While before, this set is cute. It's a pale yellow with a shabby crackle finish.  But after is WOW!!!! Painted in white, the top is pain...

This one was an absolute steal that I cam across on Craigslist one day while perusing. There is a good chance you will see me on Craigslist most days. Common terms I search for are: Dresser, Ornate, French, Upholstered. This one popped up under the "French category".

I sold this one up on my facebook page - and posted the "before" picture, and the price it would be painted, and it got snapped up quick. I then let the client look on Pinterest for some inspiration color.




She decided on Annie Sloan Old Violet, with a Graphite top. The desk (or vanity) was then distressed very lightly, then covered in clear wax then dark wax. I think she turned out beautiful!!

This one was an absolute steal that I cam across on Craigslist one day while perusing. There is a good chance you will see me on Craigsl...

This one was a fun little project. I wanted to try my hand at two-toned.

Annie Sloan's paints blend beautifully. I think that's part of the reason why I tend to use it so much more than others. And, I also think that when I blend up paints in my little Tupperware, I feel more "artsy-fartsy".


Before/After:

This one was taken with my phone in my garage/work space. Apologies for the fuzziness!

So, I wish I could tell ya what the outside of this pretty chest was, but alas - I haven't got a clue. It's a little French Linen, a little Chateau Grey, and a little Coco I think?? It tuned into a fun darker taupe/olive. The drawers were painted in Old White, then everything got a clear and dark wax. The drawers were painted in Duck Egg Blue. I kept the original hardware, but just spray painted them a dark bronze.

I think it turned out fabulously! While I adore doing client's pieces, for obvious reasons, it's fun to pick up pieces off Craigslist to play around with different looks and techniques.

This one was a fun little project. I wanted to try my hand at two-toned. Annie Sloan's paints blend beautifully. I think that's pa...

This was a super fun little project, and actually much easier than I thought. I really have come to love stenciled furniture, and since I'm pretty crafty anyway, had a stencil burner I bought off ebay!

So, I got to work. This is the before:



Not too boring, but just ugly and plain


Two coats of blue chalk paint, light distressing, and clear wax later:


Viola!





You might be asking - how does one make a stencil? Well, super easy. Find a graphic you like and print it out in Microsoft Word. Then, go grab you a few cheap plastic report covers from Office Max. Place report covers over the printed graphic, then take your handy dandy stencil burner and create your stencil! So, much cheaper than buying a new one every time, and super easy to make your own custom ones too.

This was a super fun little project, and actually much easier than I thought. I really have come to love stenciled furniture, and since I...

My twins share a bedroom. We are lucky to have two masters (one upstairs one downstairs). And because they are twins, they got the master upstairs. Its a huge room, and they share everything. However, I wanted Jules to have a separate, pretty space to have her clothes. So, I thought an armoire would be the perfect thing. Plus, she can move it into a big girl room should that day ever come (hopefully never, haha)

I search Craigslist like a crazy person for months. I wanted one that wasn't a TV center, one that has good ornate detail, one that was solid and paintable, and one that wasn't too big or too small, and cheaper!! Sounds like an easy task, but it really wasn't. But I eventually found her.



I used to have a love/hate relationship with Annie Sloan paint, and had decided I kind of hated it. But then have found myself choosing it over regular paint in almost every instance, so I guess you could say we have made up and will enjoy a nice long relationship. Here is the "about" of ASCP:

Pros:

1. The colors are AMAZING. I love them all and they go right in line with my decor and style.
2. You can paint right over anything: laminate, plastic, sealed wood, etc. NO sanding and priming. Hot dog!
3. It dries super fast and you can go right over it usually once you are done. It makes projects go quickly.
4. No smell. You can paint right inside and not worry about the fumes.
5. The colors mix fabulously. And all the colors once mixed are so pretty. However, you could also be like me and run out of said mixed mixture, then you have to-go buy it all and re-mix - DOH!

Cons:

1. It is expensive - kind of very.
2. Although it says it coats well and a little goes a long way, I disagree. I still feel like you need a good two coats and sometimes three on the darker paints.
3. It is MESS-SY. It's chalk paint so if you are distressing at all - imagine you are in a classroom dusting off chalkboard erasers. Yea - it's EVERYWHERE. I have been told to wait and sand after you wax and that these is little or no mess, but I have decided I hate that way unless you are going for very minimal distressing. It takes a lot of work to sand over the wax, and I don't have that much stamina. I'm a small girl, ha. And you have to wax again after you sand (see below)
4. You have to wax most everything. Which totally sucks arse. It is the most monotonous task there is. I have gotten alot better at it with lots of practice, but it still sucks arse.

So, there you have it. It just depends on how much you like the look to see if it's worth it or not. I have done several things with ASCP: A Bathroom vanity in Coco, built-in bookshelves in Graphite with a mixture of Graphite and Old White inside, a regular bookshelf in a mixture of Old White and French Linen, a desk in Coco, armoire (below) , and now I'm painting the cabinets in our bar area Coco as well.

