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.

Latest vintage finds

I had a good weekend in terms of vintage hunting. I found these lovely big green glass vessels. Are they demijohns or carboys? There seems to be confusion online as to the difference but I think either will do. I have been on the look out for something like this for years, to display fairy lights in at Christmas and I was lucky enough to find two! They are made by Viresa in Italy during the 1960's. The glass has that dimpled, hand-blown quality to it and they just need a little clean. I do love old glass, which I never realised before but I do seem to keep buying old bottles and vases in different colours, preferably in vibrant colours and with wobbly bits!

I also bought a collection of brass bits. Something else that I am unexpectedly drawn to. I even managed to get in the shed ("studio" if I'm feeling cocky) and take some half decent photos and get some listed on Etsy:

I thought these brass cherub candle sconces a while ago and decided they were a bit too yellow looking. So I painted them with layers of Annie Sloan Chalk paint - Old White and Florence. I distressed the paint and then added some dark wax in the details before sealing with clear wax. 

I wanted a weathered look of old paint and verdigris. I think it has worked...! All available in my Etsy shop now.

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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Florence painted table

I recently bought a tin of Annie Sloan's Chalkpaint in "Florence", to paint a candelabra with. That project has been put on hold for a bit, so I needed another project to use for the paint. I found this side table in a charity shop. I thought it would be a perfect match for the rich emerald green of Florence!

The table didn't need much preparation, just a light wipe to remove any dust etc. I painted over the table with the chalk paint, painting fairly quickly and liberally. The great thing about this paint is that you can pretty much just "slap it on". I knew I wanted to work dark wax into it for an aged, textured look and so the paint needed to be quite textured to achieve this. Once dried I applied another layer of paint (as some of the dark brown was showing through). Again, I didn't paint too evenly and made sure that there were visible brush strokes for the dark wax to sit in.

Once the paint was completely dry, I sanded some of the paint back for a worn look, then I wiped a layer of Annie Sloan's clear wax all over the table. You can this with a brush (I am coveting one from her own range), but I am using a cloth at the moment - which works fine. With a different cloth, I worked in small amounts of dark wax. I concentrated on a small area at a time so that I could work the wax before it dries. I applied the dark wax in a circular movement, pushing it into the textures of the paint. I then quickly wiped off any excess with a cloth. I did this all over the table, building up the layers of dark wax until I was happy with it.

A final coat of clear wax was applied all over for protection. This was all buffed with a clean cloth to give it a smooth, shiny surface, with none of the "chalkiness" of the paint. It does have the look and feel of an old piece which has accumulated marks and texture over time, which is exactly what I wanted.

I'm really pleased with how it looks and love this colour paint, especially when combined with the dark wax.

This table is available to buy, email me or message me through my Facebook page if you are interested...thank you!


Products used:
Annie Sloan Chalkpaint in "Florence"
Annie Sloan Dark Wax
Annie Sloan Clear Wax
Annie Sloan website here