It was only a matter of time until Annie Sloan Chalk Paint arrived at our home..i have been wanting to try it for so long and have watched my blogging buddy Amy of the beautiful blog http://maisondecor8.blogspot.co.uk/ paint anything that didn't move! Amy is also an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint stockist and also has a beautiful online store,she has the link to her store on her sidebar....Amy's blog is a really good read and she has many techniques and lots of inspiring pictures,she is also one of the nicest girls i have met through blogging...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have seen a lot of furniture painted in the chalk paint on Pinterest but i was intrigued by reading you could paint metal,i have painted a lot of light fixtures and iron beds etc and have always had to prime,undercoat and top coat but not with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint you can paint it straight on....
I had this cherub lamp that i shared in an earlier post with it's 1960's/70's onyx and wondered if it could be brought up to date with a little paint and wax.....i will let you decide.....
Here is the lamp below before.....
Here is the lamp below before.....
I used the colour Versailles which Annie describes as a soft delicate lightly yellowed dusky green that is sophisticated and gentle...i had my Annie Sloan book on hand that i found in my bookcase that i had bought a few years ago....i went looking for inspiration and thought WOW! i have Annie's book?....don't ask haha......
I painted the lamp with one coat of Versailles and then washed over Old White,lightly removed some of the paint with a damp cloth to expose some of the old gold patina before i waxed using the clear wax......
Here is the lamp after.......
I also painted two white bird houses that i had bought a while ago and have always wanted to do something different with them......We sat down together this week the husband and i and decided on the colour range for our kitchen at Shingle Cottage which will be pinks,creamy yellows and greens very cottage and pretty......i want my kitchen to have a garden room feel as the door opens into our cottage garden with the white picket fence,so bird houses would be lovely but first they needed to be painted in Versailles,Antoinette and Old White......
Here they are after i was too excited and forgot to take a before picture....the stripey fabric they are stood on is now sitting in the the pile of fabric to be used in the kitchen....it is a really good match with Versailles.....
Love the colours together really pretty and so soft.....
I loved how it just did anything i wanted to do,water it down,paint over it,smudge it,mix it,wet it......it is a really creative paint and i am hooked!....
Loving how Versailles and Antoinette look against my enamelware and old china......
Below is a swatch i found on Pinterest showing how you can mix Primer Red with Old White and the pink colours you can achieve..the pink gingham fabric is going to be on chairs i am recovering for the kitchen and the rose fabric will be at the window so i am going to order Primer Red as the pinks look great with my fabric......
Talking of the kitchen the last time you had a peek it looked like this after i knocked everything out....
Well it now looks like this below...well actually Steve plastered these two walls before we went home and i painted the wood with knot solution and white primer but you can see we have moved the door now and we have so much more room....Steve sweeping up gives you an idea how big our kitchen is....the planked wall were the old door is just breaks up the plaster board and gives the room a bit of character,we also ran the planks above the door a different way to the planked wall,we have done something like this in most rooms and of course our loved wood ceilings are in here too..they make it feel really beach cottage to us....
The plastered walls will be painted in Soft Apple below and the ceiling and planked wall in Beauty Queen.......
The back of the door and the cupboards are going to be in some shade of creamy yellow to tie in with the rose fabric below...........
Oh yes the cupboards that i found behind plasterboard at the other side of the kitchen......
There are two tall ones on the right hand side too and after i pulled off hard board......
I discovered pretty paneled doors underneath and we had them dipped and stripped on Monday ready for this weekends work which will be cladding inside of all the cupboards,re hanging the doors and see the wall were the blue tiles are? this will be planked top to bottom....i picked up some cut glass door knobs from TKmaxx about two years ago for these doors,it will be so nice to see them go on soon.....
The cupboards are to the left of the picture below just as you come in through the front door,you can just see the frame.....where Steve is working there will be a small table and two chairs for friends that stop by for tea or for our Sunday morning breakfasts....there i go all dreamy again...i so can not wait to live here......we had a central front door but decided it had to go,it is so much more cozy in the middle of the cottage without it,remember the little white cast iron fireplace in the hallway? well that is were the old doorway was.....i know people say you should not walk straight into a kitchen but this is a beach cottage and it works......we are having french doors on the dining room at the back of the house so when we have guests for dinner they can walk up through the pretty cottage garden and straight to the dining table.....
I know it all looks a bit building site but i have everything planned and chosen and a very clear picture of how it will all look.......i watched my mother for years matching small pieces of designer fabrics left over from where she worked as a seamstress,she would make these into cushion fronts and match them with charity shop finds.... buttons and trims saved in her sewing cupboard would finish the look...
It will all come together in the end....
I am happy i have found a place for the lamp shade below too,i made it because i loved the fabric not thinking were it would end up,you can't see in the fabric but there is a pale greeny grey pattern on the fabric that looks beautiful against the Versailles and the pink in the roses has the same tone as rose fabric which will hang at the window.....see how the bottom of the bird house in Versailles matches the bottom of the large rose covered jug? such a beautiful colour to ground all the pretty sugary colours.....
So lots of work to do this weekend,we can't wait to get there tomorrow and then i can finish my wall that i painted with a sandstone colour last week to tie in with the tiles on the hearth...this weekend i will lightly sponge and dry paint it with pale grey and antique white to give it a soft faux stone look....we had to light the fire last week it was so cold in June!!!.....The skirting board is on a slope as it is waiting for new floorboards to be pushed underneath it......
On top of the chimney we now have a baby sea gull who is just adorable...there were three chicks but one has died and one is missing...other gulls will snatch the chicks if they have the chance.....life can be cruel some times but i am concentrating on the one that is alive just like the mother.......
So that's it from me and Shingle Cottage.....
Join me next time for,Annie Sloan paint make overs,kitchen cupboard pictures,Sea gull chicks,lampshade techniques and for more tales and goings on down at Shingle Cottage....
