Side Table Redo

This Craigslist chest of drawers/dresser combo has turned our house upside down as I squeeze the absolute final pieces of furniture I could possibly fit into our house. Until I have final pictures of the dresser that match this chest of drawers. I will show you a quickie I painted.

Said dresser will go in my daughter's room which I just finished putting together.
The changes never end.....

Since the dresser is gray I decided to paint her little bedside table to match. It's been sitting there without hardware looking sad. This little table and it's twin belonged to my grandmother. My mom painted them years ago and they sat happily in my bedroom when I lived at home. Before painting every thing in sight was a fad, my mom was a beast with a brush and latex paint.


I decided to freshen one up for my little girl....

(Paris Gray & Old White)

In true Lori fashion, I had to embellish the top (I have an embellishment addiction)....



Such beautiful details were begging to be celebrated!



I am amazed the original skeleton keys have not been lost after at least 70+ years! They are so pretty....

Chalk Paint Random Tips

~ One coat covered very well on the dresser project. I suppose because I was going from a medium color wood to gray. On my side table project I did 2 coats since I was painting Old White over dark wood. It covered the dark wood much better after 2 coats.

~ On large surfaces like the side or top of a dresser try to use brush strokes going in the same direction. I feel like this really helps with a smooth finish once the chalk paint dries.

~ Don't panic with the streaky look of the chalk paint when wet, it dries beautifully even.

~ I applied the clear wax with an Italian Wax brush.

I noticed when you apply the clear wax with this brush (and probably any other bristle brush) the bristles scrape the chalk paint ever so slightly to reveal the layer below. Maybe if I would've done 2 coats on the dresser this wouldn't have happened so much. In my opinion, it adds to the character of the piece but FYI: If you have a super nasty color underneath that you absolutely do not want to peek through, I would go ahead and hit your piece with 2 coats to minimize any chance of scratch thru. But it is very minor. For the dresser, I knew I was going to distress the edges any way so this wasn't too much of a concern. But just so you know....

~ The wax brush is a chunk of change at about $35 so I use it for my clear wax and use a cheap chip brush for the darker waxes like the Fiddes Jacobean and the Hannant's Rustic. That was a great tip from the man at the specialty store where I bought the paint. If you're going to invest in an italian wax brush use it exclusively for the clear since you'll probably be covering more surface area with that one.

~ Make sure you put the clear wax on before you put any dark wax on. If you haven't sealed the chalk paint with a clear wax, it will stain the chalk paint and you won't be able to wipe it off if you get it too dark

~ If you do get too much dark wax and the baby wipes won't clean it up sufficiently you can add clear wax over the dark wax and rub out the dark wax. It almost acts like an eraser. Isn't that wacky? It works....I tried it.

~ Lastly, this paint is extremely artistic which I love. I used to paint with oils and acrylics and I bet many of you out there who like to do this sort of thing are artsy as well. You can do all sorts of creative things so just dive in and experiment. The wonderful thing about these waxes and the chalk paint is that you can just paint over the "oops" area with the chalk paint and start over. So you really don't have much to lose except for a little time.

I hope that wasn't too much rambling about chalk paint. I hope you all who say you have some and haven't used it just go for it! Let me know if you paint something...I'd love to see it :)
Good luck and happy painting, friends!

Dresser Play-by-Play

Chalk paint: O, how I love thee....let me count the ways....

Let me tell you about my prep work:



That's it...that's all...no primer....no sanding.....no being banished to the garage in the 100 degree summer heat. Just wipe it down to get the dust off and get to the fun part! I use my trusty Purdy brush and go to town indoors because the stuff doesn't smell.

Mr. Wooly happened to be working at the kitchen table and looked up after about 20 minutes and said "You know, I don't know much about paint (**ahem** nor do I care to), but I can't believe how well that stuff covers and it doesn't stink" It took me 45 minutes to 1 hour to paint the entire chest shell and drawer faces.

One coat Paris Gray
Details Old White
Apply a thin, very thin coat of Hannant's Clear Wax
distress the edges with a sanding block
wipe down with baby wipes again
Apply dark wax sparingly, keep some wipes handy to wipe away if you get it too dark
 Fiddes & Sons Jacobean wax adds the Double D factor: Dirty and Depth. Use sparingly in corners, on edges. Pretty much anywhere I would normally use a wipe-off type glaze, apply the dirty wax. A great tip from Shaunna's wax video tutorial is to dip your brush in the wax and then wipe your brush off. This is where I have made mistakes in the past. A little goes a looooong way with the Jacobean color. It's basically ink black in the can. Here is a picture of the dresser, top part with the dirty wax treatment, bottom part just painted with clear wax



See how the bottom looks great but just a little flat. Like it's been freshly painted but doesn't have that extra umph. The top has a little more depth to it. A close up of top/bottom difference:



Mmmm....dirty wax is good

The hardest and most time consuming part of this whole project was cleaning those crazy tarnished brass hardware fixtures. Man ALIVE! I wanted to scream. It took way too long. I researched how to do it online. First I determined that the hardware was brass and not brass-plated. If a magnet sticks = brass plated, no magnet sticky = brass. There is a difference in cleaning methods.

