Frenchy Blue Desk

Oh, how I love the French, curvy look on my furniture. So when I found a "french provincial desk" on Craigslist I pounced. Of course I didn't pay the price they were asking- who does that?! (Ok, I do...sometimes) It was the old yellow color with gold accents. Very pretty... in the 70s. She was bound to be painted, and that she was.

Of course I didn't think to take a picture before I painted it. I was in too much of a hurry. You will learn this about me very quickly - I.have.no.patience. In my defense, I had just purchased my first Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and was anxious to try it out (I also used it on the headboard in my previous post). So here is a similar before picture that I borrowed from Charming Creations.

Not the exact same piece, but you get the idea. I decided to try out the ASCP in Louis Blue with Old White accents. What I hadn't decided on was if I should age it with dark wax or simply put a clear wax on it. So I slapped on a couple of coats of chalk paint and lightly sanded between them. I liked the idea of the blue but it looked really flat so I tried some dark wax on two of the drawers, followed by a clear wax to reduce the darkness. The results looked like this (2 points for me for remembering to take a picture!).

Too dark. My mom didn't like it either and that's the end all be all (kidding,.. sort of). So those drawers got another sanding and repainting. I finished it all with a clear wax and put the handles back on in their original state. Then came the chair, which I chose to do in Old White and replaced the fabric with a creamy white and blue toile fabric. 

She turned out very nice, at least I think so. I also had the pleasure of joining the Feathered Nest Friday at the French Country Cottage. Check it out and be inspired by all of the beautiful projects!

White, Distressed Headboard

Happy Sunday! I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. We hit the pumpkin patch today and had some great family fun.

Today's post is another Craigslist find. I'm really terrible about writing down the amount I pay for things. Ok, before you judge, I do the mental cost/profit calculation prior to purchasing things (I have some sort of strange ability to calculate things in my head faster than I can put it in a calculator). I just forget to put it to pen and paper. I'm working on it. My husband insists that I work on it. Love you handsome hubby...thanks for keeping me honest.

This was such a simple, but gratifying, project. I just recently purchased my first quart(s) of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP). Since it requires no primer or pretreatment (I know, awesome!), I simply cleaned it with some TSP and coated it with 'Old White' ASCP, left it over night, and did a 2nd coat the next day. After the paint was dry I did a rough sanding on the edges to distress it, followed by a light sanding all over in order to remove any brush marks. Finally, I covered it with a layer of Fiddes & Sons 'Light' wax, which I ordered from John Millen Hardware, and buff with a clean, lint free cloth after it dries.

That's it! I hope you enjoy and appreciate those curves like I do.

Photography

Happy Friday!
This week seems to be dominated by photography tutorials in the blogger world, forcing encouraging me to focus on my photography skills (or lack thereof). I don't know about you, but as a point and shoot kinda gal, it has been quite a transition to learn all the in's and out's of a digital camera and I gotta admit (as if it isn't obvious)...I still have a long way to go.

With all that inspiration, I decided to take my digital camera outside and just see what happened on different settings. My pretty little assistant (aka my youngest) agreed to be my subject, as if she had a choice.

 She is actually standing against the glass, front door and the tree & street are reflecting off of it.

 I wish I could say she got those lashes from me!

 Oh, the faces..

I don't care for the coloring on this one but I just repainted this chair for a photographer friend and LOVE the bright blue (see the chair 'before' on the picture above)

I used Picnik to play with the effects on these pictures. I'm hoping to purchase Photoshop soon but just haven't gotten there yet, not to mention I will have to give up an arm, and possibly a leg to get it. 

It was fun to try different things but I still don't have the different settings down and I really need to get experience working with aperature and shutter speed. I saw a great tutorial series on The Pioneer Woman. Her blog is just all around amazing, and as you will see, she knows how to work a camera!

So what photography successes and challenges have you had?

Steve Jobs Quote on Life

I hadn't planned to post anything tonight (or this morning..depends on how you want to look at it), but I saw this profound quote by Steve Jobs. Seems so obvious, but something many of us forget.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. ......Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

-Steve Jobs

I couldn't have said it better myself...

Fall Wreath & Glue Gun Mishaps

I don't know about you, but I can't seem to do a project involving a glue gun without burning at least 2 or 3 fingers. Well, it was worth it in order to add a little fall color to our front door. I got the idea for this square, fall wreath from Thrifty Decor Chick (we even have the same 'Welcome' sign on our doors). I love that the wreath is square instead of the conventional round!

Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. This is a really simple wreath, I promise. Items you need: foam core board (Walmart $1.97 for a 20x30 piece), fall colored leaves (Family Dollar $1 each x 5) and a glue gun (perhaps some burn ointment as well).

I cut the foam core board to be 20 x 20 which looked rather big, but I loved how Thrifty Decor Chick's looked, so I went with it. I then cut out the center, leaving a 4 inch wide border to glue the leaves on. The leaves I bought were 2 styles; 1 package of really flat, lifeless ones and the other 4 were on a vine, which I clipped off as needed. I went around the perimeter with the flat ones first, just to cover up the foam board. I then went back and tried to place the more dimensional leaves on top. Here is the result:

Did you notice that it's just balancing on the door knocker? I can't seem to locate my wreath hanger at the moment so I thought I could snap a picture quick before the kiddos come home from school.

I think it's really pretty, but I must admit that I don't like my leaf selection as well as Thrift Decor Chick's. They seem a little too flat - but then again, when it's your own project you seem to notice all of the flaws. Also, I may have to glue some thin wood pieces on the back to make it a bit heavier. There is no chance that the light foam board I used will survive an Iowa fall.... or my little monkeys going in and out 17 times a day.

So that's it. What fall projects are you working on?