I discovered Annie Sloan

About a month ago I found myself in a head-heart conflict. We were getting ready for a major renovation and among many other things that meant cleaning out the unbelievable amount of STUFF accumulated over the past 28 years to make room for the army of workmen soon to descend upon us. Likely you've been there yourself: sorting through old memories and wrestling with the sentimentality that tugs at you when your head says that old and moldy whatsit really needs to go. And so I stood there, looking at the once lovely and now very musty, very dinged up, and frankly very not my style anymore pine chest that had been an engagement gift from my lovely and almost trained now husband. Every rational neuron in my brain screamed "To the Dumpster!" but my sentimental heart couldn't part with it. After an agonizing internal argument, I agreed with Heart. The chest would stay. (ugh). Then it dawned on me--ok, I wouldn't toss it, but there is no law that says it had to continue to look (and smell) the way it did at that moment. After all, it once was sort of attractive, well at least in good condition. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced that by giving the chest some sort of face lift I was actually doing her a gigantic favor. Yes, indeed, I would paint and polish that little chest until she shone!

Then the voice of reason surfaced once more: I HATE painting because painting means sanding and cleaning and messy paint blobs everywhere and smelly paint fumes. Besides, the few things that I have ever tried to paint, mostly walls, have turned out less than exemplary. Hmmm. The dumpster was starting to seem like a good option again.

All my life, whenever I have found myself at an impasse, stuck, back against the wall, I have looked for options and where options didn't exist I found a way to create them. Though it seemed unlikely, I decided there had to be an alternative to all that messy work. Thank goodness for Google! It is so easy to find a world full of options within seconds now. I can't even remember what it was like in the days before Google and laptops and personal computers. (Actually I can, but I like to block it out.) Off to my computer, and exploring the wonderful web, where seems like it only took seconds for me to stumble on Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Really? No sanding? No prepping? Just paint??? Way too easy. I thought about it for a minute and then grabbed my car keys. Half an hour later I was on my knees with the chest on one side and a can of Old White on the other. And in no time that musty, dinged up, very out of style circa 1979 pine chest had a whole new look (and smell). I got so excited that I ran out an got a second can, this time Aubosson to paint the lid of the chest. It looked so good!

All of a sudden, I realized that this chest was born to be an antique, French of course. Another hour later she had French graphics on the lid and freehand roosters on her front panels. Well, ok, I am the first to admit that since I can't draw maybe freestylin' the roosters was not the best idea. They do sort of look like ostriches. Are ostriches part of the French Country look?

I worked on this project in my garage, with the warm sun and breeze and bird songs and I realized that I hadn't had creative fun like this in years. Not since when I used to do silk and dried flower arrangements to decompress from a very stressful job (some even ended up in model homes and hotel lobbies). Then my neighbor from across the street strolled up the drive, wondering what I was up to. She genuinely liked that little chest, loved the French graphics, even thought the ostriches looked a lot like cute roosters. And that's when it hit me. There was a lot of old stuff that was earmarked to go to the curb that might have a whole new lease on life with a coat of chalk paint.

Here are some pics that I snapped with my phone to send to my husband--at that point I had no intention of blogging and so I also have no before pic! But take my word for it, it was brown, dingy, and pretty banged up looking! Oh, btw, what do you think of the roosters? Next time I will use a stencil!

front view showing the French Ostriches

Fancy French graphics. I traced these by chalking the back of the paper!

Even painted and waxed the old hardware!

What do you think? Does this look like a rooster?

And that's how it all began. I have become addicted to the blogs of other Chalk Paint divas. I have a little library of Annie Sloan's books. And so far I have painted several pieces of furniture and other things. My dear husband is thrilled that I have decided to paint and repurpose rather than buy new to furnish our addition. And, today, I have started this little blog.

I am still learning chalk painting techniques. If you're out there reading this, God Bless You. I hope you will be patient as I learn this thing called blogging!

Blessings,
The Duchess of NewLife