Chalk Paint Basics

Well I am FINALLY getting on here to write a post on my favorite paint product...Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!  You are going to cringe as soon as I tell you the price tag is $38 per 32 ounce can!  YIKES!  I can tell you that this product is worth every penny.  There is no sanding, priming or prepping (besides cleaning the surface) before painting with this "magic" paint.  I have painted wood, fake wood, metal and plastic with great success!  It goes a very long way, and saves you lots of time, frustration and energy.  It requires a coat of wax on top, but that can be purchased for under $10 and will last you FOREVER!  Here are some examples of how far one can of paint can go...

All these pieces were painted with one can of the "old white".  Dining room table, 5 chairs, buffet  chandelier, bathroom vanity, windowpane and several other little items!  The dining room table and buffet were craigslist treasures, and I LOVE how they turned out!

These pieces were painted with one can of "duck egg blue".  windowpane, piano, chest, bathroom vanity and an antique vanity (which I haven't finished yet!).   It's my favorite color - just a beautiful antique blue!

Here's what you need:

This is what the Chalk Paint looks like.  Go HERE to find a stockist near you.  I have used both the Annie Sloan soft wax and the Minwax finishing wax.  They are both great products, but I really love the minwax because it is under $10 and I have barely made a dent in the can.  It protects and gives your furniture a beautifully finished look.  

I usually paint one coat on the furniture and then paint a second coat that is thinned out with water next....to make the paint go further.  I like the distressed look so I don't want to waste too much of the paint on full coverage.  When the paint is dry, you can distress it using a light sanding block or a wet rag.  I usually use a sanding block on real wood, but if it is pressed I use a wet cloth.  After you distress the wood, I use a cloth to apply the wax to the wood.  It's easy and QUICK!  Everyone asks my secrets to refinishing furniture...but it's really just the paint that is amazing!

I am currently doing some office furniture for a friend in the color "florence".  Here is a before and (almost) after of one of the pieces.  It is a beautiful teal/turquoise and I think I'm going to have to buy some for myself!

I always go to Miss Mustard Seed for inspiration or help with techniques.  She has some great tutorial videos on waxing and painting with chalk paint!

My friend Emily has a great post on homemade chalk paint over at her blog Putting Down Roots.  You will be inspired by her beautiful Armoire makeover as well as many other things!

Hope this answers some of your questions....please let me know if you have any more!

Damask LOVE!

This weekend I got to use my new damask stencil.  We have been in our house for a year now and I  have been in a project "funk" since Christmas..it always seems so empty when you take the Christmas decor down!  With the high ceilings and textured walls, Landon and I have been dreading painting.  We decided it was time to get started making our home our own, and since Thursday we have painted our bathroom, bedroom accent wall, family room accent wall, an antique vanity and dining room wall.  Whew.  I am loving the changes and am excited to share how I did the damask print on the wall.

I have visited the stencil page numerous times, but just couldn't commit to the price of buying a stencil.  I saw a picture on facebook of one of my friends' sweet baby girl's nursery.  When he told me where he got the stencil from, I knew I could commit seeing the results from someone I knew!  I ordered it from Cutting Edge Stencils and it was here within a few days!  It is very high quality, durable, washable and best of all REUSABLE!  They also have some great instructional videos on the site to help you with your project!

 All you need is some painter's tape, a small foam roller and your choice of paint.  I went with a flat "antique" white from wal-mart - a whole gallon for only $10!  Can't beat that!  The stencil overlaps itself so once I got the first block level and painted, it was super simple to keep going from there.  2 1/2 hours later my wall was completed, and I was SO happy with it.  It is the first room you see when you walk in our house, and it changed the whole look of the dining room!  

The "Gabrielle" stencil was the one I chose!

"Flora" Damask - my other favorite - I decided to go with the "cheaper" one as I was already pushing it!  

***use coupon LMB10 for 10% off***

The Pergola Project

Our backyard before:

 Landon dug up all the brick and we sold it on craigslist.  :O)  Phil, Landon & Derek poured the concrete in that area, and we were ready to build!  

When I say "we" I meant "they".  The only part I had in the project was to pick out the design.  I looked up pergolas on google searching for the perfect one. I fell in love with the pergola pictured below (minus the shutters) and showed it to Phil (My father in law).  This one really caught my eye because of the curved arches. I wasn't sure if he would be up for building it, but he had the plans drawn the next day.  I'm pretty sure ours looks identical, and it also saved us at least $3,000.  

The men hard at work.  

I'm so excited to reveal our finished product!  I can't wait to string some lights and make this a fun party place!  We are already enjoying it  SO much!  A HUGE thank you to Landon's dad and my hardworking husband for putting a huge smile on my face every time I look into our backyard.

Dining Room Table (finally) Revealed!

After over two months...our table is finally complete! Landon is thankful to have his side of the garage to park his car in. We know it is not perfect...but it is perfect for us! We are proud to take something so ugly and make it "beautiful" for our formal dining room. I love it!

Dining Room Table REVEALED!

Here was the listing I saw on craigslist. I thought I was getting a great steal...and we did, it was in pretty bad shape and a LOT more work than I had anticipated.

Just working away...

Framed Mirror Project - LOVE

Old Cabinet Door painted white (.50!) + hooks for hanging purses in our laundry room

Secret to all my antiqued pieces - BEST PAINT EVER. No sanding or priming required. Expensive, but goes a VERY long way. GO HERE for info.

The girls bathroom finished!

Up Close

Our Bathroom (in progress)

Our Coffee/End Tables in Progress. The table to the left was what the entire table was painted in before. Landon stained the tops and I am painting and distressing the bottoms. I LOVE them already. I only paid $10 for BOTH pieces at a garage sale. They were UGLY but solid wood and have great potential.

It has been SO long since I have been able to write a blog post! We have been keeping ourselves pretty busy these days. While the girls are sleeping we work away on our little projects. Landon and I are enjoying fixing up old things to use for our little home! My sweet husband works out in the garage (in triple digit weather) late into the night sanding, sawing, gluing...you name it, he does it. This post is for my sweet friend AMANDA who has hinted around at starting a decorating blog. Sorry Manders...this will have to do. I'm SO not qualified to start my own blog. If you only saw how I throw the most random things together, you would completely understand. I will keep posting pictures of our projects for everyone to see though! I have had several questions about the mirror framing project. I will put some step-by-step directions up next week for y'all! Have a great weekend!

a crazy roller-coaster ride

Last wednesday I lost my wedding ring. We tried not to focus too much on finding it until after the girls' birthday was behind us. We have turned the house over several times since then with no luck. I love my ring...most of all the sentiment behind it, and hope it turns up in the move. Thank goodness for such a beautiful picture our photographer took at my bridal portraits so I can remember it.

We signed a contract on our house Tuesday night! Praise the LORD!

After much praying, searching, comparing and VERY late nights we signed a contract on the house we have had our eye on for months late Thursday night.

Last Friday my baby girls turned ONE! We had a great time celebrating!

Last week we were all holding on for "dear life"! This week we are still trying to take everything in that took place last week. The house that we are in a contract to buy is our dream house. We would love to live in it if God sees fit. We know if it is not HIS perfect will for us, He will take it away. This house has such a neat story that I will share with you all sometime. All the inspections have been completed and we are waiting for everything to fall into place! Please keep us in your prayers as we are scheduled to close on both houses July 8th!