalk Paint you don't have to sand or prime...you just paint and distress and wax...and it's all non toxic.  It's not as cheap as my oops paint by a long shot though.  But with 2 little kids at home...time is money, and it takes a LOT more time for me to sand and prime than is worth the money to me.  So next up is this china cabinet.... It's gonna see some chalk paint love and I cannot wait!

Ok, so back to this dresser.  I think I'll name it Beatrice...sounds like a pretty old name for a pretty old gal, and it's the first name that just came to my mind when I looked at it.














I took the drawers out and dry brushed everything in Benjamin Moore Moon Shadow...which is sort of a pale creamy taupe-ish gray (and I already had some of it.)

After I lightly drybrushed everything, I then went back and sanded to distress.  This piece I really concentrated on the edges of the drawers and the higher relief areas what would get bumped when opening and closing.  When you sand across everything, it softens the look of your drybrushing as well... which I, for one, really like.

After the sanding, then on this piece I used Minwax Walnut stain and brushed it on and wiped most of it right back off immediately.  I do this part in really small sections so that the stain doesn't dry (it happens fast, so I brush on with one hand and off with the other with a rag.  Mr Miyagi would be proud...I have some serious "wax on, wax off" motions going when I'm doing this.

So here's how 2 of the drawers turned out.  

I did concentrate more of the Moon Shadow on this gorgeous  raised scrolly part to really make it stand out.  I also did the same thing on some detail work on the sides which you can see here below as well. 

Look at the way that the bubbling of the finish from before turned out when it was painted, sanded, and stained....oh my words...it is UH-mazing!  Thank you to the previous owner who's neglect made Beatrice that much more beautiful!

And here she is...all done.  Beatrice is by far my most favorite piece that I've refinished...probably why she is the first one I've bothered naming.

Try not to notice the lamp cord under there...I just tossed her into the guest room and didn't mess with things like lamp cords before I took the picture.  I know...that's not any way to treat a lady!

Tomorrow I'll get back to my story from earlier this week.

How to...antique a table!

Oh my words...it's raining here again, which is good for the earth, but bad for my septic tank.

UGH!  Everytime we have a "soaking rain," our septic drain fields get overloaded and then the toilet in MY bathroom doesn't flush til it's dry for several days again.  Awful.  I guess it'd all be fine if we wanted to fork over $2K to add more drainfields...but do you know how much house beautifying I could do with $2K!?!

ALOT!

But, in the meantime I do have some projects that have been happening around here lately...rain or shine!

<-----Like this table. It has the most beautiful lines that just got kinda lost with plain wood stain. So, you know I painted it!

Lately I've been dying to figure out how to create a room that looks more subdued...mellow, cozy, worn, fresh...you know, all of that!  Anyhow, my friend Emily at Crisp Interiors is amazing at doing just that!  We're going to do guest postings next week on one another's sites....I'm doing one on using color for her, and she's gonna teach us all how to make something fabulous with whites and neutrals!  I'm so excited.  You should be too...

For now though, here's how I'm transforming this lovely table!


Make sure to give it a light sanding just to rough it up a bit to help the paint adhere.  I wanted some wood to show through this, so I didn't prime it at all.  I dont' know if that's the right way to do it, but it's how I did it this time...and this for now is working just fine for me. (I do prime some pieces that I care more about though.) Then I painted it a creamy white color...who knows what color it was... was the same one I used on the headboard bench that I found in the Lowes reject bin of mis-tinted paint colors!

 I  let that dry overnight.  The the next day i strategically sanded it in the places I thought would see a little wear and tear in real life use.  If you notice how the table looked before, you could tell all of that, so I kinda just went back over those places with a sanding sponge to take off some of the cream paint that I'd just done the day before. See below....

I sanded along the lines of the top of the table, and also a little here and there on the edges of the higher carved areas... you know, the spots that would actually get bumped and worn over time.

Then, using antiquing glaze (This time I used Valspar antiquing glaze which had a grayish tint to it, but often I use Minwax Walnut stain) I rubbed it on and off sort of at the same time using a staining sponge.   Can you see the difference here from the just plain cream finish above?  I did the same thing on the sides, base, and feet of the table as well.  With this, you'll have the glaze soaking into the lower areas as well as "roughing up" the higher sections.  It also gives an overall darker feeling to the entire piece which I really like.  

There's something almost funny about how much I want my newer things to look old these days.  I'm actually adding glazes and stains to replicate the look of basically leaving something unattended in a barn for a couple of years!  Love it though!

And the final product....well here she is!  You'll have to excuse the dropcloth...I was just trying to get it done and take pictures for you quickly!  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I'd say it's quite a nice transformation!  What do you think?

Happy hump day!

- Logan

Apples to Earrings....a fantastic repurpose!

Meant to post yesterday but the Hubs actually got to spend the whole day at home with us, so we were soaking that up as much as we could.  Also, my internet was down for some reason and I didn't want to bother him with fixing it since our time all together has been pretty short here lately.

I will tell you though, I got my project on while he took a nap for a little while yesterday afternoon!  I guess being uninspired the other day gave way to inspiration overload and now I just don't have enough hours to finish all that I want to do!  I'm so excited!

So yesterday, I refinished a table that I'd started painting Thursday, refinished a huge picture frame, recovered a lampshade, and did a little bit of antiquing...all during the nap!

Fortunately for me, the Hubs likes to go antiquing, so that was a fun little outing we took all together yesterday....there is just something about finding a really great treasure and getting a good deal on it!

