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Tag Archives: annie sloan chalk paint

June 3, 2012

Front Doors Finally Painted

By Catherine

This is the not so delightful color that our front doors have been for the past year and a half.

And the outside view.

If you look at the following, you’ll see where I’m headed.

Red front Door

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Red front door...

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red front door.

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Red Front Door

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 <3 red front door

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I love a red front door!

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 It took a long time for me to get brave enough to do this.  For some reason, even though we built the entire house, made all the decisions (including all of the paint colors and doing all of the painting ourselves), I found this choice very difficult- rivaled only by my agony in choosing kitchen cupboards.

Even after I had found the perfect paint and the perfect color, I was still nervous about doing it.

It’s the front of our house, for pete’s sake!

Here’s how it turned out…

I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Primer Red.  It took 3 coats to get full coverage but it still only took barely over a quart of paint to get both doors, both sides, painted.

See the complete patio makeover here.

We love it!  What color is your front door?

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33 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in House, Projects, Yard

May 28, 2012

Summer Patio

By Catherine

Here is the front patio after the door was painted and the flowers planted and the bikes and skateboards and dogs gently removed.

This is what it looked like last summer.

Big changes, no?

We started the front landscaping by building the bank out of rocks and then the paver stone patio on top.  Stairs completed the big work.

Then, all that was left to do was fill the flower pots and the chairs and enjoy it!

One side of the front door.

And the other.

This is in early evening, but usually this is a hot and sunny south-facing spot.

The woods surrounding our house come right up to the bottom of the patio so you are surrounded by a halo of green at this time of day.

I just finished painting our front door with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Primer Red.  I love it.  See the before picture above for the original color.

I’ve had the old whiskey barrels for a long time.  My parents used them as water barrels when I was growing up.

My grandma collected cream cans.  She painted them usually and I have one inside my front door with beautiful farm scenes on it.  This one she hadn’t gotten around to yet, and now I use it for flowers.

The whiskey barrels are bottomless, so I just planted flowers in a smaller sized pot and plunked it in there on  a piece of wood.  Burlap fills in the edges.

At the bottom of the steps we planted two weeping carragana.  They are so pretty in the summer and still interesting to look at in the winter too, which is kind of a big deal around here.  I can see hanging little lights on them at Christmas.

The yellow pansies planted underneath looked especially pretty until a couple of days ago.

When somebody decided to have a little snack.

Oh well, one side still looks un-chewed.

I didn’t want the stump by the driveway to feel left out, so it got a little yellow begonia.

The pots aren’t very spectacular looking just yet.  We just planted them last weekend and it actually froze here two nights ago, so our annuals are just getting started (sigh… our season in Alberta is so short).  But, the hanging pots are lovely now.

I’ll give you some updated pictures in July when the pots should have filled out a little more.

And…. one last shot…

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50 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in House, Photography, Projects, Uncategorized, Yard

April 15, 2012

Gather Sign

By Catherine

My mom always says that families have to gather.  That’s her term for meals, wiener roasts, reunions, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

In my husband’s culture it is also called a gathering when people get together for ceremony or celebration.

So what better word to use for the sign I have been wanting above my sink?

Here it is.

I used a piece of barn board from our flooring, an overhead projector using the font “Hulbert”, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White (trim in Burnt Umber craft paint), and then AS Wax in Rustic after a good sanding.

I will show it to you next week above my sink as part of my kitchen reveal/ tour.Pin It

14 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in House, Projects

February 19, 2012

Hunting Vintage- End Tables

By Catherine

Furniture is probably one of the most difficult things for me to find.  I don’t like a lot of the contemporary styles of furniture around and I prefer a more eclectic and rustic look anyway, so vintage is always preferable, both aesthetically and for the pocketbook.

For bedside tables in our master, we use some vintage items that belonged to my grandparents.

The first is a milking stool that was my grandfather’s.  It was always in my grandparent’s house when I was a kid and we used it as a stepping stool.  It had a black top and white legs then.

