Versaille Chalk Paint Before and After

I just finished the sofa table this afternoon and I called Heather and told her she was not going to get it back.
I am keeping it!

OK, well not really but I am loving how it turned out.

Whenever I use a new paint color I will try it out on another smaller piece just to see how I like it and to see what kind of wax finish will be used.

I tested it on a piano bench that I had and that will be heading to the store tomorrow.

What a bummer it would be to finish a large piece and then realize you just don't like the color.

So this is the before photo of the sofa table.
Was not terrible by any means, but it was just a little too perfect and modern looking.
It looked manufactured and run of the mill.

 It made by the Bombay Company so there are about 7 million of the same thing out there.

Heather has to Golden Retrievers and Martha is checking it out.
She smells betrayal.
See the "look" I am getting from her? She is thinking, give me a cookie and I will forgive you.

I cleaned it with Dirt X to get the extra oils off of it. Pretty impressed with how well this stuff works. It stinks to high heaven, but it works.

It then received a 2 coats of Versailles Annie Sloan Chalk Paint which has a greenish/yellow hue to it.

Sanded it down with a fine grit sanding block to smooth out the brush strokes and to distress the edges.
A lot of people will not sand before they wax, I personally am not a fan of that look and it really chews up my sanding blocks to sand after waxing.

For the wax I mixed half clear wax and half dark wax. It makes the application much smoother and not quite so dark.
The candle sticks above are painted in Olive with dark wax.

Delivering it tomorrow.

Maybe.

Before....

and after.

 

Until next time,

 

Krista

Vintage Dressing Table

Seriously, I found it on the side of the road.

Bob, Sophia and I were driving down the road after leaving the Goodwill and there it was, SITTING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!

I asked Bob to stop but he wouldn't.  Could not believe that he was not stopping. I started to break out in a sweat. How could he keep going. How could he not pull over. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM!

All I could think of was "how am I going to get home, drop them off and get back to it before it was gone." 

We stopped at Advance Auto and I almost drove off and left him there to go check on it. When he got in the car and I told him to go back to the dressing table. Of course I got the roll of the eyes from both of them.

We pulled up and it was PERFECT.
OK, so I will clarify sitting on the side of the road.
Someone was sitting in their truck with this on the side of the road selling it.
Excuse the crappy iPhone photo.

And after a coat of Old White and Clear Wax here she is.

With Antoinette on the inside of the drawers.

I always wanted one of these when I was a little girl.

With pretty little glass knobs!

So cute!

Also I have started a Facebook site for Need A Latte Mom's Painted Furniture....I would LOVE IT if you would start following me.

There is a button on the top of the blog.

Until next time.....

Krista

Lnking up to:

Between Naps on The Porch

Buffet Before and After

Boy I sure have not started the new year with a bang. I just noticed that it has been  2 weeks since I last posted. 
Whoops.
I do have a slew of excuses, do you want to hear them?
I didn't think so.

December was pretty slow for furniture but the minute that ball dropped, things started to pick up.

The piece that I just finished is a buffet that a client has purchased a while ago. When they started to decorate their home realized that it just was not going to go with their design plan.

To make it work they decided to have it painted.

This is the server before being painted.
Of course I had started taking the hardware off and realized that I had forgotten to take a picture.
I always do that.

This is the after shot. Hard to figure that out I know.

I cleaned it with Dirt X to remove any residue that was left on the surface and to give it a good cleaning.

Gave it two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite.

I then sanded it with a fine grit sanding block. to smooth out the brush strokes of the paint and distress the high spots of the server. I sand before. I find it easier.

Boy there are a lot of  "I's" in this post.
Oh, well.

The cherry color of the would underneath really shows off the detailing of the wood. Love that.

I then covered it completely in Dark Wax.
Doing small areas at a time and buffing it as I went along.  Waiting too long to buff the dark wax makes it very difficult to get off. Whenever I get half way through a job like this is when I really wish I had a drill attachment to buff.
It honestly wears you out.

I then polished the hardware very lightly with Bar Keepers. Not a lot because I still wanted some of the dark in the crevices.

I really like how it looks and it is wonderful in their dining room.

Now to get the china cabinet done.

“Give. Inspire. Connect. Receive…Pass It On.”

Soulku

Namaste

“Give. Inspire. Connect. Receive…Pass It On.”

This is their mantra.

How beautiful is that.

Elise and John  Van Arnam were my son's soccer coach this fall.
A wonderful, positive, encouraging pair.
I loved that they had such a positive influence over my son.
The kind of people you want in your life.

Elise and her friend started a business call SoulKu.  This is the link to see the product and purchase. 
 It's a little blurry  (snagged it from their website)

They created these beautiful cards to pass on to others to encourage connecting with people that we meet.
         Each product is created to bridge the gap between wanting to say/do something kind and actually doing it.

We are interacting with people constantly but how often do we really acknowledge when someone really touches us personally.

They also have blog of photos their sharing here.

So Elise gave me these and I have had them on my desk for far too long.
Why?
Because I loved them so much, they were so wonderful that I wanted to do something really special with them.
Well that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?

 The New Year is almost here and I cannot think of a better way to start it off.

“Give. Inspire. Connect. Receive…Pass It On.”

Meeting Santa for the first time

I had a photo shoot last week to do a company Christmas Party. I love these kind of jobs because it is all candid photos  and little kids. Well there are a few adults but for the most part kids and the Big Guy!

Some kids want nothing to do with him.
Some will sit on this stool, right here.
Close enough thank you very much.

Happy to be in mom's arms because that guy is pretty scary to a three year old.

But then something really sweet happens.

Isabelle meets Ivy and starts to tell her all about the BIG GUY.

Ivy is skeptical but listens.

Isabelle is an old pro now.
She has experience with the BIG GUY.

I will take you to him.
It will be OK.

He is right over there, I will show you.

We are going to go meet Santa Claus.
Ivy is a little nervous but I will take care of her. Promise.

It's a long walk without mom but Isabelle is going to take care of her.

Stinky boys are blocking the way but they patiently wait.
You cannot rush these things you know.

 

Isabelle waits for Santa to be done with the stinky boys and tell him about her friend Ivy.

 



Well Santa is so excited to meet Ivy.
He gently tries to encourage her to come closer so that she can tell him what she would like for Christmas.

Ivy is nervous so Isabelle takes her hand and encourages her.

Telling her it is okay.
Just sit on the stool.

Or you can sit on his lap.

Santa senses her reluctance, but is patient.
We can talk right here.

Isabelle bravely climbs up onto Santa's lap.
This gives Ivy the encouragement she needs.

It is all good.
Everything is OK.
My friend showed me the way.

 

They chat.

They talk about Christmas.

About whether she has been a good girl this year, which there is no doubt.



 

She tells him about her brother,

but that will obviously have to wait until next year.

Because she will be experienced in these this area and will show him the way.

Smartrac Christmas photos on smugmug  here is the link