Here’s my next painting adventure:
Thrift store. $20. Ginormous. Weighs about as much as my entire family put together. I. adore. that. drawer.
More Annie Sloan paint. This time Provence with a clear wax mixed with Old White paint. Original hardware except drawer hardware (which I haven’t found yet). I actually timed working on this piece to coincide with my brother coming to visit so he could help Will carry it in from the garage. Sneaky, sneaky, right? What else are big, strong, manly brothers for??? His sweet-as-molasses girlfriend Lindsay helped me paint it and I was eternally grateful.
The best part about this piece is the inside. It smells just like my grandfather’s old dresser. And it has perfectly sized cubbies and 3 pull-out drawers. Perfect for our kids’ art supplies, paper, games, puzzles and library books!
Don’t you just love it????? Cuz I sure do.
Several friends have asked about the chalk paint that I used for the hutch. I thought I would give you the details, as well as more specific information so you can get to painting!
The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is from the UK. I first read about it on the Miss Mustard Seed blog and it’s exploding in popularity. You can use it like a chalkboard paint, but obviously you don’t have to. It comes in 24 colors and very few stores carry it in the US, so you’re probably going to have to order it online. I ordered mine from the Southern Institute of Faux Finishing shop because they had the most colors in stock. But I got the paint within a week.
Costs: The paint is $35/quart. Deep breath. BUT! Usually you can get away with painting one coat if you put on a solid medium coat (not too heavy though). The paint goes a really long way. One of the things I really love is the wax that you apply over it. There’s a clear wax and a rustic wax. Each wax is $25/can. The rustic wax, you’ll have forever. The clear wax goes a really long way if you apply it with a brush instead of a cloth. The only other thing I’d recommend is the wax brush ($35). The shipping is NOT cheap (plan on $15-25 per order), but it is oh-so-worth it.
It’s incredibly easy to work with and I really like using it. You can use a soft paint brush for applying the paint.
Tips: So before you start, wipe your piece down. Fix anything that needs to be fixed. Remove the hardware. If you need to sand any rough edges, take care of that. Otherwise, you don’t need to do a thing. When you paint, the color looks a good bit lighter than when it’s dry. Also, don’t stress too much about streaks because the beauty of this paint is that it has a really matte finish. Let it dry for a good 12-24 hours before you start waxing. BEFORE YOU WAX, read Miss Mustard Seed’s blog entry on waxing and definitely make sure you watch her Waxes 101 video. You’ll probably put the clear wax on first. Let that dry for an hour or two (until it doesn’t feel sticky anymore, sometimes it can take up to 24 hours) before you start with any other waxes. I liked using the rustic wax on my hutch piece, but you only need the tiniest amount. I ended up using steel wool to lighten the color up a bit because I was pretty heavy handed with the dark wax. You can also mix the clear wax with paint, which is what I did on the armoire from last week. I painted it the Provence color and mixed some Old White with clear wax to give it a lighter finish. The hutch was done in the Versailles color. The wax dries in a matte finish too. If you want a distressed look, use a fine grade sandpaper and sand away. As with applying the wax, when you’re sanding, work in a small section and then take a few steps back. It’s easy to get tunnel vision working up close with a piece, and it really helps to take a step back to look at the big picture.
So there you go. Please let me know if you have any questions! I’m working on a couple of other pieces right now and will post those another time. I gotta get to work!
Tags: annie sloan, chalk paint, furniture revival