Playing with Annie: A Chalk Paint Experience

A couple weeks ago I decided I had HAD IT with my kitchen table and chairs.  The set, originally my grandparents, has survived their family of four, my parents family of four, and now is on our family of four. The chairs have been gorilla glued, screwed and nailed (kinky, I know) every which way. The table with a veneered top has been marked on, magic erasered, stabbed and the leaf completely warped (and that was just from me).

I've been pinning furniture redo projects since I did the Pinecone baby furniture a year ago. Es 1 and 2 were gone for the the weekend, and I had my chance. I looked up my dealer stockiest, the Annie Sloan term for retailer, and went for a visit.

I landed at Bella B Decor in Stanley, KS. I went in and introduced myself to Very Helpful Lady (she told me her name, but after I told her I was going to feature this project on my blog, she politely asked that she not be identified- so OBVIOUSLY she is a Secret Chalk Paint Agent. Obvsly.), and told her that after I browsed I would for sure need some help.

First, this store is really cool. Not only does it feature repurposed and refinished vendor booths but there were also really cool  boutique clothing booths alongside the normal decor.

A beautiful setup for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at Bella B Decor

The Annie Sloan and Milk Paint sections are well thought out, displaying all the color options as well as examples and previous works. Bella B offers some really neat classes showcasing design and work principles of chalk and milk paint. I'd love to take one of these classes in the near future.

I told VHL (Very Helpful Lady!) about what I was wanting to accomplish, showed her the current condition of my sad sad table and she set me up with some ideas. I settled on Annie Sloan Burgundy. for my "pop" of color. It's a reddish wine, and I'd show you an example, but I guess it's brand spankin' new because I cannot find it anywhere. Then I went with CoCo as my "over" color.  I also purchased the clear soft wax, although I do want to get the dark wax to add to my collection. The final purchase I made was a good wax brush. I'm super cheap and was having a hard time convincing myself to spend money on the paint plus brush, but I decided if I was doing it, I needed to do it right (for once).  VHL tried to add in a few point of sale purchases, but I held fast.
 Later that afternoon, I set to to work. The first thing I had to do was clean the grime and yuck off of the table legs and chairs. I had to call in reinforcements and get my friend Beck to come help.  Mostly because she brought chocolate liqueur.  After everything was thoroughly scrubbed and dry, I was ready. Okay, not really, I needed a pep talk and Beck pretty much had to shove me to start.

The first couple strokes are the hardest.
(That's what she said.)

The first thing I noticed was what a soft texture the paint had when applied to the table. It started to dry within a few minutes and was pretty thick. I did expect each quart to go a long way- it's nearly $37 so for that, it ought to stretch.

I worked on through the evening and had everything coated in the Burgundy for the next step.

The texture is incredibly soft- just like chalk!

I officially hate the chairs by this point. VHL told me that would happen, but boy was she right. See all those spindles? And the bottom section is basically another nine spindles on top of the nine on the back of the chair. The whole damn chair is made of spindles. And there's four of them. By now, after a million feed the baby breaks and not enough feed the mommy breaks, I'm ready to launch everything to the curb and head downtown to Hickory Dickory to buy a new set.

Once everything was sufficiently coated in burgundy, it was time to apply the Coco. The disappointment I have here is it's not as chocolatey as I expected. It's a grey base but between the grey in the Annie Sloan paint the the greige we had the house painted (which was happening at the same time, but we hired that out) I'm just over it.  I'm mad I didn't do a more drastic color change on our walls, and then the damn chairs seem to blend in.

Once the coco was applied and dried, sans table top, I got out the clear soft wax and my new fancy wax brush. Working in a circular motion, think Danny in Karate Kid- wax on, wax off- I began what might be my favorite step. In order to distress the furniture, I sanded small sections after wax was applied. This kept the dust down and made the top paint coat very easy to manipulate. I will say that the few pieces of sandpaper I got at Bella B were not going to cut it. I actually got out a nail file emery board and it did the trick perfectly.

