Paint On My Hands

 

A rusty old watering can

and this cute little can of Saltwash occupied my day last Friday.

Actually, it wasn't the watering can, but the bottom that rusted completely off and I saved for some inexplicable reason.

But, then I saw this cute sign and all of a sudden saving the rusty circle seemed to make sense.

My can of Greek Blue paint was out so I slapped a coat on that rusty piece

and rearranged the porch shelf to show it off.

The blue paint was out because I was transforming an ugly duckling of a table into a swan using Saltwash and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

@ilovesaltwash

I learned about Saltwash on Instagram and I was intrigued with the the bumpy, weathered look the Saltwash creates so I ordered some online from Amazon.

The first thing I painted was the top of a stool using an undercoat of Saltwash and ASCP in Pure White followed by a top coat of Antibes. 

I love the crackled look after sanding.

This table had seen better days,

and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint dries quickly so the whole transformation, from mixing the Saltwash into white paint to the final sanding, only took about 3 hours.

When you look at the before and after photos of the kitchen, you can see that I painted one more thing - I'm reducing the amount of red in the house so the farmhouse table got a coat of ASCP Pure White.

Today there was no paint on my hands and it wasn't as much fun - I washed every pillow and slipcover in the house.

Paint Can Do Wonders

I am back at school after a fun and productive break.

And, I am still on a roll with my projects.

Yesterday I gathered up these caddies that have seen better days and took them to the garage.

While I was at it I grabbed this pitcher I found on the discount Easter rack at Tuesday Morning- marked down 70% to $2.10.

My one lonely scale also made it to the garage.

I soaked the paper off the pitcher

 and gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Old White to take off the shine.

The pitcher ended up in the living room on my Tuesday Morning green chair.

The new colors for the caddies are a vast improvement.

The white caddy, a cheap TJ Maxx find, stayed in its usual place on the front porch bench.

The red caddy KC made for me in middle school is now on the dining room table.

The green caddy is still looking for a permanent home so it is being moved around the house.

I embellished the indoor caddies to give them a little something extra.

I have wanted to paint my scale since the day I bought it - almost a year ago- and just never got around to it.

The red makes a better statement on the green and yellow table.

I even painted my scrabble tile holder.

I have a bench in the guest room waiting for a makeover, the dresser is still waiting for its coat of Greek Blue and I am sure I will find some other things that could do with the wonders of paint.

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Keep Trying - 'til you get it right . . .

Do you ever walk past a piece of furniture day after day and then one day decide it isn't right?

I bought this chippy cabinet last fall -

great color, fits just right in my hallway yet something is wrong.

I've been thinking that it makes the hallway too dark.

Steve is still recuperating from his surgery and I passed JP's cold on to him so he went to bed early.

I was relaxing after another crazy week at school (just 88 days left) and looking at beautiful blogs.

I don't remember exactly which one got me off the sofa, but I knew that a change was coming.

A quick trip to the garage produced a new can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

I worked in the living room so I could enjoy a fire while I painted.

ASCP is great because it dries quickly and is easy to clean up - I was able to get a second coat on before going to bed.

After breakfast the cabinet was back in the hallway waiting to be decorated.

With the cabinet white, the painting pops against the yellow wall.

Since Steve's income is from the sale of art, I should want all of his work to sell, but this piece has special meaning. 

On a vacation to New York City, we saw the great door with incredible patina on Bleeker Street.

I insisted we stop to get photographs so Steve could paint me my own door.

I wanted to keep the focus on the painting so I tried several different items on the cabinet.

I began with the same items that had been on the blue/green cabinet.

The whole look is much lighter without the blue/green, but a new color deserves a new arrangement

Next up was my vintage basket of croquet ball - from my childhood croquet game.

Same colors as the door - still not right.

I gathered things from all over the house and came up with this little vignette.

The cabinet is finished, I think I got it right.

And now it is time for garden therapy.

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Don't Mess With the Cook

The kitchen is not my domain, so any time I want to do anything in the kitchen, I have to make Steve think it was his idea.

I wrote about moving things around here and here.

When I painted the shelves a couple of weeks ago, Steve immediately ordered a butcher block for the cabinet.

The butcher block arrived on Thursday and Friday night I got busy painting the cabinet white.

After waxing, I did some sanding and wanted to keep going,

but Steve said it looks fine and believe me, I

There were little yellow and white polka dot knobs on the cabinet when it was red, but I went with silver knobs to match the rest of the kitchen.

Steve likes it because it blends in and he thinks the room looks larger.

The shelves sport my favorite yellow and red bowls and canisters.

I bought the Mason jar shelf years ago at a home decor party I hosted.

It was during my Americana phase so the shelf was slate blue and it was relegated to the garage about 5 years ago.

With a fresh coat of ASCP Old White and some new jars it has a new life in the kitchen.

A salute to Valentine's Day is the conversation hearts and blue Dove hearts in the Mason jars.

I did hang up a little banner I made yesterday.

Steve saw it and put his foot down - not in HIS kitchen.

Since he made me a lovely paella while I wrote this post I saw the wisdom of removing the banner.

There is an old saying, "If mama ain't happy, ain't no one happy."

And if Steve "ain't happy", I don't eat.

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