A Lick of Paint......

I often marvel at all those peeps out there who can slap a lick of paint on an old piece of  furniture and - hey presto, it looks gorgeous, antiqued, French colonial,  or just brand spanking new.. My friend Mandy is one such person, she  buys dilapidated old relics and paints them beautifully giving them a new lease on life. Her beautiful home is filled with gorgeously painted pieces of furniture.

 

I have tried to paint furniture in the past, but it never and let me put that in shouty capitals NEVER looked great. The paint streaks, I get little running bubbles, you know the type.... you think that it is all perfect, you come back an hour later to admire your handy work and there is a great big run with a little bubble thing on the end.... Urgh!! So I have given up, because with painting the way I do, comes sanding it all back down which is a horrid task, that I simply hate... and the poor ailing piece of furniture never looks that same. Pieces that I want to look 'distressed' REALLY do look distressing ugly.  LSO has even forbidden me from painting. It's just not my forte!

 

However.......

 

I recently discovered (through Mandy the Master) chalk paint. Annie Sloan chalk paint to be precise. To be perfectly honest I had bought a few small tester jars a few months ago. I loved the soft muted colours, the tones are pretty, not jarring to the eyes. To me this is important, I love colour, I am a very visual person... When choosing yarn I am always spot on. Colours must blend and work in harmony, yikes, am I waxing about colours again! Sorry   

  

I painted a few jars, a box here and there but was certainly not willing to tackle anything big, not with my track record. Even little Madame got stuck in painting her fairy house inside, she even used a stencil - clever little thing!

 

So I decided to try something that could easily be changed....If it all went wrong, I would call in a professional painted to cover my mess. LSO* was away so time  was on  my side. We had never put a backing behind our stove and I loved the new chalk board trend, so a chalk board behind my stove was going to be my try-it-out-project.  

 

As you can see it worked...well! The paint went on smoothly and streak free, I did have to put on 3 coat to get the chalk board effect but it looked great! ?Did I mention that the paint went on streak free- well it did, I was delighted to say the least! I added my most used recipes to the top  - cupcakes and crumpets(flapjacks/pancakes to my oversea readers) and LSO(who liked it) added his fried eggs recipe.... Funny fellow my husband!

At the same time this was going on my sister arrived back from Canada, where she had been working. she brought back an old paddle head, announcing that she was going to make towel rack for our pool(since she was tired of towels lying around  - cheeky wench) As you know my sister is seriously talented in the food and wood work department, well actually she is just talented  - full stop! She had pick this old oar because it looked  like a whale. She then got stuck in with that chalk paint. She painted over it a few times the sanded it in places, added some hooks and it was done!  It looks like it was bought in one of those trendy little 'upcycle' shops. See for your self! 

 

 

 

So after much soul searching, yes, painting a large piece of our beautiful furniture was a soul search for me..... But it had to be done things were looking a bit dull and boring. I decided on a very SAFE blue called Greek Blue, muted and subtle. When it was painted, it was nice, however a cup of tea is also nice, I wanted WOW! So back to the stockiest I went and bought some yellow ,yes, bright and sunny Yellow. Now before I go any further let me tell you about chalk paint from my perspective:

 

It does not run!

It goes on smoothly!

It does not streak!

The brush that you use washes out perfectly!

You can paint on ANY surface! (and I do mean any surface - cloth/wood/plastic/anything)

And here comes the best part.....

It does not need sanded- unless you want a smooth finish.

 

 

I slapped on the yellow, 2 coats to cover the dull blue. It was so easy! I then got some fine sand paper and gentle distressed it, as I was sanding it so some of the blue from the initial coat of paint came through giving a really great look.  Now you can wax the whole thing afterwards but I really felt it was gorgeous just as it was.....     

 

Add some beautiful rose ceramic handles and I was ready for a Ta Dah moment......

So here is the blue coming through, not the best picture

Handles on...... and wait for it......

 

My big fat Ta Dah moment. to say I am super happy with myself would be an understatement. I love my new sideboard, the yellow is wow, happy, fun and funky! I am also very happy to report that I got the Mandy the Masters Chalk Painter's seal of  approval.....  xxx

 

   

*PS: Just to tell you all again, LSO is my 'long suffering one' My wonderful and very long suffering husband  who always lets me do as I want... never says I told you so when everything goes wrong and often helps me fix up my mistakes. Have I mentioned how much I love him...