We have moved into our new home at http://patinahomeandgarden.net

There is only one Chalk Paint®

Just clearing up the confusion:

Chalk Paint® decorative paint "Tranforms" Furniture!

I recently started a new plan in March for my blog.  I am so crazy busy with kids, a non profit, paint deliveries and my love for working in Eco Chic Home, I came up with an idea to share the love of Chalk Paint® with my customers from other bloggers, too.  I really enjoy reading customer stories, before and after photos, and hearing what other bloggers are up to.  I'm starting off a feature series with other bloggers and would like to introduce you all to Pam at Thrifty Cottage Couture.  Not only is she beautiful, but her work is amazing.  I'm sure you will all agree!

About Pam from Thrifty Cottage Couture:

Do you blog?  I have recently started mine, but with three small kiddos at home and this little business I just started growing the blog is pretty neglected :( I mostly update my facebook page as a way to keep folks in the loop.  (You can find her here on Facebook:  Thrifty Cottage Couture)

How long have you been painting furniture?  I started painting furniture almost exactly one year ago this past January. I had painted a few pieces here and there using latex paint, and was posting pictures to my personal facebook account when all my friends really started encouraging me to seriously think about starting a little business. I liked the idea that I could do it from my home since I am a stay at home mom. One of them introduced me to Miss Mustard Seed's blog, and the rest is history. 

How long have you been using Chalk Paint®?  I purchased my first can of Annie's Chalk Paint® in Old White and painted some dining room chairs.  I was HOOKED. I have used Chalk Paint® ever since. So pretty much all my pieces since last January have been painted with Annie's paint in some form or another. Glass, brass, wood, metal, veneer I have covered it all. I love the challenge of a piece and it is exhilarating to see it successfully finished!

Did you start by taking a workshop or just went for it?  I haven't had the opportunity to attend a workshop yet since there really isn't one close to me. I've learned all the tricks by watching Miss Mustard Seed & Perfectly Imperfect's online videos and by just being brave and going for it. And now that pinterest and facebook is booming I love checking out all your posts for great tips and inspiration. You have such wonderful taste!

Why do you like Chalk Paint®?  I use Chalk Paint® because it is simply so amazing to work with. I absolutely LOVE that I don't need to sand or prime. And since I don't have to do all that sanding and priming I have WAY more time for the part I really enjoy, distressing, waxing, and color washing, and layering! I just love staring at a newly painting piece and thinking about how I can really start the transformation!! I also absolutely love the freedom Chalk Paint® gives for mixing custom colors. You really can't go wrong. And the fact that you can pretty much blend any color you can dream up is a bonus!

Tell me a little about the pieces you painted, where they came from, and any details of them.  You are going to flip when I tell you about these two pieces. I purchased the dresser on Craigslist for $30. They were so worried I wouldn't take it because they accidentally bleached the top cleaning it up before I arrived. I couldn't believe all the details and knew it was a perfect piece for what I like to do with Annie's paint. I stared at this one for about a week just because the possibilities were endless. One day it all fell into place and I picked up my brush and started painting away. I ended up using Paris Grey, Old Ochre, and Old White. This is probably my favorite color combination. It's just so warm, and yet still very light and airy. I did have to remove some veneer so I blended a Annie's Emperor's Silk and Antibes Green to make a custom brown so that when I distressed later the under layer matched all around. I find that if I stain underneath the paint sometimes it bleeds through so this was the solution I came up with. Works like a charm! Then I lightly sanded all the details and edges so they would pop a bit and I finished it all off with Annie's Clear Soft Wax.

a before of the dresser...

I think this is one of the prettiest dressers I've seen

with Chalk Paint®.  Really amazing work, Pam!

The curved curio was actually FREE!! It was given to a friend of mine and they didn't like the style so they sent it my way. Thank goodness! I really love pieces with lots of character to begin with. It is so much fun to bring out some of the lost details! I painted this beauty with Annie's paint in Cream & Old White, and made a custom blend for the interior of Paris Grey, Old White, Provence, and Louis Blue. It really looks quite a bit like Old Violet...I lightly sanded all the edges with 200 grit sandpaper and finished up with clear wax.

the FREE curio before...

Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan & the good ol' outdoors!

Chalk Paint® has so many uses and I tell my workshop

attendees to never, ever use Annie Sloan Wax as

an outdoor finish.  I don't protect anything I paint

outdoors, but at times I will lightly sand them with 

600+ grit sandpaper to burnish and protect from scratches

if it's a flat surface.

Here is a metal table I painted in Antibes Green,

distressed and left as is.  It was one of the

first things I painted in the summer of 2011.

Some outdoor signs I created for a local farmers' 

market, all with Chalk Paint® on old barn redwood

 

This is customer, Kristel's, previously aged and

rusty brown metal patio chair set she

painted with Graphite and lightly burnished

with 600 grit sandpaper

Another outdoor customer project from one of

my workshop attendees, Karla.  Her project

was done with Chateau Grey and Arles on the side table.

Here's a peek of my garden shed

done in Olive and Old White, painted in June 2011

One of my campers, Emily, from this summer did this

outdoor Chalk Paint® project in Country

Grey.  She is13!  See little Ross peeking through 

the table?  He is the sibling to our Cavalier, Ivy!

Remember NO wax outdoors.  It doesn't do well with heat

and temperature changes.  Any moisture will trap itself under

the paint and create bubbling, but the paint alone will

not chip or flake like latex does and is a perfect

makeover for your outdoor furniture!  I see no need

to ever put a poly or lacquer finish over this paint 

for outdoors.  We really get caught up with the

need to "protect" everything here in the U.S. but

Chalk Paint® is really a durable finish by itself.

Confessions of a Collector

I love to collect all things vintage.  I have long been a fan of white ironstone and USA's vintage line of pottery.  It all started with a vase that I took with me when I left home at 19 and it's continued on.  I don't actively look, but when I come across something I love, I buy it.  I come from a long line of collectors, the best being my grandfather who has a McCoy collection that would take your breath away.  We just recently saw it when we were visiting in Ohio and even my teenage girls were enamored by it.  

My latest fix is Italian and French canning jars.  I've been able to find them in my travels delivering paint in the east bay for about $2-$4 per jar.  Last year it was old Baby Ben clocks, working or not.

This stair wall that has taunted me for years because two years ago, I painted it with what was left over of one of the "all in one" latex primer and paint formulas.  It was awful and blotchy and why I lived so long looking at that wall when I could have just painted it over, you got me.  It took me all of 26 minutes to pull out my pot of Chalk Paint® in Old White, a roller and a blended fiber paint brush and get at it.  Here is the wall before.  

Thanks to Annie Sloan, I have learned to accept imperfection.  As a painting contractor, my results must be perfect, lines have to be straight, finishes must be blended, but I've grown into this imperfect soul now.  Enjoy this photo from my Annie Sloan fellow "stockist bff," Deborah Cooper-Ramos that she proudly displays on her workshop wall…"Beauty in Imperfection" by Annie Sloan.  I struggled with making the frames sit perfectly on my wall and then I just let go because there IS beauty in imperfection.  This is the workshop wall at Peinture in Costa Mesa, CA:

Here is my wall after, proudly displaying my collection of graphite sketches I'm so in love with right now.  I make paint deliveries twice a week to the bay area and recently stopped by a consignment store and scored two sketchings by an artist out of Oakland.  Apparently, she recently died and suffered from dementia.  I was honored to display two of her sketches on my wall, both still life.  Do you collect?  What do you collect and where do you go to find your collections?