When our son was little I had painted it blue and green to match his dresser and he used it as a stepping stool in our bathroom.

Here is is primed.

The yellow table beside it sits on my husband’s side of the bed.  The crate I still haven’t done anything with.  Any suggestions?

The chippyness was great on that one, but the yellow, not so much.

Here’s how they look beside our bed with new coats of Annie Sloan in Old White and Country Grey layered and then distressed with a bit of wax to finish.

We are just starting to think of ways to revamp our bedroom, so our bed will be changing sometime soon, but the bedside tables will definitely stay the same.

I love that they aren’t symmetrical and that they give us just enough surface to put the essentials on.  We had bedsides with drawers in the trailer, and they got so full of junk!!!  This way, we are forced to keep things fairly neat.  But, to be honest, my side (this one) usually does have a book or two on it.  And no flowers.

Shaun’s side has a couple of little shelves.  We are looking for a new clock right now.  This one is getting so that the snooze button won’t work.  And that’s just not really ok.  And I would like one a little nicer looking now…

Still a tiny bit of yellow showing through.

The quilt was our wedding gift from my aunt.  Can you believe she made that?  It is one of our treasures.

Vintage love.  Love that they are recycled and that we use them everyday.  Love how they look.  Love the history to them and that they belonged to my grandmas and grandpas.

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in House, Organization, Projects

September 4, 2011

Curio Cabinet

By Catherine

One of the items we received from my in-laws for our housewarming gift was an art deco type curio cabinet.  We hauled it home along with a few other items and some supplies for our garage revamp project.

We were in desperate need of a sideboard for our eating area, and it was perfect.

Well, not perfect.  Here it is before.

A little bit on the beat up side.  A little bit on the orange side.

But it had great lines and details.

And we loved the doors.

So I had big plans for it with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I decided on Old White for the outside with Primer Red interior.

The painting started out ok, but we had a disaster part way through when, during the crazy garage revamp extravaganza, along with doing about six other projects in the garage at the same time, one of the doors got broken!

Of course it was the one I already had put a coat of paint on.  So…. we decided that it would be impossible to match the pattern exactly, so we took the doors to a glass shop and had the glass in both doors replaced.  Then hubs got to work replicating the pattern and painting it on.

We had the glass shop save the unbroken glass and he painstakingly traced the pattern onto the new glass using painter’s tape which he then cut out using a razor.

The tape then got peeled off, carefully, after about 4 coats of the Annie Sloan in Primer Red on the glass.  A little more work to touch up…

Meanwhile, the rest of the painting was going smoothly, thank goodness!

Both interior and exterior took two coats of paint.  This is after only one on the inside.

I also recovered the cloth in the little silverware case built in at the top of the cabinet.  It was a kind of hideous blue velvet to begin with.

So I took it all apart, repainted the dividers, and recovered the base.

Painter’s drop cloth, of course.

Here it is all finished and beautiful…

The lovely shape and detailing on the curio made it perfect to catch all of that dark wax.  I waxed first with the clear and then used a mix of dark and clear to give it some texture.  It’s really easy to darken or lighten to your heart’s content if you use the clear first.

A little distressing on the edges…

The top is too pretty to even have to put anything on.  Good thing.  Vignettes aren’t my strong suit (yet!).

The recovered silverware cubby.

The painstakingly repainted doors.  I think they were worth it!

And there you have it!  Orange and blue and DIY disaster to vintage beauty!

Linking to Shades of Amber’s Chalk Party!

20 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in House, Projects

August 22, 2011

Sewing Desk

By Catherine

We were given some antiques by my husband’s parents a few weeks back for our housewarming gift from them.  A gorgeous smoking table (see here if you are wondering what the heck that is), a curio cabinet, and an old desk.

I had big plans for the desk.  Which included a little meeting with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get rid of the fake wood panelling paint job that someone had done on it.  Why?  Why would anyone do that?