First I washed them all in warm soapy water, as suggested by The Internet. Ha! That did nothing for me. Then I tried a concotion of 2 tblsp lemon juice + 2 tblsp white vinegar + enough baking soda to make a paste and scrubbed them with a toothbrush. A little better. I finally caved and bought some Brasso and that helped. After a lot of polishing I washed and scrubbed with soap and water again and they did come out much better. But for 12 drawer pulls that was a lot of work!

Somebody Stop Me!!!!!!!!!

I know it's been a while but I have an excuse....a good one....

First, I need to confess that I just need to stop looking at Craigslist. I need a filter on my computer to keep me away from that website. Soon my house is going to look like a junked up antique store with pieces of furniture piled on top of each other.

Would you go visit these?
 (pardon the blurry Craigslist pictures)

Oh.....
.....but I did.....
....and I bought....
.....for $50....BOTH for $50!! That's my excuse for being MIA

I don't have a proper "before" photo because I just got so dang excited and started painting but basically this:

and this:

turned into this:

************************{{sigh}}************************

I think I am in love with chalk paint after all. This is my 5th project and I think I finally got the hang of it. More on the process later....

The after picture is actually a bit blurry and has weird shadows but I couldn't wait to take some glamour shots of her. I made my husband (and his friend who happened to drop by for a visit) stop for a moment of silence to admire the transformation. Let's revel in the details, shall we?

Oh, hardware, how stubbornly tarnished you were...

but it was worth the 3 step process to get you shiny again!

Let's not forget, I have a dresser I need to paint also now!

Can paint change your life? I think Annie Sloan is my new BFF....

***Update: The Dresser: Play-by-Play post is up here***

Bits O Honey

Here's some "other beeswax" for you.....
I don't know about you but around our house the summer months foster a lot of "togetherness" with my kids (*insert crazed smile here*). I love our children but it is easy for me to slip into negativity and be quick tempered when I am repeating myself for the 1000th time and breaking up fight #113 of the day. All the while, encouraging my own kids to "use kind words!!"

I read this verse in Proverbs this morning and was inspired to create some digital art with it that I could see daily to remind me of how my attitude should be, not only with the kiddos, but with my husband, friends, and others too.
I also happen to love any decoration having to do with bees since our last name starts with the letter "B". So I came up with this little thingy using graphics from the beloved Graphics Fairy. I just love her site and all the beautiful images she shares for FREE!



Mmmmm..."sweet to the soul and healing to the bones" I just love that visual!

In the spirit of sharing you are welcome to download this image here if you need the same inspiration I do! I think that's OK with Photobucket? Someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong here! This is my first attempt at a download like this. It should be all ready to go in 8x10 format, for your printing pleasure....

I put mine in an old, unused frame and have it out for us all to see.





May the Lord use my words to sweeten someone's precious soul and heal their weary bones!


Sharing at

A Table Slipcover, If You Will

Ok. So the new objects of my affection (Craigslist chairs) landed in my dining room. I love my little farmhouse table. It's cute. Not a "forever" piece since it won't sit the 8-10 I would prefer but I like it. We bought the dining set along with these side tables when we moved into our current (and first "grown up") house, coming from a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. I envision this as a breakfast table in it's next life if we move to another house.
I digress, I dragged my gray/french blue-ish chairs into the dining room where they sat with 4 other white chairs and a table with a dark wood top and white legs.



Too many finishes in one place. My eyes were bouncing all over the room. I don't know what color to look at. Please. tame. this. space.

I threw on a white table cloth that I use for special occasions.



Close, but still not quite what I wanted for every day use. Think.....think...
I remembered a cute table cloth my friend, Emily, made for her daughter's birthday party table...darling....I was inspired to create.....

...I shall make my own custom fitted tablecloth! In the shabby variety...

.....with RUFFLES!



LOVE IT!( Please disregard the trashed out play room beyond!)

Now the chairs can shine against a neutral backdrop and my dining room gets a light and fresh makeover for the summer months.....now maybe I need to paint the room too?? The sage green is getting a little tired these days....


Aaaaand....the photo session is over as I was informed it was POOL TIME!

Craigslist Excitement!!!

I have a sneaking suspicion that, like me, you all love to peruse Craigslist, go to garage sales, and rummage thrift stores. I get downright giddy browsing Craigslist for some well-priced hidden treasure. So in the spirit of sharing....look what I scored on Craigslist!!!




I have a thing for ladderback chairs. LOVE them. I bought a $5 ladderback at a yard sale the other day but that's another story.

The great part about this pair is that I don't even have to paint them because they already have a wonderfully distressed, aged paint job. I have a suspicion that chalk paint and wax was used on them because of how the paint will flake if I really dig my nail into it. But they also have a beautfiul, hard sheen that looks very similar to my waxed furniture pieces.



Ok, so I scored these BOTH for $60. That's good, right? I don't think the person knew what they had. I thought $60 was a steal. Oh, I looooooove these details!