One Can of Chalk Paint Equals...

I thought I'd better show you what one awesome can of Annie Sloan Chalk paint can do.  I just finished three pieces of furniture and I still have about an inch of paint left for a smaller project! Even though the $37 price tag may seem shocking at first, the fact that you don't have to paint a primer coat and it's thickness makes it really stretch how much it can cover!

First up is a gorgeous buffet that was from Marshall Field's here in Chicago probably 60 years ago. While solid, it's finish was pretty beat up and that lovely orangey finish. The best part was the price- $20! Yippeee. I sanded off the top with a course of sanders (belt to orbital to mouse.)  Then I purposefully beat up the top with the edge of the belt sander, a hammer, some nails and such.  I wanted a worn, reclaimed wood look. I've discovered that it's pretty important to use pre-stain wood conditioner to get an even finish (see the difference a poor sanding job and no pre-stain affects the finish on the last item in this post!)  I stained it with 2 coats of "Jacobean" Minwax stain.  I also did two coats of polycrylic in satin finish.

For the base of the buffet, I used the "Old White" Chalk paint bought online from Shades of Amber.  I applied two coats straight onto the cabinet (no sanding, no priming!)  I then applied one light coat of clear wax and let it dry about half an hour.  Then I used my mouse sander to rough up the edges and high points.  Then I applied a second coat of wax and when dry, buffed it up to a nice sheen.

I absolutely loved the hardware it came with, so I just freshened it up with some "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

The whole family forbids me from selling this one, so this is a keeper (we keep our favorite games in here, along with some of my fabric.)

The next piece was a fun oval table I found at a garage sale. It also had the orangey finish and made the whole piece seem very heavy.  I did basically the same process (minus the roughing up the top part) as the buffet.

 The table even came with a piece of glass already cut to the shape of the top!  All that hard work will be protected.  I did change out the handles of the drawer to something more current.

 The whole piece seems lighter, the details of the curvy base are shown off better with a little edge-sanding and the handles dress it down a bit.  It's a really fun piece, but alas, I'm selling it.

The last piece was a very nice, solid wood table I found that needed a bit of love.  Unlike the other two pieces, this was that black, 70's finish. Yuck! I did the same treatment as the others (I do all three at once and assembly-line work on them.  It really saves on the prep and clean-up of brushes.)  On this table, though, I felt the top needed something to make it special and break up that expanse.  I found a graphic of a compass rose online that I liked, blew it up to the right size and traced the design using carbon paper.  I used my handy, dandy paint pen and a ruler and transferred the design to the table.  I let it dry thoroughly and then sprayed it with spray polycrylic before I brushed on two coats of polycrylic.  I love it!  It's a fun addition that's subtle enough to keep it from feeling "too decorated."  Hopefully a nautical-loving person or someone who just wants something unique will buy it soon.

See what one can of chalk paint can do?  Impressive.  The finish is just so fun.

While I had the stain out, I also restained this little shelf I had, that was just waiting around to be refinished.  I thought it'd make a great little shoe shelf for an entryway.  It even had a beautiful inlay across the front that I didn't want covered up by paint. 

Not my best sanding job, but it's still cute. With the arrival of fall I'm madly finishing up all the projects in my garage so we can get our cars back in before the cold hits.  I'm almost done with a gorgeous china cabinet in a lovely blue chalk paint.  I'll be posting about that one soon!!

This week I'm Linking up to:

Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

Furniture Feature Friday

Frugal Friday

Frugalicious Friday

Numbered Rustic Dresser

Here was another fun, yet easy project.  I found this dresser for free, sitting with someone's trash.  I quickly examined it and the whole thing was sound and the drawers even had dove-tail joints.  Yippeee!  I knew right away what I was going to do to it.  I'd seen lots of Anthropologie knock-offs around blogland and saw that the dresser's shape would be perfect for this style.

           Mine- Free + elbow grease                                              Anthropologie's- $900!

Once again, in my excitement I forgot the true before picture.  I had just applied the paint stripper when I remembered to take a photo.  So just imagine this ugly brown color plus about 5 large stickers:

Yup, not too pretty.  I used one coat of citri-solve paint stripper and then 3 rounds of hand sanders (from a belt sander to a hand orbital to a final of a mouse sander.)    Then I applied two coats of Minwax Early American stain.  I printed out the numbers I wanted to use and traced them onto the drawers with carbon paper again.  This time, I just used a black sharpie marker instead of a paint pen and it worked great.  I put a few coats of poly on.  For the finishing touch, I mod-podged some decorative paper in the drawers.  It was some fun vintage postcard paper I already had.  I love how it turned out!

Turned out cute, huh?  I think I've figured out that I really like these furniture makeovers.  They really don't take alot of work, but oh, the results!!!



Search Craigslist Faster!!!

