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!

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 - 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! 


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

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

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!

I've only been painting with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paints for the last 2 months, about 45 pieces of furniture. 

Lets start with - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this paint.  Previously my favorite paint waived between Ralph Lauren and Kelly Moore paints.  The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint has an even more wonderful smooth texture and depth of color.  It paints smoothly with a brush, paint pad, sponge brush, and roller. 

10 Facts regarding the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint:
1)  Smooth depth of color
2)  No primer is required, in most cases
3)  No sanding required for the paint to stick
4)  Dries in an hour, in most cases
5)  Paint is very forgiving, and touch ups can be added without re-painting an entire coat.
6)  Paint has a type of 'symbiotic' relationship with the wax. You don't have to use the wax but it 'seals' the finish and creates the great patina.
7)  For a different finish, the paint can be mixed with the wax creating a type of creamy finish.
8)  If you use the clear wax before the dark wax, and decide you have applied too much dark wax, you can remove the excess dark wax with a re-application of clear wax.
9)  If you accidentally leave the lid off the can, adding water to the paint will return it's great consistency.
10)  The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint wax also works great on other paint surfaces

Here are a few exceptions:
It is true that it dries within an hour - in most cases.  I have found that painting over antique finishes, wood finishes, and bare wood dries the fastest, smoothest, and truest to color.  So far, the exception to this has been old laminate finish & gold foil picture frames. 

Laminate finish - this exception is particular to pieces that are circa 50's and older.  It took about 3 hours for the first coat to dry, and when I started to touch up spots that showed through, it pulled off the first coat.  So I stepped back and let the piece dry thoroughly, painting the 2nd coat the next day. 

Gold Foil Frame - I wanted to paint this frame with the ASCP Paris Grey.  The paint went on smooth and started drying normally.  When I came back to the frame about 2 hours later, it had cracked up and away from the frame.  At first I thought it was due to it being a hot day, so I sanded it down and painted it again.  This time it was a cooler afternoon & I had the fan running.  The paint appeared to be fine, until an hour later and it was again cracked up and away from the frame.  I then sanded it down again, sprayed grey primer, and painted it with the ASCP Paris Grey.  This time it dried perfectly!

Primering - It is true that in most cases primering isn't required for the paint to stick.  However, I have found that the same paint rules apply for painting over white with a dark, or painting over a dark paint finish with a white.
I had a white cabinet that I wanted to paint ASCP Emperor's Silk (red).  Yes the paint went over the old paint perfectly, smoothly, and cleanly.  It dried pink.  Of course it did, any brand of red paint (except spray paint), painted directly over white would not be able to block the white and be a true red.  After 3 coats of red, applied over the original white, I still had a streaky pink/red finish. 
To fix this, I sanded down to a smooth base, primered grey, then painted with 1 coat of the ASCP red.  It turned out a beautiful red - exactly as desired.

In another situation, I wanted to paint a black cabinet ASCP Louis Blue.  I wanted to test out my primer theory, so I only painted one side panel directly with the ASCP Louis Blue.  Although the paint went on perfectly, it dried a greyer version of what I wanted.  I primered the rest of the cabinet white, then painted over with the ASCP Louis Blue - Perfect! 

I have so many of you coming in and just loving the ASCPs that I wanted to make sure I got out some painting basics that you could refer to before starting your project.  These are painting basics for any type of painting.

There are lots of ways to paint, and you may discover your own inner creativity and adjust the process. These 'hints' are for those of you who are just starting out painting and just want some confidence you are proceeding along in the right direction.


1.  Clean your 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. 
- This pretty gateleg table was already stripped when I bought it, so I thought it would be the perfect candidate for a farmhouse table top effect with the ASCP.


2.  Start at the bottom.  You always start painting at the base of the item, the feet, legs, or just bottom edge.  Sometimes, I lay the piece down, sometimes, I place it on top of table so that it is at a better height for me to paint.  If it is a chair, I flip it upside down and start under.  You would be surprised at how many times I have wanted to buy a chair and then when look closer, the underside of all the rods is unpainted, or even the turned legs aren't painted all the way around.  It is always harder to 'fix' these errors, rather than just doing it right from the beginning.
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 flipped it over to start painting the legs first.  That's when I found one of the 'joiner' pieces for the legs was cracked.  I then replaced the dowel, glued, and clamped.  This is an unusual break, and not noticeable until I had flipped the table over.



3.  Do Not Paint out of the can!  Pour a small amount of paint into another small clean bucket/container to use on your project.  This prevents you from 'contaminating' the can of paint with dirt or other items you may pick up with your brush, accidentally spilling the whole can, and other nefarious things - trust me.
- I applied ASCP Paris Grey, ASCP Old White, clear wax, dark wax. Let it dry, then buffed and applied a second coat of the dark wax.


4.   Finish the job!  This sounds so basic but so many people start the paint job and then as they progress, they get nervous and stop.  This is the worst thing you can do.  There are many moments during a project where it doesn't quite look like what I envisioned.  But, forcing myself to finish the job, I get it back on track, or am pleasantly surprised by the finished product. 
- Final buffing and the table is fantastic, very stable, and ready for the Mes Ami sale in Roseville on Saturday.



Let your creativity speak and have fun!

Thought I would give you a sneak peak at what I have been working so hard on for the Roseville Mes Amis Antique Show.
Just finished this antique upholstered chair - Love it! $110
Can't figure out how to change the orientation - sorry.

This great french style dresser also has a hutch.
I think this will be priced at $250
This is a wonderful gate leg table, ASCP Emperor's Silk on the legs and the farmhouse top.  Seats 2-4.  $210
Love this drop sides table, painted ASCP Greek blue with the farmhouse top.  It is really stunning!  $280

Finished up this wonderful drop leaf table in the ASCP Paris Grey.  This table also has 2 leaves so it seats 8.

Re-upholstered these beautiful french chairs, $45 each

Painted & re-upholstered these chairs (thanks Heather!)

Chalkboards, Big Chalkboards, Small Chalkboards, Magnetic Chalkboards, And so much more!  Hope to see you out there on Saturday 8-4.