chippy shelves

The other day I went to our local YMCA shop & found just the thing I was looking for - a cheap, boring, bog-standard shelf unit to use as display at my next fair. Of course I wasn't to let it get away without being painted within an inch of its life... and of course, I haven't bothered with a before photo, but I'm sure "crappy flat pack pine unit" isn't too hard an image to conjure up.

I thought I'd experiment a bit as it's not for selling. I wanted to achieve a "chippy" paint look, like its been knocking about for years (insert your own joke). So it got two thick coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, first in "Florence" (dark green) and then "Provence" (French-style greeny-blue). After a layer of clear wax, I attacked the top layer of paint with a screwdriver. After that, there isn't much of a method, but I played around with dark wax, watered down white paint and generally building the layers up until I was happy-ish with the look. It was all sanded smooth, finished with a good layer of clear wax and finally buffed to add a smooth sheen.

I prefer this worn out look to just sanding the corners a bit, but I think it's worked better on the edges than anywhere else, but it will be fine for display.

Provence painted candle holder

 I need to catch up with my blogging now the Easter Holidays are at an end. But just a quick post with a recent project. This iron candle holder was given to me by somebody who had bought it years ago on holiday. It was made by a blacksmith from wrought iron, it is quite heavy and well made. But it was looking a bit tired in rusted old black. I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (no surprises!) in "Provence", a lovely pale blue-green, very French. I then applied a wash of  Dark Wax diluted with White Spirit and applied with a brush. Excess wash is then wiped off with a cloth. This is the first time I've used this method of applying Dark Wax and it is so much easier, especially in the warmer weather as the wax does not dry as quickly and it requires a lot less elbow grease to get the desired effect. I lightly rubbed the entire piece with coarse wire wool to smooth out and distress in some places.  Apparently, its previous owner used it to serve cakes at parties, decorated with candles... perfect for a summer garden party!

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This is to available to buy for £28, please contact me if you are interested. 

Collection is from Northamptonshire, thank you!

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restyled bureau

This has been an on-off project for the last few weeks; done in bursts due to a horrible ear infection, a disturbing reaction to antibiotics (that's a whole other post), H's birthday and half-term stuff. Anyway, it starts with this lovely bureau that I found in a charity shop. It was in very good condition, with nice detailing and clean insides. Actually a nice piece but a bit yellowy and some signs of wear and tear, but still solid.

As you can see from these images, it has been given a complete transformation. I painted the exterior in Annie Sloan's "Florence" and built up layers of dark and clear wax, with some distressing and lots of texture, as I did with this table.

We removed the interior shelves to paint the inside in Annie Sloan's "Emperor Silk", a vivid red colour. Once removed, we discovered these numerals that were otherwise hidden...1923 I presume.

I applied gold leaf to the carved molding on the top drawer, I wasn't sure if this would be overkill what with the vivid green and red already used. So I made sure it was distressed and any cracks filled in with dark wax so that it isn't a solid section of yellow-gold.

The handles were just lightly rubbed with wire wool for a bit of a clean

We treated the unpainted wood with teak oil and kept the red to a minimum. A gold tassel has been added to the key and the drawers lined with Cole & Son "Cow Parsley" wallpaper.

 I've just realised that I haven't included a photo of the finished piece with the door closed!...I will come back to that.* Anyway, this will be for sale at the next My Little Vintage fair on 8th March at Earls Barton Methodist Church, details here.

Or contact me if interested in buying, cost £150.

Thank you!

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* This sold before I had the chance to add a new photo!, Quickest sale yet, thank you Ann!
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green chippy stool

I managed to get this stool finished just in time for the MLV fair on Saturday. It didn't sell, but this at least gives me the chance to photograph & blog about it! 

The pictures below show it in its original state - old yellowed pine with faded varnish and paint splatters on it. I found it in a charity shop,  hidden away at the back out of shame.

 First I applied a layer of Annie Sloan's "Florence" chalk paint - a rich emerald green also used here, once dry this was painted over with a layer of "Provence" - also here.

I did not have to prepare the stool at all - just wiped it with a dry cloth quickly to ged rid of any dust. 

Once the coat of Provence was dry, I applied a layer of clear wax. I then used different grades of sandpaper to distress the stool, revealing the "Florence" undercoat in parts and stripping right back to the wood in some places.  I also worked some dark wax into some areas and into the grooves on the legs. 

Clear wax was applied for a final durable coat and the whole piece was buffed with a clean cloth to bring out a smooth, shiny surface. It has just the right "chippy" paint effect - as if the paint has been added and worn away over the years. 

This stool is available to buy for £20. Please see my Facebook page, message, comment or email me for more info, thank you! 

painted patina

So my first (successful) painting project of 2014! I did paint a candelabra before attempting this project, but I'm not happy with it, so it's in the work-in-progress pile. I can't seem to stop buying brass at the moment. I hated it growing up, now there's something about it I really like. Having said that, I decided to paint all over this particular piece! Its a vintage brass candle sconce (is this a "sconce"?). I'm calling it a sconce. I wanted to paint it in a turquoise shade and distress, to look something like patina. It was also an excuse to buy a tin of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in "Provence", a lovely light turquoise just right for the look I wanted to achieve. 

It was lovely at it was, but very yellowy and not very exciting. I started by rubbing over the surface lightly with wire wool, just enough to help the paint "grab" a bit better. I painted over the entire brass surface with the Provence Chalk Paint. Once dry, I lightly sanded back some areas of the paint to reveal the brass underneath, but not so much that the brass gets scratched.  

I rubbed Annie Sloan's Clear Wax all over the sconce. Using a small brush (one of my daughter's cheap craft brushes), I brushed Annie Sloan's Dark Wax into the detailing, working a small area at a time. The excess was rubbed away with a clean cloth and the whole thing had a final coat of clear wax for a bit of added protection.

I could have distressed it more than this, but I wanted the paint colour to dominate, not the brass. I'm really pleased with it and it is available to buy on my Facebook page here!

By the way, I buy my paint from My Little Vintage shop in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire. A lovely shop with FANTASTIC customer service and lots of lovely things to covet. 

Thank you!

Chalk Paint Chair

This is a little bit of a "before" and "after" using Annie Sloan Chalk paint. I am a relative new beginner to this little joy, which has many enthusiastic users and now I understand why. I have painted a fair bit of furniture before but this chalk paint means no preparation and can be used in different ways to achieve different techniques. In this example, I used a chair from a charity shop which had thick layers of old gloss paint on it. With other paints, I would have sanded the white paint first to prepare a painting surface, but with this chalk paint there is no need!

So, above is the charity shop chair with its not-very-attractive thick gloss paint. The only prep I did was to wipe the chair with a clean cloth and then I just started painting. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in "English Yellow'. I'm a bit obsessed with yellow at the moment. I painted a couple of layers of this stuff all over the chair, as Annie Sloan says in one of her YouTube demos the trick is to "just get on with it", so that's what I did!

This is the chair with its good coating of yellow paint - as you can see, there are brush strokes and texture in the paint. I painted quickly and in different directions to intentionally leave brush strokes in the paint. This is where the dark wax will sit to give a distressed effect.

Next, I applied Annie Sloan Clear Wax all over the chair, I used a lint-free cloth (my budget hasn't stretched to a £35 wax brush just yet) and again applied this fairly quickly, rubbing a layer of the wax all over. Next, I brushed in the Dark Wax, using circular movements and only working on a small section of the chair at a time. Excess dark wax was then wiped off with a cloth leaving it sitting in the textures of paint. Once completed, I used sandpaper in some areas to distress further and the whole chair was given a final layer of clear wax, to give it a smoother feel and durable finish.