I've been using this awesome way of searching craigslist for a while now and realized that I hadn't shared it on here.  If you use craigslist to find used items and hate how long it can take to weed through all the garbage listed on there, have I got a way to help!

It's a bookmarklet called Craigseasy.  What it does is let you search craigslist in just pictures.  Then you can quickly scan down the list and see what is good and find what you want SOOO much faster.  I used to spend 30 mins to an hour opening and closing listings looking for what I wanted.  Now the same search will only take me under 5 mins!

Here's what you do.  Go to Craigseasy. Follow the easy instructions to download the bookmarklet.

It takes less than a minute to do this.  You add craigseasy to your favorites up in your tool bar.  Then, go to craigslist like usual.  Put in your search parameters, like "couch", click "furniture by owner", and click the "has image" box (be sure to do this step!)  Then hit "search."  You'll see your usual search list in text.  Now, for the magic... Go up to "Favorites" and click on your new "craigseasy" button.  In a few seconds, up will come you search for "couches" but in pictures!

Now you can just scroll down the search results and see what's out there.  If something looks interesting and you want to read more details about it, just click on it's title and the listing details will come up.

I can't tell you how much time this has saved me and enabled me to get some great deals off craigslist by only spending a few minutes a day.  Go! Get this Bookmarklet now!

My First Chalk Paint Project

Have you ever been so excited about how a project is turning out that you show it off before it's even all the way done?  No?  Well, I am going to.  I have been DYING to try out the amazing chalk paint all summer.  My wonderful friend, Amber, of Shades of Amber (click on this link to order), has recently become Colorado's only stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  She was kind enough to send me a quart for me to try.

 I heard all the rave reviews about this last winter and have been wanting to try it ever since.  It may seem a bit expensive at $36.95 a quart- but believe me, it's worth it.  It's a beautiful, thick, creamy texture and spreads beautifully.  The best part is that you don't have to prime, sand or strip down your furniture.  Yup, that's right, just spread the gorgeous paint right on. 

So, here's my guinea pig project. A nice, round coffee table I found cheap on craigslist.

 See that nice glossy, stained finish?  Well, it didn't last long with chalk paint.  In the past I would have had to sand it down a bunch, wipe it down, apply a couple of coats of primer and then get around to painting.  With chalk paint, it's all instant gratification (definitely my type of project.)  I used both a nice purdy-brand brush and a foam roller to apply three coats of paint.  You only need to wait about an hour between coats (see, it IS instant gratification at it's best!)

This is what she looked like with just one coat of "cream" chalk paint:

I was impressed at how thick the paint was, making very few drips or paint brush marks.  It dries very fast, though, so go light, rather than thick as you apply it.  After the three coats, I let it dry overnight.

When dry, you are left with a nice smooth, but matte surface. Here's where the fun begins.  Because of it's chalk nature, it sands away beautifully.  I sanded all the edges to give it a nice aged patina.

It does leave quite a mess of chalk dust when you sand, so do it outside (not inside, on carpet, like I did!)

  I knew right away what I wanted to do to make this table special.  Like the tables I did in my last post here, I found an old french label from The Graphics Fairy (an awesome copyright-free website of clipart) and blew it up at Kinkos.

So here is what it looks like so far.  I still need to use a couple coats of wax to seal in the paint and lettering.  The wax will harden and protect as well as give the piece a sheen (when I finish with the wax, I'll add a post script on with a picture.)

 I love how it looks now!  I'm still not sure it's the right scale for the room, but I'd sure have a hard time parting with it.  It was such a fun, quick project (probably a total of only 2 1/2 hours of work!)

So, are you sold on chalk paint yet?  Well look at all the amazing colors it comes in (and yes, you can layer or mix colors.)

Shades of Amber  (click on link to order) offers a beautiful color deck that you can buy so that you can see what you're getting before you mortgage the farm or cat or whatever to buy the paint!  Brilliant, huh?  What's even better is that they've covered one side in clear wax and the other side in the brown wax so you can really see how it changes/accentuates the color! Amber sent me a deck and it really is beautifully done.

I also recommend visiting Amber's blog to see projects done with chalk paint.  She even hosts a fun link party on Mondays so you can get further inspiration and ideas of what can be done with chalk paint. I'll be linking up my table on Monday, Amber!!!

I would also recommend visiting Miss Mustard Seed's blog posts about chalk paint and her video tutorials on wax if you're feeling a little nervous about trying this.

I still have 3/4 of a can left after painting this table, so I plan on painting a secretary desk that's in my daughter's room next!  I can't wait!!  So what are you going to try Chalk Paint on?

