Painting a Dresser

Here's another example of painting a vintage dresser using the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint process.  This is a beautiful dresser that I was hired to paint ASCP Old White.  This dresser has lots of character with the beautiful grooving on the front and the knots, divots, and marks over all.  Again, there are lots of ways to paint, this is a specific example to 'guide' you on your own project.

1. Clean your item. I always start with cleaning the item.  The point of this exercise isn't just to clean the piece, but to get to know the piece, to identify any imperfections your eye may have ignored, but the cloth (and your hand) won't ignore. This is the point where you have to decide to repair/patch or not. Remember, any perceived imperfection will only be highlighted after painting. So, if you need it to be perfect, sanded, patched, whatever, now is the time to do this.

2. Start at the bottom. You always start painting at the base of the item, the feet, legs, or just bottom edge. Another reason you always start at the bottom because once you paint the top, you don't want it to touch the ground. The top of the piece is the most important part so you want to paint it and protect it.

-After cleaning it, I lifted it on one side and painted the legs, then I started painting the side.  As you can see, there is no primer used.

3.  Clear Wax.  After the dresser has been completely painted with 1 coat of ASCP Old White, I waited for it to dry (about an hour).  I then applied a light coat of clear wax on everything I had painted using the flat head wax brush.

5.  Dark Wax.  This is where I think the true creativity of the ASCP lies, in the application of the dark wax.  Immediately after applying the clear wax, I started applying the dark wax.  I concentrated on the grooves, divots, and marks so the dark wax really got into those spots.  It looks a little dark right now, but after buffing, it will really come alive.

6.  Buff. After the wax has dried about 24 hours, I buff.  I start with this great green kitchen scrub pad.  I find it really gets the dark wax smoothed out without removing it from the deep grooves.  After buffing the entire dresser with my scrub pad, I then do a final buff with a buffing pad, or old clean t-shirt scrap.

- The dresser turned out fantastically all it needs is the crystal knobs and is ready for my customer to pick it up!  I hope they love it like I do.

Fun with Colors!

With our anniversary celebration I found myself looking at pictures from the store from when we first opened in 2005.  It was funny to see all the 'white' furniture, taupe walls, and hardly any displays going up the walls!  Now, I look around the store and I'm surrounded by fantastic colors, walls covered with mirrors & chalkboards, and furniture brimming with accessories.  How far we have come! 

Great dresser Andra painted blue with gold accents.

Great kitchy orange suitcases - Love it!

Beautiful dining table, painted Annie Sloan Arles (golden yellow).

Vintage library table painted red.

And my favorite piece, this wonderful table painted Annie Sloan Chateau Grey and all kinds of fun wax treatments.

I'm loving all the colors and the LIFE they have brought to the store.  Don't get me wrong all white is fine for a time, but like I tell everyone, surround yourself with pieces you love and it will all come together.  Glad I follow my own advice!

Junk-O-Rama

Junk - old iron, glass, paper, or other waste that may be used again in some form (2): secondhand, worn, or discarded articles (3): can lead to clutter

It's that time of year again, when my garage is brimming with 'projects' and I need to clear space to start planning out next year.  So we are once again passing on our great stuff to you with our 3rd annual Junk-O-Rama! 

Saturday, October 22, 10-5

We are cleaning out our garages, storage units, yards, and of course the store, to find all those things that we thought could be amazing at one time but we have since not found the time to make them truly amazing.  This years treasures will include:

• Picture frames
• Suitcases
• Bed springs
• Crates
• Ladders
• Camp Stools
• Windows
• Captain Chairs

Plus I'll be putting many items in the store on sale.  Hope to see you and your ideas!

Bobbi

6 Year Anniversary Celebration!

We had so much fun at the party last Saturday, wanted to capture some of the moments:

We had fantastic food - prepared by Kim & Sam, not to forget the delicious caramel apples from Snooks Candies.

The music provided by Thomas & Plecker was perfect!  Hard to believe these guys are only 17 & 18 with their soulful sound we had people dancing all along the street.

