Not Too Shabby & Re-Find Living: chalkpaint

How Much Does A Quart Cover?

1:52 PM

One of the biggest misconceptions we hear at the store is how expensive a quart of paint is..... And my response is always - when it comes to paint, you pay for pigment vs. water. Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan is highly pigmented paint. It covers beautifully!

Which means you'll get lots of coverage per quart of ChalkbPaint® vs. a quart of pretty much any other paint.

We recently finished up a bedroom set for our store in Auburn, Re-Find Living. I'm using the word set loosely because of course it's not a matchy-matchy set.

Rather 4 pieces we've painted Chalk Paint® Pure White, so they match now. This included a vintage full/queen headboard, rails, footboard, 2 night stands, and an antique dresser.

One of my Stockists friends who sells Chalk Paint® in Iowa, recently painted this 6-piece bedroom set with one quart of Graphite.

What have you painted with a quart?

anniesloan

Painting Furniture with Chalk Paint® - Wash Technique

1:00 PM

One of my favorite techniques to use on bare wood is a Wash, or Lime-Wash. This works by wetting the wood and then pushing the paint into the grain. This can be a quick and easy project with Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan.

This technique starts with pre-wetting the wood. I like using a 2nd paint brush, dipping it into the water and then 'painting' the wood with water.

Then taking a second paint brush, I paint a section of the wet wood with Chalk Paint® decorative paint. A small amount goes really far. When you're no longer able to spread the paint, grab a towel and start wiping off.

After finishing the whole surface, step back and look at the whole piece. If there are spots with more paint than you like, brush on some water, spreading the paint thinner, then wipe off with a towel.

Conversely, if there's a spot with less paint then you like, dip your brush in a little water, a little paint, and re-paint that area, spreading the paint around. Then dry with a towel.

This is a fast project and usually by the time I'm done with 'washing' on the paint it's ready to be waxed.

Remember - You're washing the color into the grain. You aren't painting the piece. You want the grain to show through.

This oak cabinet door was washed with Chalk Paint® Graphite and finished with dark wax.

This barn wood bar was washed with Chalk Paint® French Linen, finished with clear wax.

It's a great way to get just enough color, but not too much, in a room with lots of colors.

Any of our amazing Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan colors work perfectly as a wash, but my favorites are Emperor's Silk, Duck Egg, Paris Grey, French Linen, Old White, or Graphite.

Hope you're inspired.

anniesloan

Decoupage With Chalk Paint®

11:05 AM

Most of you know how amazing Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan is for painting furniture, but have you tried to decoupage with it?

When we recently hosted a stop on the Auburn Art Walk at our Re-Find Living store (in Auburn), we decided to make it 'hands on'.

Providing each participant with a small art canvas, a decorative napkin, glitter, and a choice of any Chalk Paint® color, we set them free to create their own piece of art.

It turned out amazing!

We ended up with about 14 participants. 3 of whom did the same images, yet they turned out so differently!

Love it!

If you're interested in using Chalk Paint® in a new way, call the stores and sign up for one of our Make-N-Take Workshops.

anniesloan

4 days, 6 People, 31 Doors, and so much more. Part 2, All Done!

11:40 AM

Here's the second part to yesterdays painted cabinet post.

Quick Recap - The cabinets are about 40 years old and solid wood. The finish however had worn off in some spots, become gummy, and cracked. Making them perfect candidates to Chalk Paint® with Annie's amazing paint. We first cleaned all of the cabinets with a vinegar & water mix, followed by Dawn dish soap & water, then a rinse.

After playing with color we selected Coco to compliment the pink tile countertops.

Here's some before pictures. Over the stove,

By the sink,

The peninsula in the dining room

And the built in hutch,

Just nice normal solid wood cabinets, whose only fault lies in that they're showing age.

What a difference after painting!

And the built-in is beautiful now

And here's all of our supply list.

We ended up using a quart of graphite to base coat the hallway & bathroom cabinets. 1-1/4 at of Old White to paint both bathroom vanities, 4-1/2 quarts of Coco to cover all of the cabinets, and built-in hutch, 1-1/8 tub of clear wax, 8 fine grit sanding blocks, 20 rags, 2 rolls of paper towels, 2 pieces of 0000 steel wool, and a touch of shellac on the built-in hutch (next weeks post).

We also did this whole project during the wet & rainy time between Christmas & New Years.

Huge thanks to our great team of painters, cleaners, haulers, and finishers - Cass, Tori, April, Kim, Pam, and me.

Ready to paint your cabinets?

anniesloan

4 days, 6 people, 31 doors & so much more. Part 1

10:06 AM

So excited to share this great project! It's photo heavy so I broke it into 2 posts.

We inherited a rental that hadn't had anything done to any of the cabinets throughout the house in......well forever. So we grabbed our Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan color pallet and worked through the samples to get the perfect color.

The constraints were the very pinky mauve tile countertops that we just can't afford to replace & dated florescent lighting. However, we were going to take out the carpet and flooring and selected the new new carpet & 'hardwood' tiles first.

We started with Old White - too yellow

Paris Grey - made the countertops look very pink

French Linen - too green

Cream, Duck Egg, Versailles, Aubusson Blue, and Graphite....all didn't look perfect.

Then we tried Coco and it was perfect! It cleaned up the cabinets, and actually made the pink tile countertops look less 'pink!'

After picking the color, we got started cleaning. These cabinets are about 40 years old & the finish was gummy in some spots, and flaking in others. Pam cleaned first round with a vinegar & water mix, followed by a Dawn soap & water mix.

