Home Repair Minimalist: September 2011

Brunch – Bored – Building an Ark!

Yesterday we had our Son/MaryAnn and Aidan over for brunch for MaryAnn’s birthday.

Besides the Egg Bake we had sausage links, Sour Dough toast and fruit
It went from this…

To this…

To this….

End result…

Aidan was preoccupied with hit little cup of Nutter Butter cookies – so nothing mattered at the moment…don’t know where his mind was but he sure was quiet.

After brunch he kept busy with his new Crayola coloring book and Magic Markers

Darren bought MaryAnn her Tony Romo Jersey

So on to the bored part…we had been so busy pretty much the entire month and now nothing…nothing to look forward to until the 20th of October when we go to PA for the Wholesale Show – it can’t come soon enough – I’m getting PA withdrawal. It will be one year since we made the trip and that’s just not a good thing!
Not even anything happening around here…no shows, no parties, no dinners – but I do have orders I’m working on and that’s good. Plus I really should get my mind in gear with some new ideas for next August for the Lititz show and the Artisan’s Porch Walk shows. Time does go by faster than ever it seems and it will be here before I know it.

Jump Drive And….today I’m transferring all my files onto Flash Drives. I have a few but they are small in storage space so today I bought one with a large enough file to hold ALL of my photos and website and other things can go on the other drives.
I’m getting way too many photos on the computer. Plus at the moment NOTHING is BACKED UP so it had better not crash while I’m in the process or I will have lost EVERYTHING important. And YES, I do back up on the Flash Drives…but last night I cleaned them all off to start over and that’s when I discovered not a single one was large enough…so please say a silent prayer for me today.

And for the Ark…well it has been raining here since last Sunday….every single day and night…off and on, off and on…just pouring when it does come on so it makes you not to even want to leave the house. Very gloomy. I need some kind of pick me up and quick!
If I was a drinker (for pleasure that is) I’d have my husband light the fireplace and sit back, read and ~~gulp~~ sip on a Mimosa!
How’s that for bad behavior - and on a weekday at that!

Where does the time go – this month just started and it will be October when we wake up tomorrow…It feels like Sept. just started. I know the older one gets the time flies by, but this is ridiculous – is it just me? Or do you feel time is just going by way too fast ?

I had thought maybe it’s because we plan so far ahead for things, or maybe we are wishing our lives away wishing for the next ‘fun’ thing to happen.
I wish I could just sit back and not think about tomorrow and then maybe it wouldn’t get here quite so fast. What’s the answer.

So my blogging buddies (Thank You) and all others that come visit me from time to time (I thank you too)…I hope I didn’t run on too long.
Guess for not having much to say today I did go on and on didn’t I ?

Have a great weekend and wishing you all a beautiful October!

Blessings,

Karen

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Cedar Chest with DIY Chalk Paint

I think I’m frugal.

My husband calls me cheap.

Like that’s a bad thing! (Whatever.)

What does that have to do with furniture?? Well, it means that despite great temptation, I have not made the switch to chalk paint. Despite all it’s good qualities, I can’t justify the price.

However….

Last week Sherry from No Minimalist Here posted about how to make your own CHEAP chalk paint!

I was very intrigued.

Sherry gave three suggestions for additives to make your own chalk paint: calcium carbonate, Whiting powder, or Plaster of Paris. Reading through the comments, another suggestion from Carole at Maynard Greenhouse was to use unsanded tile grout was to use unsanded tile grout, and that’s what I chose to use because it’s what I found first! Note: the grout comes in different colors; I bought white.

I started with this cedar chest I bought off a classified ad:

It was advertised as a “Mediterranean-style” chest, and I don’t really know what that means…but I’m going to go with it!

I mixed 2 T. unsanded tile grout with each cup of ordinary latex paint. It gets VERY THICK, so I diluted with at least 1/4 c. water, I think…then I got to brushing! And despite my misgivings, I did not sand or prime.

The paint was still VERY gritty, no matter how much I stirred it (I would love to know if the other homemade versions are the same). However, as it dried most of that magically disappeared. And…there were no brush marks!

I was virtually painting in the dark, so I noticed the next morning that I had some drips. I got out the sandpaper. With latex paint, sanding drips is usually a disaster, as it all just peels off, and I never seem to be able to make the flaw blend in again. With the homemade chalk paint, that did NOT happen! I was able to sand the drip down until it was invisible, with NO peeling paint.

I painted the whole chest with two coats of red (the same red I used on the retro buffet), but I wasn’t feelin’ the love.

So next I combined the leftovers from the three sample pots I used to paint the gradient dresser, tossed in more unsanded tile grout, and painted again.

Much better.

I glazed this piece with a diluted white acrylic paint, and then I also distressed it quite heavily.

True to the hype, the paint sanded away into powder. That also got rid of the last bit of grittiness. You do have to sand A LOT, though. When it’s smooth, it feels just like…chalk!

There was one spot which, when sanding, peeled away as latex paint is wont to do. I attribute that to a not-very-well-mixed spot of paint. When that happens when I’m distressing a piece, it makes me cringe…it’s SO hard to cover up a spot that peeled away.

This time, though, I “filled in” the bare spot with two coats of the DIY chalk paint, and sanded again. You can’t see a difference.

Overall I would say I’m quite impressed with the DIY chalk paint. The biggest ‘con’ in my book is that it would not go through my Harbor Freight paint sprayer. And let’s face it, painting spindles and detail work by hand takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R! And I don’t think you get as good of coverage or as smooth of a finish that way.

But since it’s also a bugger to sand spindles and detail work—it may be a bit of a wash!

I finished this cedar chest with Minwax paste wax in natural. No, I haven’t purchased the more expensive/better waxes either—I told you I was ~~cheap~~ frugal!

So, will I try it again? Absolutely.

Am I going to give up on latex paint for furniture? Not for the moment.

Just another tool in the arsenal. And that, as Martha would say, is a good thing!

I would love to hear your thoughts about DIY chalk paint (what versions have you tried?), as compared to Annie Sloan, or to latex paint! What do YOU think the pros and cons are?

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This project was featured at Mod Vintage Life.

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Linking up here and The DIY ShowOff.

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Design Challenge

Remember my poor despised front room that I talked about here?

I’m still working on getting a picture in my head of what I want that room to be when it’s all grown up!

Debra at Common Ground has agreed to help me out as part of her Design Challenge feature today.

I hope you’ll come on over to see more pictures of my now (mostly) naked front room, and help me figure out what to do with it!

Click here.

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Trend forecast from Maison Objet

Immediately following our group tour the Paris trade show, Maison Objet, was beginning. A home and accessory show for those in the "trade". This massive European event did not disappoint.