I did a slightly different technique on the legs of the chairs- it really needed an additional coat of coco, but since I was SO. FREAKING. OVER. IT. we will just call this technique "Lazy It" and so there's no actual distressing on those legs- it's just a lack of paint. But it's good enough for the chicks I hang out with.

Here's the finished product. It takes about thirty days for the two coats of wax to cure (three on top of table) so we need to be careful with E3 not dumping chocolate milk all over and leaving it. Everyone is using a place mat and we have about 20 days of curing left. I think we'll make it.

My overall impression is that this is a really cool paint and techniques will vary as much as the style that influences you. Although I'm not enthralled with my color choices, I'm happy with the way the project itself turned out. I think the next item up for revitalizing is my jewelry stand left to me by my grandma. It's an old oak look that simply outdated but a very functional piece of furniture. I'll have to head back to Bella B to select something fun.

In case you're in KC and are interested in checking out the store, Bella B has several locations, although I would recommend stopping by the Stanley Station shop and saying hello to VHL. Here's their info:

http://bellabdecor.com
Bella B Decor7733 W. 151st Street, Overland Park, KS 66223 • 913-814-0300 • lynn@bellabdecor.comStore Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6 p.m, Sun 12-5 p.m.
Bella B Decor                                                          
11 W. Wea Street, Paola, KS 66071 • 913-294-4499 • lynn@bellabdecor.comStore Hours: Wed-Fri 10-5, Saturday 9-Noon
Bella B Decor @ The Painted Sofa  NEW LOCATION!!!                                                      
1413 W 11th Street, KC, MO 64101 • 816-474-8832
Store Hours: Wed-Fri 10-3, Sat 10-4
Week of First Friday Event: Fri 9-8, Sat 9-6, Sun 11-4
Bella B Decor @ La Bottega Vintage Market
173 English Landing Drive, Parkville, MO 64152 • 816-741-6255 • lynn@bellabdecor.com
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5


http://www.anniesloan.com

  

Organization Challenge: WEEK 2 Laundry Wrap-Up

This week I was worried I wasn't going to finish, and much less START my organization challenge from A Bowl Full of Lemons. I had a bunch of sewing projects due out the door this week, so my evenings and "free" time were being hogged by that. We also had to select and buy paint for our painter (No, no, we don't do the painting on the walls in our house. I cannot tape to save my life and am reckless with a paintbrush. Bad idea.). He started prep work and painted the trim and walls in our master bath over the weekend. 

Want to see how crazy we got with the paint? Well good luck, because you can hardly even tell a difference.

For the record, we went with the bottom, #3. It's called "Amazing Gray SW7044" from Sherwin Williams. It's a couples shades off from what currently is on the walls but goes more to the "greige" versus beige. I'll update you on how this goes. 

Back to our story of the day. My laundry room is a multipurpose room in our home. It's a laundry room, duh, but also the main entry for our home through our garage, launch pad, and French Bulldog chill out space.  

I have recently purged and cleaned the lower cabinets so those were already in really good shape. The upper cabinets were a hot mess, as you can see below. 

First step: Change the light bulbs! The space was so dark and dreary. There were two of those funny fluorescent blue-ish bulbs, but of course, one was burnt out. I put in two fresh bulbs and Voila! I could see how badly everything needed cleaned. Boo. 

I started by taking everything out of the cabinets like suggested. This nearly gave me a brain aneurism. I posted a picture on Instagram and a friend of mine asked if Husband Dearest had a meltdown yet. Surprisingly, he did well with me stringing things across our kitchen. 

I luckily had some leftover containers and baskets from last week so I employed those with my cleaning items and made a new "whole home" cleaning caddy.  The difference in my cabinets and over all space is dramatic.

I am leaving the big sprucing up and decorating to the Launch Pad dedicated week around week 10. That will be closer to spring and I  will hopefully be ready to make some fun decor changes by then. 

Here it is, one last time. 

Before and after:

This coming week is the Pantry. I do hope that will be the easiest of the three first weeks as I could use a quick project.