Not Too Shabby & Re-Find Living: refindliving

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

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!

christmasdecorations

Christmas Tree Details

4:33 PM

This was our woodland theme tree at Re-Find Living.

It's really only a 6 foot tree, we placed on top of a very sturdy coffee table.

Making a bigger statement.

We started with burlap pointsettia picks, and then filled in with wonderful ornaments, including one of my favorites, this jeweled glass one. I also love the accordion paper ornament shown, it's filled with glitter and weighs nothing so it can be tucked into most any space, hung from garland, or placed in a bowl.

These are great lightweight ornaments also, completely covered in glitter. I love that they're an unusual color that makes them pop on our nature tree. They'd also be wonderful on a coastal themed tree mixed with blues, greens, and silver.

These jeweled clip birds added nice bling at the ends of the branches, after the tree has been decorated.

These beautiful glass cones have some fake snow inside, complimenting the hand painted pine cones.

We also had this same design in a candy cane shape.

I know it's after Christmas, but during Christmas it's just way too crazy and finding time to blog is nearly impossible.

I hope you saw the tree in person during its prime.

christmasdecorations

Christmas Trees at Re-Find Living

10:11 PM

Here's more pictures of our Christmas trees, this is a skinny 12-foot.

We discovered the ceiling is 12-foot, at the back of the store,

And only 11-3/4 feet at the front.

Wasn't so funny.

But it all turned out.

It's decorated with ornaments in traditional colors.

This is a 6 foot tree, we placed on a table.

It's filled with felt and soft ornaments.

Super cute Swedish reindeer,

Soft snowmen,

And fluffy birds.

This is a nice fat 9-foot tree we placed on a very solid coffee table.

It's a lovely tree, decorated with a woodland theme.

We've filled it with jeweled owls, burlap flowers, glass pine cones, and so many other beautiful pieces.

It really turned out beautifully.

These are pictures of the trees about a week after they were first decorated.

Now, a month later they are looking pretty empty.

Better head in quickly.

christmasstockings

Christmas Fun

10:53 PM

Finally wrapped up all the store To Do's on my list for this Holiday Season.

I'm taking a few minutes to share some of this year's great Holiday decorations.

Let's start with great stocking choices!

Some even have chalkboard tags.

At Re-Find Living we even have some chalkboard stocking holders.

We have lots of wonderful unique items to help you fill the stockings. Or, if you're struggling with finding the 'perfect' item, then get a Gift Certificate & let them pick out their own perfect item!

Thanks