DIY: Chalk Paint

There's been so much talk about chalk paint and how wonderful it is. I have yet to try it, but I'm about to.  First of all, seems like Annie Sloan paints and waxes are everyone's favorite, but they are from the UK and after shipping, we are looking at a very very pretty penny for a quart of paint.  Then I saw a lot of people are just making it themselves, this fits my budget and mindset perfectly!

I've heard chalk paint (like milk paint) has a really great finish.  It's great for ditressing, you can coat it on anything without a primer, yes - even over smooth glossy surfaces! It dries really fast, and is totally safe.  Cleans up with water, requires less coats, and most important - gives everything a really nice hand painted, artistic appearance.  I love the dull finish too, which can compliment a lot of bright colors really well. I really like that right now, bold bright colors that have a soft matte finish. I think it looks great without being the brightest thing in the room.

Here's the recipe that I am going to try, because I love plaster of paris & I have some more projects I need it for, so hey - a two in one purchase, right?  This recipe comes from this refinishing furniture site.  It couldn't be more simple:

"Simply combine the latex paint and the plaster until you are satisfied with its color. If the solution gets too thick, simply add some water."

That's it! Here I was thinking this was going to be a difficult procedure. Ha! There are a lot of recipes too, some use grout, some use glue and actual chalk. I'll be taking the easy route, but be sure to check out the recipes on their site.  For reference, here's another blog that made some of their own chalk paint and put it to the test: Shabby to Chic Designs.

Let's just get to the pictures, that's what we all want anyway (ha!):

 See that distressing?  It's very natural. The paint also has a very soft look, I love it. Photo courtesy of Shizzle Design.

Remember I said that it sticks to glossy surfaces? What's glossier than pumpkins and fruit.. i've lost many a sharpie to the glossy exterior of a pumpkin while carving at Halloween.  Photo thanks: Perfectly Imperfect.

I LOVE that red console table there. Came out really nice. If you have any tips or tricks regarding chalk paint I'd LOVE to hear them, as I'm about to embark on a whole new journey here. I'll post along the way! Have a great weekend!

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Jade Standing Mirror

Joel had brought me a standing mirror that his friend was getting rid of, and I am kicking myself now for not taking a before picture! How can I describe it... it was in pieces, missing hardware, and it looked like someone fell asleep while they were priming it.  All in all though, it was a solid wood mirror in great shape, with plenty of potential.  I mulled over it for a while, and finally came to terms with the fact that I have, and will, always love the color teal and all it's siblings in the turquoise department.  So, thinking back to this chandelier project, I wanted to re-use that wonderful Jade color paint! It was hard to find, but amazon brought it home to me.  Here's the best picture I could scrounge up for a "before" of the mirror:

However, the paint was not in such nice condition! So in I started on the jade, and after seeing that all the wonderful wood grains were showing through the paint, I went with a black glaze.  I wanted to utilize the back of the mirror too, which was just wood.  So I made it into a magnetic chalkboard. Here are the pictures, I hope you like it! It's for sale in my etsy shop. 

 I painted the hardware black and distressed it a bit, to match the rest of the mirror.

The holes for the hardware were completely open, so some wooden plug in black make a nice accent. So there you have it, the Jade Standing Mirror. I'm so happy about the magnetic paint! I hadn't used it before and it has really surprised me. I tested it out and it works great!

Have a wonderful weekend.

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Chalkboard & Driftwood

Yesterday I had shown all the great stuff we got recently, and I mentioned I was starting work on the interesting pig and cat ceramic figurine (here). Well, I finished them:

Here are some close ups, and they are for sale here.

Yep! Chalkboard paint. I've never used this stuff but I really really like it. It was fun, I plan on putting a tutorial up soon. Aside from the chalkboard adventures, Ross and I have slowly been working on a garden art project made of driftwood.  The idea is to have a stack of driftwood, like a tower, and just be a crazy shape. It will make itself. So first we gathered some wood & rebar, and started drilling a 3/4" hole in any random spot on the wood. Sometimes I did them off center so it would sit uneven, I like that.

Then we planted the 2 rebar posts, and started stacking!

So far so good! For the top I am just going to drill halfway into a chunky one and let it be a cap. I'll probably have to be clever in choosing wood towards the end, for a perfect fit. For now it's anything goes. One is three feet, the other is 4.  I'll update as we go!

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