TLC Vintage Newsletter -- March

Annie Sloan is Coming to Des Moines!

Our big news this today is that Annie Sloan, inventor of Chalk Paint® is coming to Des Moines! TLC Vintage will host Annie throughout her stay where she will be with us at Junk Jubilee, April 29 and 30!

Junk Jubilee is held in the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. We will have a very large Annie Sloan booth #85 where Annie Sloan stockists (retailers) from around the state and as far as 200 miles from Des Moines will be available to answer your paint and decorating questions.

Annie will hold two demos each of the first two days of the show in a conference room. Reserved seats (no fee except to get into Junk Jubilee) are available by contacting Junk Jubilee or your local stockists. The demo times are 11 am and 1:30 each day. Your name will be on a list to enter at your preferred time.

We know you will enjoy Annie and her amazing knowledge of color and design as much as we do!

TLC Vintage at the new Des Moines Home and Outdoor Living Show

This week, TLC Vintage heads downtown for the all new Des Moines Home and Outdoor Living Show at the Iowa Events Center. Come and see HGTV’s The Property Brothers as well! Drew and Jonathan Scott are the show’s feature! We will be on the main aisle #120 and demo-ing paint almost all day everyday, March 11-13, Friday through Sunday. We will be selling Annie Sloan products at the show as well. Come see our displays of kitchen cabinet doors and our feature: The Bottomless Can of Paint! We have taken one can of Graphite to see how far it will go. As of today, we have painted a dresser, vanity and headboard with just a half a can of paint!

Tip of the Month

Save money and have a better looking piece of furniture! While working on this feature – The Bottomless Can of Paint – I realized why most people have trouble with Graphite looking streaky after applying wax. I think people are applying too much paint! Obviously, when demo-ing how far the paint will go, I have been using as little as possible. What I have found is that even we at the shop – even though we paint every day – are using more paint than we need to! My first coat is quick and thin, which dries quickly. For my second coat, I dip my brush into a little water then into the paint. It is more than enough and goes further and seems to have a more consistent thickness across the piece of furniture. The wax then looks perfectly consistent when applied!

ALL New Workshop Schedule

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® 101 Plus!

Seven popular paint techniques plus clear and dark wax methods! $85 in advance.  Saturdays Noon to 3 pm. Everything provided plus refreshments.

Apr 2       May 7      Jun 4         Jul 2      Aug 6

Sep 10     Oct 1       Nov 5        Dec 3

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® 102 Extra!

Stencil, crackle and decoupage projects! Leave with three items you can use or gift! $85 in advance. Saturdays Noon to 3 pm. Everything provided plus refreshments.

Apr 16               Jul 23             Oct 15

Chalk Paint® Kitchen Cabinets & Built-Ins! How to renew dated cabinets at a fraction of the cost without replacing them! We help you create your own prototype and style. $85 in advance. Saturdays Noon to 3-4 pm. Everything provided plus refreshments

Mar 19       May 14       Jul 16        Oct 8

Paint Your Own Piece!

Back by popular demand, bring a pre-approved furniture or décor piece that can easily be carried by you. We will help you carry out your ideas! $85 in advance includes paint/wax, brushes used in the workshop. Saturdays Noon to 3 pm

Apr 23        Jun 11        Sep 17

Wood Icing

Ice wood like you would ice a cake. Texture paste to add dimension to any surface! No one else is offering this product or class in Iowa. Two projects to take home. $85 in advance. Saturdays Noon to 3-4 pm.

May 28            Aug 20            Oct 22

Artisan Enhancements Special Effects!

Make magic happen with special products that will razzle/dazzle. Two to 3 projects to take home. $85 in advance, Satudays Noon to 3-4 pm

Mar 26           Jun 25            Sep 24

Rust & Patina
Choose a five letter word in advance for us to order the supplies. FAITH is popular. Or initial of family members. Learn five different techniques for iron, bronze and copper finishes. $85 in advance. Saturdays Noon to 3 pm
Apr 9         Jun 18       Oct 29

Introduction to Milk Paint
A variety of applications for the use of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. Wax distress, layering, staining and more! $85 in advance Saturdays Noon to 3 pm.
May 21        Aug 27

Girls Night Out! Wine, Cheese, Paint Therapy!

Put together a group and spend 3 hours in the studio painting! Organize your group. Book it for $360 minimum for your group up to 8 people. Upcharges depending on materials. You bring the wine, we provide the cheese and paint!

