Ceilings

Ceilings bother me -- a lot. All the ceilings in my house are textured and white -- no matter what the walls are. No trays, no molding -- nothing. Blah. With this challenge I have set to redo the house with all Annie Sloan products, it is really on my mind. Then I found this today:

Now there is some ceiling! It really lowers the ceiling -- and that is not my intent. I have nice 9 foot height on ground floor and 8 foot upstairs. So most likely the ceiling will be the same or a lighter shade of my wall covering.

Because I have that textured ceiling, I have thought of dry rollering the whole thing lightly so that the indented part stays white and the outie parts pick up the color. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I do really love the color combos of these walls, ceilings, woodwork. But maybe that pattern should have been on a floor cloth instead!

Kim Cole Wins Iowa Great Chalk Paint Give Away!

Kim Cole, YOU are the winner of the Iowa Great Chalk Paint Give Away!

Not only did you win this sleighful of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint products, but your name will be entered into the Jolie Design, worldwide distributor of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, drawing. That drawing is for a registration fee (or product equivalent) to a workshop on the Annie Sloan American Tour.

Here is what I know about Kim. She lives outside Indianola, Ia. She has also recently started painting furniture finds (yep, a bit of a junker in her!). Fortunately she sent me a couple photos of her work!

I think maybe Kim will enjoy adding some other colors from the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint palate and experimenting with some of the 50 different techniques and ideas in Annie's book 50 Quick and Easy Paint Transformations. Kim, email me and we will discuss delivery of your winnings!

We had literally hundreds of entries into the contest and I want to thank you all for becoming followers of Annie Sloan and TLC Vintage Collection. I hope to meet many of you and hope you can make it to the March workshop in Chicago. We will have a blast!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Last Day to Enter the Iowa Chalk Paint Give Away

Busy day. My grandboys, 7 and almost 3, are to come over and decorate Christmas cookies. Need to run to The Brass Armadillo, need to clean up yesterday's work mess, clean house, wrap presents! Fortunately Dan has day off and he will help.

So this is just a reminder that you have about 17 hours left to enter the Chalk Paint Give Away if you haven't before. It's a wondful box of things to get you started on your next and future paint projects! You get to choose the paint colors!

Photo Courtesy of Shade of Amber, Colorado...And don't forget Barcelona Orange which was not available when these colors were done.

Please visit Annie Sloan American Tour and get signed up for a workshop near you in March!

For an extra entry for my drawing tonight, please tell me in comments below or email, what village is Annie Sloan's decorating shop located in England? The answer is at http://www.anniesloans.blogspot.com/

Good luck on winning this!

The winner of my drawing will be entered into the national drawing for a spot at one of Annie's March workshops!

Remember also, the reason for the season. Peace!

Project Christmas Presents: A running blog

4:15 pm I could have done another one, seriously! But I've got to leave for a reception!

Pick the before and after photo! LOL. Merry Christmas, Sis!

So here's how I finished up the table. Clear wax, then some dark wax, then some gold wax highlights. I will buff tomorrow. Who wouldn't like this under their tree! I will probably do something more with the pulls because they are kind of blending. So I will play with dark ax on the details a bit more tomorow. Cheers!

3:15 The blanket stand is complete! I will wait and buff tomorrow to give it a tougher finish and shine.

Compared to:

Detail:

Onward with the table.....

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2:15 pm -- Second coat of Napoleonic on the blanket rack. So as soon as that is dry, will wax and distress it. See how quick this paint dries for you? I wax, then distress to eliminate dust from my environment. You just wipe off the loose bits that you have removed from the piece and then touch up with a bit of wax to seal the edges. I am distressing lightly on this because there is a layer of gold paint underneath that I want to show in places. Decided I will go with clear wax as the color of blue is about right to match The Blue Boy.

But I did adjust the pink for the second coat. I left the back with just the original pink Bubble Gum, so you could see the difference. The new one is called Barbie Pink because it reminds me of those little pink booklets of outfits you got with each Barbie clothes purchase when I was a kid. I cannot give you measurements as I added the red to my leftover pink....

I also think it is going to work a bit better with the dark blue of the drawer insides. My next decision is a color for the original drawer pulls. May go a deeper pink yet for those and then touch p with a little gold wax!

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12:45 pm -- Invented my pink; I call it Bubble Gum. 8 parts Pure White and 1 part Emperor's Silk. Did you know that is another super great thing about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP)? Little to no black in the paints so you can combine and get beautiful new-to-you colors! No mud!

Like it? I love the details on these drawers and can't wait to figure out how to make them stand out. I may make the next coat a bit darker pink by adding Emperor's Silk to what is left of my mixture. Or I may add some Emperor's Silk to my clear wax. Did you know you can do that too? Just play with this paint!

And then there are this girl's gams! They will need some special treatment to stand out too!

You know what? I have not heard a word -- by phone, email or FB from my dear sis today. Do you suppose she is onto this project and lurking out there, watching my every post?? LOL. Just like when we were kids and would search the house for our presents! Boy, did we spoil a lot of surprises for ourselves!

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It's now 11:45 am and first coat on blanket rack and inside drawers. Napoleonic Blue is being used to match up with The Blue Boy. I had to shellac a smiley ink drawing someone left on the side of the table. This is so the ink does not bleed through my paint when I get to it. Unfortunately the side table has not seen a brush yet. I had some veneer on the drawers that had to be reglued. Problems, problems. I decided to drop the third item for today as I ran into so many issues to deal with -- not to mention that my husband just reminded me I have to be dressed and down town for the launch of the book I helped write this past year....more on that tomorrow....

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It's 10:45 and I have hit a snag. Note to self: Not all old furniture is worth saving! Check it out closer before I buy. Yep, bad veneer -- on both, not just one piece! The shorter table has to be abandoned for today as it is so bad that it has to be removed. And under you can see the joints. hmmmmm. Other is workable but will take a while. I may just pull out the other table my sis liked that seems to be in a sounder state. The cuter tall table can still work for us.See what I've been struggling with for past hour.

Hopefully next time I check in here, I will have to set down a paint brush, instead of a chisel, in order to log in!
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It's 9:45 am and I just brought the "presents" in their rough states from garage into kitchen. Yep! That's my paint workroom! You can use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint right on site -- no obnoxious odors to deal with. So I'm rolling up my sleeves. Here are the items: 2 mismatched bedside tables and a blanket rack. Sad, aren't they?

So check in every hour or two and see how it's coming along!