Urban Comfort

Farm Cabinet Makeover

Last summer, my husband brought this cabinet home and it's been sitting in my kitchen ever since, waiting for me to do something with it. But I'm slowly and steadily working through overdue home improvement projects this summer and this is the second of my completed paint projects using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

I really wanted to create an organized and efficient baking center. Up till now, my kitchen cabinets and drawers have been overflowing with baking supplies mixed in with a million other odds and ends - not a particularly workable situation. I needed a dedicated space, and this cabinet seemed like the perfect solution.

I used a vintage kitchen green as my inspiration and I when I went to buy my paint, the stockist worked with me to create the color I wanted (she painted a paper plate for me, so I could bring it home). I fine-tuned it a bit more when I got home, judging its effect when paired with my wall color and in both existing and artificial light.  (As I've mentioned before, I create colors using very small amounts of paint. Once I get exactly the color I want, I make a larger batch. But the great thing about mixing colors is that you can keep track of all your experiments, painting a little swatch on an index card and making note of the ratios. The color that isn't right for the current project might be perfect for something else down the road.) 

I didn't do any special effects this time as I wanted a solid, opaque color. Once I mixed my color and gave my cabinet a general cleaning, I applied two coats of paint directly over the old paint, then finished with two coats of clear wax. And fortunately for me, the original hardware and enameled top were still in good condition, making quick work of the entire job.

I find the finished piece more charming than the original and I finally have a dedicated space to store my baking supplies, with a little working space left over - exactly what I needed!

 

My Inspiration:

This photograph from The Fisherman's Cottage reflected all of the elments of my kitchen  - wall color, appliances, plenty of silver, white, and glass mixed with black accents. So this was the green I decided to introduce into my existing neutral palette.

 

Before:

 

Color Recipe:

 

2 ounces Antibes Green + 5 ounces Old White + 1.5 ounces French Linen  

 

After:

Conquering the Antique Mall

I have friends of various ages, some of whom are just starting to create homes for themselves. How to create a home is a topic that comes up regularly. They take a look around my house, trying to figure out how I worked everything into a form of personal expression.  They're not looking for a carbon copy of my home, just wondering where and how to start - and still do it on a budget. I tell them to hit the thrift stores, the antique malls, and the flea markets.

I'm not a purist. I happily mix IKEA and discount store items with finds from thrift stores and antique malls, interspersed with a few exceptional pieces. But I follow two rules - I don't overpay for something, even if I love it (because the knowledge that I overpaid usually takes away from any pleasure the item may have brought me) and I only buy what I truly love. I also edit my collections on a regular basis, disposing of anything I've grown tired of living with. I move things around a lot, too, bringing things in on a seasonal basis, creating different focal points in my home. 

But I think it's the details that really make up the character of a home, and a lot of my details come via visually crowded antique malls, thrift stores, and flea markets. Some people, in the face of such visual overload, shut down and only see junk. Others view it as an adventure. I'm the latter, but only because I've learned how to cut through the clutter to find what I want.

So to my friends who want to make the most of an antique mall (and create a home in the process), here are a few exercises I use to help make shopping a productive, pleasurable, cohesive process:

 

 (The industrial lightbulb will become part of an idea I'll share in the fall. The labware I find to be both useful and good for display. The child's muffin tin is a good prop and will store small craft items on my desk in the meantime.)

1. If you're starting with a virtually empty room, buy one thing you love and build a collection, room, or home around it. My kitchen began with a $20, vintage industrial find that dictated (and continues to dictate) everything else that followed. It doesn't have to be a precious piece - just something that serves as a creative lynchpin.

2. Set a tight budget for yourself before you go. If you strictly limit what you'll spend on any given trip, you'll be less tempted to scatter your resources and better able to hone in on what you really want to buy.  

3.  Set a theme for the day.  When I set a theme for myself, I can scan through clutter more easily and come back with a cohesive collection of goods. On my last trip, I settled on vintage industrial style and came home with the items you see in the photograph - culled from a variety of stores and vendors. My only deviation came at the end of the day when I saw the white serving dish and snapped it up. It works perfectly with the collection of white dishes I already own.

4. Shop by color. I think this is one of the easiest ways to unify a disparate collection of objects.  I have lots of dishes and serving pieces, but I limit myself to shades of white or neutral colors. That way, when I mix my vintage finds with newer pieces, they still work together and look good on display. To shake it up, I bring color in through table linens, napkins, or flowers. But if red is your passion, buy it in bulk and temper it with a neutral here and there. 

5. Shop by decade. When you shop within a decade, most of the items will work well together. This doesn't mean that your home can't be an eclectic mix of periods, it's just another way to create focus on a particular excursion.

6. Limit the displays. If I'm on the road, I feel the need to take in as many vendors as humanly possible. But if I'm shopping close to home, I'll limit myself to just a few vendors and spend time looking over each and every item they have available. Doing this, I've managed to find some prized possessions that would have easily been overlooked in a rapid scanning.

 

(The ruler I purchased was originally used to measure hemlines. I repurposed it to display a photo)



In addition to these exercises, there are things you can do to prepare beforehand. First, sketch out floorplans of your home, including things like electrical outlets. Fill in the dimensions of the space, along with the dimensions of any existing furniture. If you really want to flesh it out, include existing paint or fabric swatches. It also helps to bring along a tape measure.

Second, discover your personal style by exploring what visually inspires you. Tools like Pinterest are great for this. If you start pinning images of interiors that you like, however inexplicable, you can go back and look over your boards to see if there are visual themes that emerge. I like this because it's a more subconscious process and eventually, your style will become clear. 