As for the armoire, it took a LOT of elbow grease. Steps I took:

1. ordered wood embellishments off of etsy and glued them on using wood glue (the super cute pieces covering each door and drawers)

2. I put on two coats of Paris Grey and let dry.

3. I then applied a coat of Original White on top of that.

4. I sanded down the White so you could see lots of the Paris Grey underneath.

5. I also just painted over all the hardware.

6. One coat of Clear Wax, then touches of dark wax in the crevices and over the embellishments.

7. Drank Wine. lots of wine.

8. I did this piece a while ago. After recently trying a few new techniques on some newer pieces, I have decided that I could have gotten by with dry brushing the old white over the paris grey instead of a full coat then sanding off. Oh well, live and learn!

Ta Da!!!

Close up of the top showing the distressing, dark wax, and the grey showing under the white.

Close up of the brush strokes.You can also see a good mix of the grey under the white.  Yet another plus of using ASCP. The messier your strokes, the more texture.

Embellishment on the drawer.

more distressing.

Side view.

My twins share a bedroom. We are lucky to have two masters (one upstairs one downstairs). And because they are twins, they got the master ...

My sister is having a baby. Horray! So with having a baby comes all the fun furniture buying. Not long after she found out she was pregnant, she sent me pictures of nurseries she thought she liked.

Well, she was wrong. I know her too well, and so I said, "Um, no. What you need to to have a modern nursery with some musical rock star vintage elements to it". (her and her husband are both in the music business).

So, I am helping design it!

As most people having a baby, they are trying to keep costs down as much as possible. So, because I am a painted, I suggested she get a changing table off Craigslist and I paint it some funky color to coordinate with her nursery.

My sister is not a bubble gum pink girl. Not. At. All. In fact, I really had to convince her to add pink to her nursery at all. Until I showed her a dark, red-pink. And she loved it. It's not girly-girly, but enough girly to warrant a fabulous nursery piece.

(iiiiccccccckkkkkkk) - Can you get any worse than the natural word color? (no offense)


 Amazing what paint can do!!

What I did:

First, I painted it in hot pink chalk paint. I did three coats, because I wanted super coverage. Then I distressed it pretty well or the edges and also gave a quick sanding to smooth down the brush strokes. The I finished with a clear wax mixed with Annie Sloan Graphite paint. I have decided that while I love dark wax, I love mixing clear wax with paint even more. A fabulous added touch were the knobs from Hobby Lobby.

And there you have it. A changing table perfect for a rock star princess.

My sister is having a baby. Horray! So with having a baby comes all the fun furniture buying. Not long after she found out she was preg...

Here is a before and after technique using a gold antique chandelier. 

Here is a before and after technique using a gold antique chandelier.  Before:  My sister-in-law got this beauty for a house that she is buy...

There is a finish that's making its way all around Pinterest. Metallic is everywhere.  So naturally I want to try it.  What I really want to do is a very very shiny silver but this time I'm attempting a subtle faux zinc technique. 

There are many many tutorials on the web about how to achieve this and every one of them is very different.  That's what makes it fun, huh?  I kind of picked two and then did my own thing for various reasons. One was Freckled Laundry, and hers was awesome but I didn't follow all her steps, but I did take her idea of "ragging" on the paint.

The other, ChiChi Studio I found because I wanted to search ways of doing it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. And it turns out she is a local gal who shops for ASCP at the same place. Small world!

I took a few ideas from each blog but then ended up kind of doing my thing. 

Here was my inspiration:



A zinc finish Restoration Hardware Piece. I love the shine and color, but I wanted darker hardware to make it look more industrial. 

This is how it happened:

Supplies:

Paint Brushes (duh)
DecoArt Metallic Finish in Silver and Black
White Paint (any)
Annie Sloan Graphite Chalk Paint
Gray Paint (any)
Glaze
Polyurethane
Rags (or old tshirts)
Gripper Primer

I know that sounds like a lot but a lot of that I had on hand already so the only thing I really bought was metallic paint. 

First, the before. It was an Ethan Allen buffet I got for a steal off of Craigslist. So it had good bones and was very solid.

Primed and ready to go!

You can see the coverage isn't great, but thats ok.

I used the original AS paint and mixed in the black metallic to it (left) then the black metallic with silver glaze (top right) them silver metallic with white paint (bottom) 4. Rag it on using a tshirt. I have never used this method before, but it was really easy! Almost better than using a paint brush. And since I had already used a really good chalk paint base the colors blended beautifully . So, here is where the fun begins. You rag on the darker, then while it's wet throw some of the silver metallic on there as well and rag it on there together. It doesn't have to be perfect, just the mixture of silvers creates than zinc finish. But only work it small sections because it dries quickly You can see the different shades of silver using this method.  5. Glaze. I mixed up glaze with the lightest of the three colors mixed together. It was the one where I mixed white with silver. I again ragged this color  then wiped off the excess. It left this fabulous silver shimmer.  6. Poly it up! I used two coats of polyurethane. Again, I know this is a no-no with ASCP, but I only used it as a base, and I wanted the super shine "hardness" of poly on this piece.

There is a finish that's making its way all around Pinterest. Metallic is everywhere.  So naturally I want to try it.  What I really w...