So for right now, I'm going to show you a super fun find that I didn't have to do anything to in order to use it.  Just a little creative brilliance on the spot and VOILA...a really fun re-purpose that I keep walking past just to look at it!  LOVING this new idea!

Meet...the old apple drying rack that I picked up at my favorite antique emporium for $12.  Probably could have talked the price down some but didn't care that much because I was so pleased with my re-purpose idea that it's absolutely positively worth it to me to pay the full $12.

I hung it on the wall so that I could do THIS!

I am so excited about this that all I need to do now is get more fun earrings to  fill it up!  I can see them all at once and there's plenty of space for new creations and acquisitions!

PS. You'll have to excuse the wallpaper glue as well as the unattractively colored trim and walls in my bathroom.  I stripped the wallpaper awhile ago and haven't settled on what I want to do in there (beyond not wanting the previous owners wallpaper.)  And since it appears that the tile surround of our shower/tub was mounted directly to the drywall, we'll be replacing it unexpectedly and I don't want to do something only to have it undone in the near future.

I have loads more fun projects to share with you this week.  How to antique a table and a picture frame, re-cover a lampshade, and a completely fab find from our antique outing that I'll be refinishing in the near future too!

Just had to share this little visual snack for now though!

- Logan

Trash to Treasure....Antique headboard bench!

I'm writing this on Sunday night.  I'm so excited that I just have to post this for you to read first thing on Monday morning!  I have a meeting at 9am, and this couldn't wait til afternoon!!!

The Hubs had a meeting tonight so I put the kiddos to bed and just finished sewing a pillow a little bit ago.  I'm now happily perched on my bed with jammies on, 27 Dresses on the TV (fab-o movie if you need a great chick flick), a handful of Cabury chocolate eggs (the little ones with the crunchy shells), and my computer chocked full of pictures of my latest project just for you!!

It's time to reveal the antique headboard I converted into a bench!  Just have to warn you...there are ALOT of pictures.  I documented how we did it to show you in case you happen to score a cool headboard and need to do something with it other than attach it to the end of a mattress!

 <-----This is the before on the left.  Had been in someone's barn for ages and then in our garage for probably 6 months...filthy, but full of potential!

Below is my big helper and me.  We sanded the headboard down a little to reveal some of the layers of paint, and then we cleaned it off really well.

Above on the right, are the 2 pieces of wood (1x8, and 1x10) for the seat that I stained using MinWax walnut stain.  Below is the frame that I made for the seat.  The Hubs cut the first piece that fit along the back between the posts, and then I measured, cut, and screwed the rest of the inner part of the frame together.  Then I pre-drilled holes into the legs and attached them to the outside of the frame.  We put a piece of 1x3 along the front to give a bit more stability and make the legs look flush along the front.

Because of how I had to attach the legs on the outside of the frame, The Hubs cut a couple of little blocks to mount the 1x3 along the outside and make the leg look flush with the side again.

 Tid Bit had been wanting to paint this thing for a week, so finally he got his chance.  The headboard had layers of paint, so we had to do our best to replicate that layering.  First we stained the wood, then painted green (Sherwin Williams Tansy Green to be exact), then a coat of cream (don't know the exact color because it was just $2.50 in the reject section at Lowes, but was perfect), and then finally the taupe-greenish-gray color.  The closest match I could find was Benjamin Moore Sag Harbor Gray, but I didn't have that.  So... I mixed some Benjamin Moore Nantucket Gray with some yellow, and black, and brown and got a color that was actually an even closer match!  Hooray for a genepool that passed on an ability for precision color mixing!

<----So here it is up close...it was still wet in this picture, so the color does look a little off.  Trust me, it's just right!  Remember the giant gouge that was in the top of the headboard too...yeah, I painted over that as well!  All it needed now was to dry and then be sanded down to show all those beautiful layers that Tid Bit so carefully painted!

Ok...so see below!  Sanded down a bit to make the new part look old too!  I think it turned out pretty smashingly!

When I started looking at it all done and pretty, I decided that it needed a little something cushy!  The other day I was thinking of upholstering the back, then I thought of upholstering the seat, then I decided I liked it so much just like this, but I now had a dropcloth that I'd washed and dried to do something amazing with...so I made pillows!  And because I didn't want to spend more on a monogram than I did on a 4x12 length of dropcloth, I decided to create a stencil and paint our initial onto the pillows!

First I found a "W" in a font that I liked and blew it up to be ginormous on a regular sheet of printed paper. Then I traced it onto a sheet of heavy duty stencil paper and cut it out.  I made sure to leave some points of connection for the inner pieces that would have fallen out otherwise.  I used spray on stencil adhesive to get the stencil to adhere to the fabric to make clean lines.  To apply the W,  I used a round paintbrush and dabbed some bronze paint onto the stencil.

See how there are some breaks in the W?  That was from the connection points that I didn't cut out.  No worries though, I just used a small detail brush to fill those areas in!  And below you can see the finished stencil!

I didn't do a tutorial on how to make a pillow.  I figured I'd taken enough pictures today and honestly, there are a million pillow tutorials out there!  If you really want me to do one sometime though, I will, but you will have to comment and say so!

So here it is...the bench AND the pillow!  In fact, I actually made 2 pillows, but need an insert for the other one...so hopefully you can get the jist with only one!

So that's it!  I'm pretty pleased with it!  Now all I have to do is decide where in my house I'm actually going to put this beauty!  Happy Monday!

- Logan

For more fun craft ideas, check out my new friend Beth's blog here!