 

And in the end -

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. William Morris
    

 

Dresser Makeover with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I have no less than nine painting projects on the back burner - some for more than a year. A lot of it's been psychological because I swore off latex paint on furniture once I discovered milk paint, and using milk paint requires a certain mindset and commitment for true durability - like stripping the furniture beforehand.

I know there are tutorials that will tell you you can forego stripping or sanding when using latex paint, if you use certain primers. I did this with a stenciled dresser, before I discovered milk paint, and it will eventually need to be redone as the latex has started pulling off the top of it, despite the fact that I sanded and used a highly recommended primer. Annoying, to say the least. And milk paint can be used without sanding or priming, but it requires the addition of a bonder and it works, better than latex, but not quite as durable as the finish on the cabinet I stripped first. So I've been sitting around, waiting to get motivated enough to give each piece the care it requires.

But last week I had the pleasure (and luxury) of spending a day with Lisa Rickert at the U.S. headquarters for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It was my first time using the paint and I learned lots of different techniques and got plenty of hands-on experience. I know it's just paint, but I left greatly inspired and I couldn't wait to wake up the next morning and start painting (a small miracle in itself!).

So I tackled this dresser project first. It was a curbside find that I put in my dining room and it was in good shape structurally, but I wanted to remove the veneer from the front and give it some color. My inspiration was the cover of a notebook, the subtle variations in the blue background. I thought that would work well in my dining room where the light is moody and picks up nuance very nicely. 

To say that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint has changed my view of DIY projects is an understatement. After finishing this dresser, I'm no longer looking at the eight projects I have left, filled with the sense that I'll never get them done. Now I'm just wondering how quickly I can knock them all out. The most tedious part of my dresser makeover was removing the veneer (not difficult, just boring). The painting and waxing were a breeze and the finished piece has the same beauty and depth as my milk painted cabinet. In short, I am OBSESSED and I've already started my second project (another small miracle).

 

My Dresser Before:

 

My Inspiration: (the lower left hand side, in particular)

 

My Process:

My color recipe was 50% Duck Egg Blue and 50% Provence. After I'd painted the entire surface with that mixture, I poured a little bit of Duck Egg Blue on one side of a bowl and Château Grey on the other side. I used a damp paintbrush and dipped the left edge of the brush into the Château Grey and the right edge of the brush into Duck Egg Blue. I then offloaded the excess paint onto a paper towel and dragged my brush over the painted dresser, varying my brush strokes - left to right, up and down, etc. This mixed the colors of paint together, giving me some lighter blue areas and some brownish green areas. If my paint got too dry or the lines too distinct, I just dampened my brush again (without adding paint) and continued going over the painted areas until the paint was blended to my satisfaction.  

It's subtle, but you see the difference between the first coat of paint and the light wash I added on top (both are before waxing, which brought out the tonal variations even more):

 

 

To finish it off, I applied a thin coat of Annie Sloan Soft Wax (clear) with a brush and after it dried, distressed it lightly with sandpaper, following the indentations and areas that had already been banged up and worn down on the dresser (distressing after waxing gently removes the paint with less dust and general messiness). I waxed the distressed areas again after 24 hours, then buffed the whole piece with a rag when the wax was no longer tacky.

 

 

You're likely to hear more about this paint as I work through my projects, but here's every reason I can think of now to encourage you to try it for yourself:

 

1. No sanding, no priming - Chalk Paint covers virtually any surface you can think of (including fabric) and it doesn't require sanding or priming beforehand. No bonders or additives required, even for fabric.

2. Flexibility - I changed my mind multiple times during the process of painting, from color to technique, and I was able to work with the paint all along the way. One of the things I learned about this paint is that water's your friend. If your brush strokes or color variations are too sharp, a damp brush smooths it right out. And if you change your mind about a color down the road, after it's waxed, you can paint right over the waxed finish (as long as it's been 24 hours after application).

3. Versatility - You can create an opaque, modern finish or a heavily distressed finish. It's suitable for all kinds of applications - color washes, thick gesso like finishes, crackled, cloudy stippled effects, dry brushing, layered, etc. Water thins out the paint or you can leave it with the lid off to thicken up and give you coverage that shows off brush strokes. 

4. Easily blended - It's easy to create your own colors with the existing palette, and the paint is sold in sample sizes as well as quarts. Sometimes you'll only need an ounce of a color when you're mixing, so it's nice to have that option. I used a detailed shot glass to create my color recipes (or you can try a kid's medicine dispenser) and once I had the color I wanted, I mixed it in larger quantities.

5. Great customer support - I went to one of my local stockists to purchase a sample size of a paint color I needed. The stockist wasn't just selling it, she was using it (in all kinds of ways) and had lots of insight to offer. We worked on a custom color right there, so I could make sure I had what I needed. She's not an anomaly - all of the stockists have been thoroughly trained in using the product and most offer workshops or demonstrations. 

6. Beautiful Finish - The paint dries to a matte, chalky finish (just like milk paint) and is meant to be finished with a coat of wax. The wax deepens the color slightly and gives it a silky, velvety feel. It makes your furniture look better than latex paint does. Period.

7. Quick drying time - It dries incredibly fast and can be recoated within a couple of hours - meaning that you can finish a piece of furniture in a single day, waxing included.

8. Easy cleanup - The paint itself is virtually odorless and you can clean your brushes with water, no soap required.

 

Resources:

Quick and Easy Paint Transformations by Annie Soan - An invaluable resource that gives great guidance on working with this paint.

Annie Sloan Unfolded (U.S. Distributor)

About the Chalk Paint

See paint profiles (click on the name of each color) for information about the colors, see them on finished pieces, and view color swatches.

Annie Sloan's blog, Paint & Colour