Cancellation and No-show Policy: We maintain the right to refund your money or arrange for a different date if we do not have the 3-4 people  to make a class viable. If you are ill or weather prevents travel, you may reschedule to another date within six months. If your plans change, we need a two-week notice before the class date if you want to be rescheduled. Under two week,s there is no refund but if your spot is filled we will allow you to reschedule, otherwise your fee is forfeited.  Check website for schedule changes. www.tlcvintagecollection.com

The Bottomless Can of Paint -- Take 2

Earlier this week TLC Vintage began a project using just one can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® and seeing how far it would go. We thought it was time to bring you up to date on our progress. Here is how much paint we have gone through so far.

Half a can left!

And here is what we have painted so far.......

To date, one coat of paint on this refashioned queen/king headboard. Loretta designed this by taking the original waterfall footboard and making it the new center of the headboard. Then she cut the two edges off the original headboard and extended the width of the new one! We also have the center of the original to create a vanity chair as this set was missing one. Stay tuned for that!

So far we have about one and a half coats on this tall dresser. You see our first coat is so thin you can still see some of the wood underneath.

Here's a look at our detailing on this piece. We used Annie Sloan's Gold Size and then applied silver foil to the handles and carvings for an Art Deco feel.

I think I've decided to call this set Gatsby after the novel and movie The Great Gatsby. This looks to me like tuxedo classic and that someone might sit here and get ready to go out and do the Charlston all night! 

We will be finishing off this half can of paint yet this week. I think it will go even further than we thought, so watch for a vanity chair, a bedside table and even more!

The Bottomless Can of Paint! Part I

At TLC Vintage Collection in Des Moines, we are often asked how far does one quart of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® go? So we decided to take on the challenge!

Here is what we chose -- a wonderful waterfall bedroom set which includes a tall chest of drawers, a vanity with mirror (not pictured) and a headboard/footboard for a double bed. Since a double bed size is fairly useless these days, we will be creating a new headboard from the two to use for a queen/king bed. We will also be using part of the leftovers to create a chair for the vanity.

And can you tell from the font we chose for these photos what style we are doing? That's right -- we are going for an Art Deco look, using Graphite Chalk Paint® and silver foil guilding on these beautiful handles and carvings. Glitz & Glam!

So let's get started! Watch for daily updates until the big reveal!

Easiest Ever Fake Marble Finish

Save this for the day that someone drops by and offers you a pickup truckfull of Doric columns! That's what happened to me at TLC Vintage Collection. But this great and easy fake marble finish will work on vanity tops, cement pillars, glass and more....wherever you would like a marble-type finished look.

These columns were not in the best shape. They were bright white, but scarred up. Pretty darn heavy -- I was told they were molded fiberglass, but if so they are the heaviest fiberglass I've ever handled. The tops were removable, but plastic. The bases were also plastic and had been caulked to the column, but most had broken lose during their salvage from a vacated beauty salon.

I asked that they be brought into my little 1890 SF retail store, not quite sure what we would do with them. We just spotted them around the shop here and there, not quite sure if we would keep or sell them, until.....a customer came in later that day and said how they added to the finished look of the store, giving a way for the eye to wonder around the shop from pillar to pillar. We decided they would stay!

We fell in love with them but they needed work. They were too stark white and there were black marks and scratches here and there. We decided they needed to look more like marble and neutral.
So here was what we needed and did for this transformation.

Supplies: A small roller tray, a small foam roller, Annie Sloan's decorative Chalk Paint® in Old White, French Linen and Paris Grey, Annie's Clear Soft Wax, a large waxing brush, a caulking gun and grey silicone caulk, an oversized stencil brush and lint free rags.

First clean your object well with degreaser if necessary, then hot soapy water and then rinse. In this case we also had to use a product to remove some leftover adhesive residue. We also scraped off all loose caulk and removed the top and bottom casings.

We laid our eight-foot columns out on two five-foot long tables, that would could work around.
We poured equal amounts of Paris Grey to the left of our paint tray, Old White in the center and French Linen on the right. We gently rolled our roller into this three colors, keeping them as separate in the pan and on the roller as we could. We rolled off excess in the pan's riser.

We then gently rolled this onto the column, working the roller and paint around until we were happy with the look. We did the same thing with the bases and toppers, but instead used three small pools of the paint that we tamped a large stencil brush in.

When the paint was dry we finished each column with a coat of Clear Soft Wax, removing the excess with a soft lintless cloth. We used Scott Shop Rags. Finally we put each pillar in its base and caulked the joining with the grey caulk. It was not necessary to do this to the tops, making them easier to move. I am sure we will sometimes use all or some of the columns at show events where we have booths.

This technique gives a noble look to most anything -- cement, simple table tops, crockery and frames. Remember if you use this technique on outdoor items, do not wax the item. The paint will age beautiful on its own outside. Until our next blog DIY!

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                 Janet at TLC Vintage