Midcentury Revival

I love technology. I’m blogging from the pick-up line at my son’s school. You have to be here thirty minutes early just to get your car in the line! While I have my youngest son entertained with a pencil, paper and Bolt on the DVD player as we wait, I am bored! So it was between Candy Crush or blogging and since I am on a seemingly impossible level on that game (I refuse to pay for boosters) blogging it is!
I used to really cringe at the sight of mid century furniture. Maybe it was the memories of the light-orange wood filling my grandmas house or the smell of the pieces I would stroll past at resale shops. In any event, I’m over it and I’m a little embarrassed that I judged this era so harshly. I can swallow my pride and say that I’m becoming quite fond of the style that I have described in the past as “the worst mistake Ethan Allen ever made” I’m sorry Ethan Allen, I’m sorry 1950’s, I’m sorry Grandma!
These pieces that seemed so boring and plain to me actually have a lot of neat, sleek, architectural detail and with some paint and a little creativity (or Pinterest) they can look fab!
Meet shingle-front Shelly.

She’s an easy going gal whose older style could make a comeback with a few updates. I looked through Pinterest for awhile and found this cutie for inspiration.

I thought since my dresser didn’t have knobs or pulls, it might be boring just one color so I decided to extend the stripe down the drawers. After measuring and marking where I wanted the exposed wood stripe I taped it like so…

I then removed the drawers and painted a cream chalk paint just outside of the tape.

I removed the tape and after it dried I lightly sanded the painted areas and topped with a clear wax. After that dried I taped again for the navy chalk paint leaving a strip of the cream color under the tape.

I painted the top of the dresser navy and the sides cream. I also added a “dipped” look to the legs by taping off the tops and painting the bottoms cream.

Here comes the fun part, I centered number stencils in the middle of the wood stripe on each drawer. I taped them down and sponged on the cream color with a sponge brush.

and I added a lil somethin’ extra on the top.

After it all dried I gave it a good light sanding all over, distressing more on the edges with my sanding block. Then I layered one coat of Minwax finishing paste wax and topped with a coat of my DIY dark wax.

Shelly is updated and ready to add some mid century-cool to someone’s bedroom or entryway. Actually, I think she would look pretty great in just about any room.

DIY Chalk Paint Tutorial

It has been a crazy month and its not even over yet! My son starts pre-k tomorrow (tear) where has the time gone? My friend’s daughter has been diagnosed with leukemia (boo! Tears, tears, tears!) but with lots of treatment and prayers, things are finally looking up. Lastly, my sister just had a baby!! (Tears of joy)
Now that my eyes have momentarily dried I decided to ease back in to my blog with a simple chalk paint tutorial. I LOVE chalk paint and use it on everything! It’s my go to, it has great coverage and it sticks to just about any surface without sanding.
Here’s what I use…
Scoop 1 tablespoon of Unsanded Grout into a cup.

Add about a teaspoon of water slowly until you get a thick peanut butter consistency like this…

Then add 1/2 cup of your favorite paint and you’re good to go! I usually use a flat, satin or eggshell paint but I’ve used semi-gloss in the past and it has turned out just fine.

Be sure to seal your finished pieces with a furniture wax. I like Minwax Finishing Paste Wax. You can also add an aged look or depth with a dark wax.
Oh, the things you can paint (corny Dr. Seuss word play and clever Segway to show off some of my past work)

Pleasant Little Surprises

A friend found a pretty neat little table set for sale and immediately contacted me. She gave me the link and told me she thought I could work with them. How sweet is that? I love that people think of me when they see junk 🙂 She was right, they had great lines and they were already primed! Score!

They sat in my craft room for a few days, while i tried to get the creative juices flowing before I actually started painting them. I still didn’t really know what I was going to do when I started but I decided to paint the legs in a minty green chalk paint. I haven’t done a mint color in awhile so that was really my only reasoning, I still had no plan. When I had them all painted, they looked okay with the white tops. So I thought I would just distress a little with my sanding block and apply my dark wax.

Meh… Why not sand the top and stain it? It couldn’t look any worse. I am so glad I decided to do that. After what seemed like an eternity of sanding( I have no idea what the heck that girl used to paint these tables) I thought I saw a little design or something. So I kept sanding and just look at I what I discovered!

Are you kidding me? Who in their right mind would paint over something like that? Anyway, after sanding, I stained the top with Minwax Gel Stain in walnut.

Awesome. I left the white edges because I was tired of sanding plus I thought it looked cool. I did the same to the other end table an then thought “Omg, I hope there’s a design on the coffee table.”
Bingo

I just love little surprises like that. With that small little detail my blah project turned into a beautiful set.