Chalk Paint Photo Frames

There’s been a lot of blogging going on regarding ‘Chalk’ paint, not to be confused with Chalk Board paint.  You can google Annie Sloan and read up on how she started this new paint line.  There’s also been a lot of blogging regarding home-made chalk paint.  That’s what I’m all about.  I did follow the instructions and produced my own chalk paint.  There’s a lot of tricks and tips to working with this paint and the options are numerous.  All you need is paint and wax.  Any paint mixed properly and dark or light wax and you’re set to produce any look for your wood products.

 

So, I’m sharing today my first project with Chalk Paint. 
This project started 2 years ago with my husband
hanging a wooden dowel on the wall.
I had an idea to hang pictures from this dowel and thought it'd be done in no time, well.....
that wasn't the case.  Anyways, it's done today! 

I used a home-made chalk paint recipe and it worked great! 
I have also bought the real Chalk Paint and have an antique writing desk (here) just waiting to be brought to life.  I’ll have to see if paying the high price of the real paint is worth it or not.  

Enjoy – I’ve kept it short with the comments below each picture.

 

I bought the small unfinished frames from IKEA and originally stained
them to match the trim in our home, which was a deep cherry bown.
At that time I hadn't discovered this new technique.

Here I've painted over the stained frames using 3 parts paint to 1 part 'plaster of paris'.
That's the beauty of this paint. You can also use Baking Soda.  Make sure you mix until completely smooth.

The large frame is not the one hanging on the wall, as the one you see here did not
finish the way I liked so I used a different one but forgot to take photos.

When completely dry I sanded till the paint was silky smooth.  
Then I sanded a bit more to achieve the 'antique' look which revealed the stain
that I originally had on these frames. 
Then I applied a dark wax and let it dry.

Then I rubbed and rubbed the wax until I achieved a beautiful shine. 

I realized I may have recieved the same look with a little less wax.

Michael's had just the accessories I was looking for.

I had to recruit my husbands help for this. 

It looks simple enough but I was done with this project and
ready to hang these frames.  That's when he stepped in and helped me.

I didn't even have pictures printed for them yet.

Hope you enjoyed. 

Wait for the next Chalk painted Writing Desk.

From Bed to Sofa

As the professionals say…..

“replace the pillows on your bed every 3 months”.

Really?  We usually wait till they go flat or get buldgy and that could be any length of time and then I wait till I see some new pillows on sale somewhere, like when I’m getting groceries.

So what do you do with the pillows you just replaced?  Do you toss them out with the regular household garbage?

I myself had a pile of pillows waiting to be discarded of.

After visually seeing how much fluff was accumulating I realized I could use that fluff for new pillows. 

I washed the pillows so I at least knew the fluff was clean for my new pillows.   

At a trip to IKEA, I purchased 2 pillow covers (I really wanted to sew the covers but at the time these were all ready for me) and then hopped over to a hardware store to buy painting drop cloth.  Watch those prices!  I found a package 5’x12’ at Canadian Tire for $15.00  That makes a lot of pillows.

I cut the drop cloth the size of the pillow covers and added more for the seam.  In this case I added ¾”.  Then I ironed a fold since the fabric is quite thick and it makes sewing easy.  Since my sewing machine is at our daughter’s house I stitched the inserts by hand while watching TV.  Didn’t take much time at all.

Then I ripped open the old pillow cases and removed the stuffing, putting it into my new fat sofa pillows.  On the second pillow I remembered to stuff the corners otherwise it’s impossible to do when you’re done.  When stitching the last length closed I was way smarter.  I stitched each end towards the center leaving 1/3 of the space open.  Then I could reach in and stuff into the corners.  Ta-Da!  Then I stitched the last remaining space closed. 

All that was left was to insert them into the new pillow covers. 

Now I have to wait till I have more buldgy pillows.

Twig Decor Re-do

So…HAPPY EASTER!

I figured it was time to blog again, way too much happening in our lives, but that’s life right?  If I didn’t have anything going on, you wouldn’t be able to read this, it would be a blank page.

I didn’t do any ‘Eastery’ decorating and I don’t think I ever have.  I did buy these Hydrangeas to brighten my hutch.  I just can’t get into the egg decorating and stuff, seems a little tacky to me.  And the colors just don’t do anything for me (or my house).

So here’s what I did this last weekend. 
Just to show you that you can change or improve anything you want with a little imagination.  I posted to Facebook some bedroom photos of our bed actually ‘made’ and it lifted the otherwise gloomy day is was turning out to be.  I however did not like the off-white twigs in a glass vase in the corner so I made sure they were out of the photo.  You can barely make them out in the right hand corner.

The next evening I proceeded to paint them a bright white using Melamine enamel.  About into the 2^nd twig I realized spray painting would have been easier but that opened so many other cans of worms AND I could have gone with an orange or green to add contrast to our bedroom.  Painting the curly twisty twigs really was hard but when you do them in your kitchen while you’re preparing dinner or watching TV, it goes quite fast.  Finding a place for them to dry was interesting as you can see my make-do basket with towel.  I had to paint half the twig at a time so it wouldn’t stick to the towel.

 

When you want to do something bad enough, you will find a way,

might look crazy but I’m glad with the results.   

I was diligent and finished them in a few days and now

they are noticeably pretty, at least to me. 

So I need to finish packing…..we’re off for the weekend to spend Easter with family in Alberta.

Have a Great Easter Holiday!!