Whenever I drive by an old, beat up house with wonderful detail, I immediately want to buy it and fix it up. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I can't help seeing the potential. The same thing happens to me when I go to garage sales and see pieces that have been well-used and are in need of some TLC. A recent find at a local garage sale. It cost me five bucks. Some would say it was five bucks too much...we'll see....
If you enjoy doing rehab projects, I hope you've been using Annie Sloan chalk paint. If you haven't heard of this, check out the link, find the closest store that sells it, and buy some immediately!! It. Is. Amazing. I first learned about this paint from the hysterical author Jen Lancaster. She did some great blog posts on projects she'd done using Chalk Paint, so I decided to try some...on my kitchen cabinets. OMG. But don't worry; they came out great, and I was sold.
So, my five dollar chair had been around the block a few times and was in rough shape. You may be thinking, "wow, this thing needs to be sanded down....hours worth of work...not worth it..." Well, that's one of the great things about this paint. It's like a good friend....very forgiving and not at all judgmental. You can paint without washing and without sanding. AHHH-mazing. But it gets better.
Any project I do these days, I like to involve the kids somehow. As I mentioned, this paint is very forgiving, so I was able to utilize the work of a very excited little one, even though she doesn't always paint in even strokes ;)
I decided to paint this chair with one coat of Old Violet and one coat of Old White, then manipulate it with sand paper for that old Parisian look.
Here's the chair after one coat of Old Violet (that's not a typo...one coat...told you this paint was AHHH-mazing!)
(I forgot to take a picture of the chair after the coat of Old Violet, so these have Old Violet and then the start of the Old White coat)
With one coat of Old White.
I let the chair dry for a bit, then started the sanding. This is the first time I've manipulated the paint this way (There are a bunch of ways to use this paint. You can add water to give it a unique look, mix with other colors to come up with a tone all your own, all sorts of options).
You can sand it as much or as little as you like. I sanded it a fair amount to get an aged look.
Once I was finished sanding, I washed the chair down and let it dry for a bit. Then I put one coat of a lacquer to seal it up. If you are considering using Annie Sloan chalk paint, talk to the dealer about what lacquer he or she recommends for the project you are doing. Annie Sloan also makes a wax, which I haven't used yet, that leaves a really unique finish.
So, one coat of Old Violet, one coat of Old White, a little bit of sanding and one coat of lacquer. Not bad!
In her new home....
