Inspired

Some days I feel terribly inadequate when I look around the blog-o-sphere at some of the amazing talent out there.  It is mind boggling how in this day and age we can literally peek into the studios and homes of people and see what they have created.  It is even sweeter when they are the type of people to share the hows and whys of their projects in order to encourage us to give it a whirl.  Shelly of Shizzle Design is one of those great people who shares, and let me tell you there is no fear in Shelly!  If you haven't visited her blog go there right after you read this so you can see her amazing furniture.  She also lived in Hawaii, which definitely endears her to me since we did also and I love it when she throws in a Hawaiian phrase or two.  So when you visit say, 'Aloha!'

Shelly worked some awesome magic on a beautiful cabinet and I was so intrigued by her technique I just had to try it out.  Here is my poor attempt to copy her technique.  Her finished product is so much more fantastic than mine, but I'll show you what I ended up with.

This was a plain Jane Octagon side table when we started.  The drawer insets were cheap, thin fiber wood and they were broken.  I replace them with some sprayed decorative metal I had salvaged from another broken piece.  You'll think I'm insane when you see what it looked like with the first coat applied.

Yep, the undercoat is a bunch of fun little colors.  I worked with Versailles, Aubusson, Duck Egg, Primer Red and Graphite in Annie Sloan paints, Amber Waves of Grain and Rushmore in American Paint Company, and some Alaskan Tundra Green in CeCe Caldwell paints.  All are no prime chalk, clay or mineral based paints.  Love them.  Slap them on haphazardly, that is a true painting technique don't you know?!  I used the Rushmore in 2 light coats over the top, though I might have been able to get away with 1.

Using a combination of light sanding and wet distressing (mostly wet distressing) I gradually exposed some of the underlying paints.  Shelly's tutorial shows you in great detail how she does this.  Check it out!

On the top I dry brushed more Rushmore on top of the Graphite.  I dry brushed in both directions and then went back and sanded and wet distressed until I was happy with the results.  I used American Paint Company's dark wax to finish her off.   Here are a few more looks at the project.

What a fun little side table!  Many Ma halo's to Shelly for being so generous with her amazing skills!
A Hui Ho!
Deb

Linking to:

MMS Milk Paints: Lucketts Green

You all know I am older than dirt right?!  Well, not dirt, but certainly older than most of the "up and comers" in the blog world.  I actually remember helping my Grandmother white wash an old building with milk paint back in the 60's or 70's.  I was familiar with the properties that make it both great, and kind of difficult to deal with.  It's probably what has drawn me to try and fall in love with Annie Sloan Chalk Paints, and CeCe Caldwell's Clay and Chalk Based Paints.  Now there are more new products to try!  Yeah, for all of us that are eager to experiment with all these options on our projects.  Miss Mustard Seed has developed her own line of colors in Milk Paint, Absolute Vintage (Sisters of the Wild West) have a new milk paint line also.  And those are just the bloggers that I know of out there with the milk paint lines.  If you google Milk Paint you are met with a plethora of options out there.  I tell you this because I am not a spokesperson for any developer or supplier, just a great consumer of all kinds of products old and new.  An equal opportunity consumer as I remind my long suffering spouse all the time!

All that to tell you that I finally got around to trying out MMS new line.  I was feeling green that day I guess because I ordered both Luckett's Green and Boxwood.  I've only got the Luckett's on anything at this point, and here's my experience.

 I LOVE this color.  I chose to work without the bonding agent, because I wanted to see how this whole chipping thing worked.  I happen to love old chippy furniture, though I admit to being scared enough of the whole lead paint issue to feel like I have to pass on some furniture out there OR be willing to strip the entire piece and start over.  This paint gives you that "been on there forever" look and feel without the danger involved.  Love that.

You can totally see where the paint just wouldn't adhere well, for whatever reason.  For me, this was exactly the look I wanted.  Chippy, but not totally devoid of paint.

Now, the mixing of the paint myself and the lumpiness is going to take some getting used to.  I wasn't ever completely sure that I had the right consistency, both thickness and lumpiness.  Such technical terms I use huh?!  I will say even the thinner batch (I eventually added more powder to it to pump it up a bit) adhered nicely. 

I used 2 coats of the paint, carefully used a putty knife to remove any flaky areas to get my chippy look, and sanded lightly to remove any rough areas.  I don't think you would need to sand at all, but I've gotten so used to that silky smooth finish after using Chalk Paint. 

I think the sanding gave me even more variations in the depth of color which I actually like.

Sorry about the photo quality, the sun was starting to drop a bit low.  This was so fun to play with.  I love having another product in my arsenal of paints.  I know the chippy pieces are not for everyone, but hey, if I like them, there's probably a few more folks out there that will like them too!  This piece is for sale if you are reading this and one of those people ;-)! 

Now, I'm off to complete a custom piece and another in the works piece.  I have several custom pieces in line to work on and I've got tons more that I have picked up to keep me busy and out of trouble for a while!

Have a great, great week!
Deb

Linking up to:
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/11/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-13/