There were also some minor repairs needed on a few drawers and a couple of doors. Some wood glue, clamps & 24 hours later some light sanding took care of the issues.

Then we got started painting. Both bathroom vanities were painted with 2 -1/2 coats of Chalk Paint® Old White. It covered beautifully!

Here's the hallway cabinets & a built in bookshelf.

And after painting 2 coats of Chalk Paint® Coco, 2 applications of Clear Wax, they are stunning!

More to come.

anniesloan

Antibes Green Inspiration

10:08 PM

I love Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan, and one of my favorite colors is Antibes Green. It's a beautiful bright green with clear wax, and deepens to a rich green with dark wax.

Annie wrote "Antibes is one of the towns between Nice and Cannes in the French Riviera . Now there are billionaires yachts moored in the harbour but it still retains a certain magic and when I visited there a few years ago I cried when I had to leave. .... The light is incredible...... colours do seem to glow and shimmer ......No wonder Antibes was favoured by so many really famous artists in the late 19th & early 20th century. Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Bonnard, Derain, and many others worked and lived there. This is what made me want to call my brilliant green Antibes."

From Coastal Living February 2015.

Beautiful side table painted Antibes Green with dark wax.

This picture is from Annie's book, but we've duplicated this look several times on farm tables at the store. It's always a winning combination with the Antibes Green on the legs and a beautiful waxed finish top.

(Pinterist) - Wonderful spring room, grounded by the dark coffee table and frames.

(Pinterist) - another great pop of color against the white.

(Pinterist)

I love the chippy finish on this piece with just a few accents in green.

(Pinterist) - the dark wax on this green gives it a great patina and it's a a wonderful pop against the white of the kitchen.

Have you tried Antibes Green yet!

chalkpaint

Re-Find Living - Bathroom Vanity

10:20 AM

We're still settling in, 95% done with the store, still working the back room and bathroom areas. But I'd love to share our new bathroom vanity.

We started with a beautiful antique 3-drawer dresser.

Here it is in all its peeling veneer glory! The top had 1/2 of its veneer peeled off already. This is a perfect Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan project.

We started with painting the vanity Chalk Paint® in Coco. This is a great warm velvety color.

Then we painted the body of the dresser in Florence. A great turquoise color that will brighten up the room.

Remember those drawers with peeling veneers?

Rather than repairing them which would include glue, sanding, and putty, I decided to just let them be part of the history of the piece.

I then used a fun Royal Design Studio stencil with gilding wax.

Here it is almost done.

It wasn't quite as deep as we needed for our LARGE sink, so a larger top piece was cut, placing the faucet behind the vanity. A little unorthodox as the contractor said, but pretty clever.

I'll post more pictures in 2-weeks when the whole bathroom is done. I have lots of clever ideas!

Hope you're inspired.

chalkpaint

We're back!

12:28 PM

Yes!

Finally back into our original spot with our beautiful porch, new floor, new walls,many new paint everywhere.

I decided to take advantage of the rebuild by making some fundamental changes to how the store was laid out & how we store/display items.

Th construction team was still finishing up but we needed every moment we could get to reset the store and open. We started Sunday with David dropping off with these great mercantile cabinets that He spent the last week building.

I picked Chalk Paint® Graphite as the base coat and then French Linen/Old White blend for the top coat.

And then everyone pitched in and painted, and painted, and well painted.

Did I mention I had David build 5?

After they were painted & assembled we burnished all the shelves & clear waxed the outside. I also mixed up a beautiful brown using Graphite and Barcelona Orange for the main display shelf.

The Darla center shelf makes a great 'anchor' for the displays.

By the end the kids had nick-named them 'Monsters'.

But wow, are they awesome'. Worked out exactly the way I wanted.

Holding lots of items, but not hiding anything...

I'm starting to be happy.

anniesloan

Henredon Dining set - Chalk Paint® on Upholstery

8:00 AM

Before painting the chairs, I examined the upholstry and decided that despite staining, it was in great shape. Making it perfect for painting with our amazing Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan.

After cleaning the upholstery with soapy water, I masked off the chair back, to protect the freshly painted wood.

I then sprayed each cushion with plain water. Enough to wet, but not soak the upholstery. Using a wet Annie Sloan paint brush, I brushed on a thin coat of Chalk Paint® Coco. The goal being to keep the fabric as close to the original texture by 'dying' the fabric, not really 'painting' the fabric.

It took 7 very thin watery coats to achieve the depth of color I wanted. I dampened the upholstery with the sprayer before painting each coat.

After letting the fabric dry for a couple of days, I clear waxed the upholstery.

The chairs turned out great. The upholstery has a nice smooth finish that will be easy to maintain and clean for several years. This was a less costly solution than re-upholstering the seats bottom and back.

Note - These chairs were perfect for this project because the upholstery was in such good shape with no rips, tears, or worn marks. Also, because of the upholstered back, which would be pretty costly to re-upholster, I chose to 'dye' the fabric with Chalk Paint®.

Remember water is your friend.

Inspired?

Older
Stories

How Much Does A Quart Cover?

Painting Furniture with Chalk Paint® - Wash Technique

Decoupage With Chalk Paint®

4 days, 6 People, 31 Doors, and so much more. Part 2, All Done!

4 days, 6 people, 31 doors & so much more. Part 1

Antibes Green Inspiration

Re-Find Living - Bathroom Vanity

We're back!

Henredon Dining set - Chalk Paint® on Upholstery

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