You can see the top was pretty worn, too.  So my plan was to use my AS in Country Grey and then stain the top.

Here it is finished.  I took it all apart and sprayed the hardware and handles.

I love this paint.

Then I painted the whole thing with one coat (one!!!!!) of ASCP in Country Grey.  Waxed it in clear and then put a little of the dark wax on in places.  Sanded and stained the top and slide out extension, and that was it!

It gives it great texture.

But this desk isn’t all about looks.  It has many hidden surprises.

A drawer to file paper.  Or, in my case, probably felt or material.

I’ll probably use the pen drawer for fabric markers and sewing notions I use all the time.  My pins, tape measure, seam ripper.  Seam ripper…  gotta keep that handy!

On the left, the bank of drawers is actually a cupboard door front which opens to this.  A slide out extension.  You pull it out.

And the mechanism behind allows it to do this.

I think this was originally meant for your typewriter.

Now I know there are a lot of talented decorator/ bloggers out there who would have taken pictures of this desk styled to the hilt.  And it would have looked beautiful.  But this desk, for me, is becoming my sewing table.  It is going in a little craft room I have.  It is basically a big closet in our spare bedroom.

Lots of room for a desk.  And these awesome shelves.

Yes.  That’s a big roll of rawhide.  Doesn’t everyone have a stash of this?  And yes, my shelves need major organization.  That another post (or 2 or 3).

I love my little craft room.  It makes me happy.  And this desk is so much better than our old kitchen table, which is what I was using before.

So…. this is how I’m going to decorate my new/ antique sewing desk.  With my Grandma’s sewing machine that’s gone a million miles for me.

And with her mom’s, my great-grandma’s, white chair.

If anyone calls, I’ll be in my sewing room.  Messing around with the seam ripper…

20 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in House, Organization, Projects

August 15, 2011

Pottery Barn Inspired Charge Station

By Catherine

Like every other family, we are often overwhelmed at our house (well, I am anyway) by the tangle of cords and mess and components that we need to keep all of our toys charged.

Enter the Pottery Barn Daily System.  I have spent hours drooling over this collection of organizational gems.  Hours.  It’s probably unhealthy.

One of my favourites is the charging station.  What a great idea this thing was.

So I have been thinking for a long time about how to try and replicate it.  This is what I came up with.  I had a wine crate that I was going to use for towel storage (or something)- meaning I didn’t need the very cool insert.

Once I took the insert out of the crate, it really reminded me of the recharge station.

So I took the Dremel and made some little grooves in the back of the insert for cords.  I did this because I wanted it to sit flush against the wall and needed room for the cords to hang down.

Ok.  So that’s not me doing it.  But it was me telling him what to do.  And that was to put a couple of grooves on the top row, and three on the bottom (just to leave a lot of room for additional cords that we may want to put in there).

Once we had that done, I slid the pieces apart and sanded and painted.

Of course I used Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint.  Old White.  And then I reassembled and up onto the wall it went.

Yes.  We have walkie-talkies.  Two sets, actually.  And yes, those are rocks on the bottom.  Who says it all has to be electronic?

I sewed a piece of drop cloth with velcro on the back to gather up all the cords and also used drop cloth to make tags to label the cords.  We each have our own little spots.

Hanging on the laundry room wall by our back door, it has made keeping track of cords and components soooo much easier.  We have gone from this-

To this-

I love it!  So grab whatever you have handy in your house and make yourself a recharge station.  You will be glad you did.

Linking to:

Blue Cricket Design’s Show and Tell Wednesday

10 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in House, Organization, Projects, Uncategorized

July 27, 2011

Red Chalk Paint Pantry Door

By Catherine

I am notorious for forgetting things.  I have lists and scraps of paper and stickies on my computer screen.  I have notes on my iPhone.  I have numerous coil journals.

I still forget what I’m doing a lot of the time sometimes.  Who has time to do things twice?  Or more?