Loved all the cafe lights outside - expertly put up by Robert of Big Daddy's Handy Guy Service.  Robert was also the expert bartender serving up our Bellini's.

Wonderful Annie Sloan Chalk Paint give-a-ways provided by our stockist Tami. 

Not to forget our great food servers - Beth, Wendy, Sam, Cass, Tori, and Nicholas.

Then there was all the pre-work on changing up every display in the store, pulling out Christmas, putting up 2 huge trees, and trying to create new displays - Andra, Sam, Kim, Regina, Karla, and Pam.

Thanks to everyone for all of their help, ideas, and time!  Thanks to all of my dedicated customers for all of your support.  I hope all of you had as much fun as I did Saturday, I can't wait for next year!  
Bobbi

Annie Sloan Chalk Painting Basics

Thanks to all of you for coming into the store and just loving the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!  Based on all of your questions, I came up with some specific steps when painting with the amazing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I apologize if it feels like I am repeating Painting Basics, that was more generic for any type of paint, and this one is specific to my experience with the ASCP.

1. Clean your piece.  I know that the ASCP doesn't require you to clean your piece, but good painting protocol requires it (already detailed in Painting Basics 101).  I use soap & water, non-tsp cleaner, degreaser, pretty much whatever I have around.
2. Paint.  I typically use a 2 1/2" synthetic bristle angled brush.  This brush works well for me, but you can use any type of paint brush.  I would not recommend the sponge brush only because it sucks up so much of the paint, I find I am too frugal to waste it in the sponge.
3. Dry.  Typically the ASCP dries in an hour.  I spend the drying time doing other stuff in the garage or house (never seem to catch up on laundry).  After it is completely dry, I look it over and decide if I need any additional paint.  Usually I only need to touch up a few spots, works out to a total of 1 1/2 coats. 
4. Distress.  At this point I take a clean wet nubby washcloth and 'wash' off where I want the old finish/wood to show through.  If, it has been longer than a couple of hours since it dried, I recommend fine sandpaper like #220.  If you feel like you took off too much paint, it is so easy to just touch it up again with the ASCP.
5. Wax.  After the piece has been painted, dried, and distressed, I then apply a thin coat of the ASCP clear wax.  I love the flat head wax brush for this application as it doesn't suck up a lot of the wax.  If, you are doing your first piece, or don't plan on painting a lot, then go ahead and use a clean, dry, lint-free cloth (old t-shirts work great) to apply the wax.  I wouldn't use the cloth application method more than once since it tends to absorb a lot more wax than needed.  After applying a coat of the clear wax, I then take a clean, dry, lint-free cloth and wipe the piece of furniture down, removing all excess wax. 
6. Dark Wax.  Now I apply the ASCP dark wax.  I use the flat head wax brush to apply a thin coat over the entire piece.  After applying the dark wax, I then take a clean, dry, lint-free cloth and wipe off all the excess.
7. Buff.  After the wax has dried for an hour, I start to buff the piece.  I usually use another clean, dry, lint-free piece of cloth rubbing all along the edges, then working my way across the body of the piece in circles.  It takes me about an hour to hand buff a 4-drawer dresser.  I then leave the piece alone for about a day for the wax to harden more.
8. Buff Again.  After the piece has sat for a day, I then buff it all over again with a clean, dry, lint-free cloth, concentration on the top and front surfaces.  This final buff really brings out the shine of the wax and gets rid of that 'waxy' feeling.
9. Finish.  At this point I double check the piece with my bare hands, making sure I've smoothed out the wax all over.  I attach any hardware needed and load it into my car for the store.

I have been painting furniture for over 20 years, and selling furniture in the store since 2005.  With all this experience I have confidence to try different techniques, distress more, or tackle more difficult pieces.  As you start to paint, you'll gain confidence in your results and find the method that works the best for you where this 'basic' list is just a starting point. 

I hope this helps.  Enjoy!