This week I'm linking to:

Furniture Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Addicts (not so) Anonymous party
Show and Tell Saturday
DIY Project Parade
Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

A Few Sanity Projects

Soooo, I've been planning a church girls camp since January and it all came to a close with the big event itself mid-July.  It's been really busy and a bit stressful to plan a week camp for 90+ girls and a bunch of adult staff.  That hasn't left me too much time to do all the decor projects I've wanted to around the house.  Still, to keep sane, I had to do a few quick projects (it's truly how I recharge.)  Now that camp is over and I'm home from a 2-week family trip, I'm finally able to share a few photos of those "sanity-saving" projects.

First, I found this cute trunk/coffee table at a garage sale.  I immediately saw potential.  I loved the unique elephant legs. I bought it for all of $15 because there was a fair amount of pen and marker scribbles on the top.  Well, no problem.  I pulled out my trusy palm sander and in about 5 minutes I had a nice clean surface. I applied two coats of Minwax Jacobean and a few coats of wipe-on poly. 

Isn't it cute?  Sadly, it was just to small for the scale of my room.  I listed it on craigslist and it sold quickly for a nice little profit.

For my next project, I found this cute little table sitting out with someone's trash on a neighboring town's large-item trash day.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but you're really not missing much.  Someone had mod podged a poorly-colored backgammon and scrabble boards on the top.  I first tried a little goo-gone, but that was taking too long.  So I pulled out the big guns and used our big belt sander.  It tore that paper right off and I took off all the existing finish. I intentionally used the front of the sander to gouge the wood to get a "hand-scraped" look. I then went over the whole top with my palm sander to smooth out the wood again. I put one coat of dark walnut stain on.
     I had seen this idea for using a free graphic label from graphicsfairy on the top.  I loved the idea and knew I could recreate it using my old carbon paper method I used back on my Subway signs here.  I found the label I wanted and took it to Kinko's to have it blown up to a large size, costing only about $3.

I taped on the enlargement and slid under carbon paper as I traced the whole thing.  That left me with faint lines to fill in using a black paint pen.  After it dried, I sanded it with sand paper and roughed it up.  I then applied another very light coat of stain and followed up with a few coats of poly.  And here it is:

I freshened up the bottom part with some Heirloom White Spray paint.  I love how it turned out and it sure helped with de-stressing me. I've realized that I really enjoy re-finishing furniture. I love taking something ugly or out-of-date and bringing it back to life!

I'll be back soon with some more projects that I've recently completed and am about to start my first furniture make-over with Chalk Paint (can I tell you how excited I am to try this?!)

Have fun!

DIY Kokeshi Dolls

Our Kokeshi Family

When we lived in Japan, my daughters and I collected Japanese Kokeshi (traditional wooded dolls) from used shops. We loved seeing the different sizes and odd shaped heads. We have a shelf just for them in our new basement bookshelves:

 I looked and looked for blank Kokeshi dolls and could never find any.  So, I decided to make my own!  I scoured the woodworking suppliers online and found so many different shapes.  I decided to make our family as Kokeshi dolls! 

After ordering the pieces, I had to connect the heads to the bodies.  I used wooden dowel pins.

  All you have to do is drill a hole slightly bigger than the pins in the head and the body, fill the holes with wood glue, and use the pin to join the two.  It was really easy and they are nice and sturdy.

The hardest part was painting the dolls to look like us.  This is where I totally cheated- I had my amazing sister-in-law do it!  I have no painting skills beyond painting a wall or furniture.  Remember these gorgeous Nesting dolls she helped me do for a Christmas gift:

I printed out some photos of our family for her, along with some pictures of Japanese Kimono designs for her to use as inspiration.  Aren't they amazing?

That's me!  I had a hard time finding large enough wood spheres for our heads so that's an apple for my head (on a small wood bowling pin shape) and my husband's head is an orange wood shape and his body was a wood lighthouse, with the top sawn off!  See, I had to get creative to get the different sizes for everyone.

For our twin's bodies I used wood jump rope handles!  Just look at the cute designs on their Obi (the sash/belts.)  How cute are those?!

If I remember right, I used some really weird wood pieces to make these kids.  One is a candle stick holder, another an egg cup and even a train smoke stack!  Told you I had to get creative.

I found a half-moon window at a gentleman's farm and loved it for it's shape.  I had been wondering how to use it and wouldn't you know it, the dolls fit perfectly!  I had to take out all the old glass, make a flat surface on the inside for the dolls to sit on and had to cut down the depth of the whole frame (it had been really deep.)  I worried about the dolls tipping over and breaking, so I made little "stands" for them by hammering in some long finishing nails (with no heads) and drilled a hole in the bottoms of the dolls to slip over the nails. 

I chose to hang it in our oft-traveled hallway. I love how it turned out!!  A million Thanks, Ellen.  I think this is my first family heirloom!!


























This week I'm Linking up to:

Tea Rose Home
Frugalicious Friday
Addicts (not) so Anonymous
Show and Tell Saturday
Weekend Wrap up Party