At TLC Vintage Collection, we transformed a 12-foot length of wall into an urban loft vignette using various products we sell every day to our customers. We also dug deep into our storage facility, drawers of cast-offs and perused Craig's List for items that would help set the scene! Here's what we came up with in two days and the steps to achieve it!
Start by clearing your space, cleaning the wall, spackling holes and sanding off. Next, I took a mixture of Artisan Enhancements' Fine Stone, Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Paris Grey and water and painted the entire wall to create texture. You can choose other colors such as Coco or French Linen depending on what color of grout effect you want in your wall.
Fine Stone is a gritty texture paste or plaster, creating a wall surface that reminds me of the plaster walls in our mid-century farmhouse growing up. It is rough and scratchy and will give our paint something to catch on in the next step....but I hope you can see the texture below.
Next we used the Brick Wall stencil from Royal Design Studio. Starting at the top center of our wall, we used plenty of frog tape to position our stencil. After several placements, the tape picks up enough grit from the surface that you need to toss it and use fresh pieces.
We chose Primer Red Chalk Paint® for our "brick". And all we did was lightly and unevenly dry brush the paint over the textured wall and stencil. We did not strive for uniformity in color, so that it had an aged and even white washed effect. After the wall was complete, we added a random area of Artisan Enhancements Venetian Plaster Antico that we troweled on to look like plaster that had not been removed during a rehab!
When the plaster dried, it had developed some awesome crackling. We emphasized this by sponging on French Linen then Coco Chalk Paint® to give it an aged look.
Next came decor, which we had been saving up on! First, a $10 Craig's List find -- shelves that we mounted to the wall.
Then we dressed those up with some fun items we varnished an mounted on stands -- magnets, clock parts -- or just items from inventory -- balance, clock, books.
We had previously finished a wood table with Modern Masters reactive Oxidizing Metal paints to create an awesome "patina" top so it moved into our space with some other items we love.
We also used Modern Masters Oxidizing Iron and Rust Activator to transform a couple blue enamel hanging lights into rusted iron patina -- one light is awaiting a spare part. A French repro poster on a vintage brass easel, an old dress form, some wood wine cases and other items help fill out the look.
Our store now has three style vignettes -- Shabby Chic, American Country and Urban Loft -- that will change as items sell and we transform or add other finds. This is an opportunity for us as creators and our customers to get a feel for what styles they want to adapt as their own. This transformation began Wednesday and we had it wrapped up by the end of day Thursday. Great products produce great results! Enjoy.....
-- Janet at TLC Vintage Collection
