September 24, 2011

my little man

Two years ago at 10:35 pm, this little man changed our world.

2 days old

Of all the baby pictures I have, including professional ones; I love this little iPhone pic the most.

We had a wonderful day celebrating with him and have more fun planned for tomorrow!
I'll share pictures soon.



September 18, 2011

a little armoire re-do

Actually there is nothing little about it. It's a pretty large piece of furniture.


Last week I showed you this black armoire that was in our bedroom. What was I thinking when we bought a whole set of black furniture?! I have no clue. I was young and newly married and a first time homeowner and I really didn't know what my decorating style was. We just thought you were supposed to buy a matching set of furniture for your bedroom. That's what grown ups do, right?
It's taken me 6 months to convince my husband to let me paint it. 

Before 


After


I painted it with Annie Sloans Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue, distressed it and then brushed on one coat of Annie's soft wax. I really love the way it came out.

I kept the original hardware. I like it against the blue.


This is the only the 3rd time I've used ASCP. So I am still very new and learning all the tricks. If you haven't used it, it's different than other paint and takes a little getting used to.


I learned a new trick this time that I thought I would share. I planned on doing 2 coats of paint on this piece since I was painting over black. But this is a huge piece of furniture and needed painting on the inside and out. About halfway through I started to worry I might run out of paint. I saved the drawers for last and knew there was not enough paint for two coats. So in an attempt to get really good coverage with only 1 coat I tried this.


A small foam roller dipped in a small amount of paint and then spread as thin as possibly over the entire piece (see above pic). Then I did a regular coat with my paint brush just like I always do. Something about that first thin layer made such a difference in the coverage and only used a tiny bit of paint (much less than you would use doing 2 full coats). It also made painting large, flat surfaces easier and faster than just my paint brush alone. I will definitely use this technique again, even if I have plenty of paint.

Above pic is right after I used that method. Great coverage for 1 coat, don't ya think?
Professional painters are probably laughing because I'm sure this is not the proper thing to do, but hey whatever works!

Here is the inside. We are currently using it as more of an entertainment center.


I knew I wanted to paint some of the inside, but I thought painting the entire inside might be too much. So I decided to line the back with a patterned fabric.


I used this technique and although it was a little messy I like the results.


So one piece of black furniture down. About 4 more to go!


Linking up with:
and

September 14, 2011

a good life wednesday farmhouse table


 So.......
I was trying to wait to show you my table until all the chairs were ready too. But every time I talk to my Annie Sloan stockist, the new paint color I'm waiting on keeps getting delayed further and further. At this point, I'm not holding my breath to have it before the end of the month. And I just didn't want to wait any longer to show you the new farmhouse table.

So here it is.

If you missed my previous posts, the husband built it for me.
I painted it white, of course.

The chairs are all mismatched ones that I have picked up thrifting here and there.


They will all be white too. Eventually. Whenever the new Annie Sloan paints arrive.


Can't decide about this green chippy one though. This is the way I found it and I really love the green and the white and the chippyness. I keep thinking maybe I should find another chair for my table and keep this one the way it is and use it somewhere else. What do you think?


All the linens on my table are really just fabric scraps that I cut to make a runner, napkins and ties.


I love to use cut herbs in my vases along with or instead of flowers.That long, purple flower is Mexican Sage, from my garden. I love when it blooms. The petals feel like velvet.


Rosemary, pincushion & cosmos


Hope you enjoyed seeing the new table. Can't wait to get my chairs painted so I can show them to you too!


In the name of tablescaping, I'm now going to attempt to drink 4 glasses of berry-infused seltzer water. It's too pretty to waste. :)


Linking up with Sarah at A Beach Cottage for Good Life Wednesday!

And with Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday!

September 04, 2011

busy bee

I am big slacker, I know. The last few weeks have been so busy. The to do list keeps growing and the blog keeps getting pushed down the list.

Anyways, I know I promised you a  reveal of my new farmhouse table. I keep going back and forth on whether I should show it now or wait. The thing is.....it's not quite finished. The table itself is, but I have a random assortment of thrifted chairs that are waiting to be painted. I am waiting on Annie Sloan's new Chalk Paint colors to arrive. My local stockist is supposed to have them on the 12th. I could show the table by itself, but I feel like waiting one more week to get my chairs painted and showing the whole sha-bang will be worth it! {I hope so anyway!} Plus, I'm waiting on some linens to arrive from Japan.
So that's where we are with that!

In other crafty news, I've been doing a lot of sewing. Mainly a birthday outfit for the Little Man (he'll be 2 on the 24th) and some fall clothes for him also.

A grainy, poorly lit iPhone photo of the beginnings of Little Man's bday shirt

And then there is this ginormous armoire that I have been dying to paint for a while and plan to start on tonight. It's getting a makeover in Annie Sloans Duck Egg Blue. I'm a little nervous about it. I hope it turns out well and  that I don't regret not painting it white.


Can you ever have too much white? I don't think so, but my husband disagrees. So on his request, I am braving the blue paint! Wish me luck!

Hope to show you  the farmhouse table next week!!