And, to top it all off, I. hate. running. errands.  My husband is the one who will, cheerfully, at any given moment, run uptown for whatever it is we need.  I pout if I have to go to the grocery store.  Even more for the bank, etc.  You get the idea.

So I knew when we moved into our house that I wanted a chalkboard in the kitchen to help keep track of things we needed.  We live in a small town and it is an hour from the nearest Costco, so we have to somehow keep track of things we need for the city trips, too.

Welcome to the pantry.  Before shot.

Pantry door- meet my friend, Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint.  In Primer Red.

First coat.  Yikes!

After the second coat.

It was still a little bit blotchy, so I did a third coat and took off the tape.  Seasoned it with a bit of chalk and added my cute ‘groceries’ sign and that’s it!  Lots of room to write things down (as they are emptied from the pantry) and for multiple lists going at once.  I love it!

To do this project, you just need:

-something to paint to become your chalkboard

-painter’s tape/ drop cloth

-chalk paint or chalkboard paint

-paint brush

I am linking up to Blue Cricket Design‘s Show and Tell Party and Boost My Blog Friday.

Tutorials and Tips Link Party at Home Stories A to Z.

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in House, Organization, Projects

July 21, 2011

Primer Red Dresser

By Catherine

As soon as I started reading about Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint online, I was excited.  I’ve painted many things in my life, and, a lot of the time, it is hard!  A lot of stripping, and sanding, and priming.  By the time you were finished with that, you didn’t feel like painting anymore.

So I love that with this paint you can just, well, paint!

The only issue was the price, but I came up with a solution for that.  I asked my husband and son to get me some chalk paint and wax for Mother’s Day.  I thought that if I could refinish a number of pieces of furniture with it, then it was money well spent- and I’m kind of a house nerd and just love doing little projects- a win-win situation, really.  And we had a lot of projects for the new house…  I chose Old White, Country Grey, and Primer Red along with the dark and clear wax and the brush.

I was so pumped when it arrived!

I was not, however, so pumped when this arrived.

My husband had made a trip to his parent’s house.  I believe it was to take them some of their stuff back as we had just moved and were, sort of, supposed to be, getting rid of stuff!

He came back with this.

I’m not sure that the pictures can do justice to how ugly this thing was.  ”Why, oh why, did you bring it here?” I kept asking him.  Our new house?  And this dresser?  No.

He kept talking about keeping it in the garage for storage and I kept picturing it on fire until I remembered my paint!  My wonderful paint.  To the rescue.  And we did need a dresser for our closet…

So, contrary to all of my painting instincts, I just started putting on paint.  No sanding.  No priming.  Scary.

After one coat, you could still see some of the crazy “pattern” that was on the original.

The second coat took care of it completely, though.  The paint requires that you work with it quickly.  There is not a lot of time to move it around.  The nice thing about that, though, is that you can start your second coat right away after the first!

I wanted a layered look, so then I went over the red with Old White.  You can see how the second coat of red really covered the old paint or stain or whatever that awful stuff was.  In retrospect I would not have put so much white on.  Took a lot of sanding to get to see the red through it.

Finally, I waxed.  In the picture above, you can see the difference that the dark wax makes to the colour.  Again, you have to work in small areas fairly quickly to get it moved around enough.

A little of the dark and then a little of the clear.  Buffed to a shine.  Here it is finished!

I love the primitive, rustic look that it gives the dresser.  No garage for you!  And now my husband can feel a little freer to bring home other crazy bad furniture.  With this paint you can pretty much fix anything.

I love how it lets you achieve the layered look.

List of supplies:

-something to paint!

-Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Primer Red, Old White

-Annie Sloan Soft Wax in Dark

-paint brushes and wax brush

-sandpaper

-cloth

I am linking to Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday, to Funky Junk Interior‘s Saturday Night Special, The Shabby Creek Cottage‘s Transformation Thursdays, Boost My Blog Friday, and Tatertots and Jello’s Weekend Wrap-Up Party.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in House, Projects

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