I overcame my fear of the dark (wax).

I know I'm not the only one who has had a fear of the dark. It is a fear that I acquired after a silly and quite avoidable mistake my second time working with Annie Sloan chalk paint.

Eager to get started using the wonderful Annie Sloan products, I merely skimmed the instructions and dove head first into that can of luscious rich dark wax. And within moments my excitement had turned to horror. Because I had failed to properly read the very clear and very simple instructions, I applied the dark wax to a painted project without first applying a coat of clear wax. Why, you might ask, is this a problem? Well, without the clear wax coating to act as a barrier the dark wax comes into direct contact with and permanently stains the paint.

Now, to be clear, this is not a problem if you want that effect. But if you only want the dark wax to create the illusion of a patina that is the result of aging, then not having the clear wax barrier is definitely something you will regret. (But only until you realize that for some reason I absolutely do not understand, you can paint right over the wax and start again--just be sure to let it dry first.)

So that's when I developed my fear of the dark and decided never to open that can again. But oh, how I admired the beautiful effect others achieved by applying dark wax. I drooled over the pics on other people's blogs for several days until I finally decided to face my fear and try once more.

It was my first big project, the 1960"s maple highboy that I recently posted about. (You can read about it in my post from 7/18/14 called I fell in love with the Purple Painted Lady.) I really wanted to get a little bit of rich patina on the turquoise blue top, but I was hesitant. So I went back to the wonderful Tricia at the Purple Painted Lady and watched and rewatched her video on applying dark wax. I also reread Annie Sloan's book 50 Quick and Easy Paint Transformations until I felt the courage slowly return.

 I took a deep breath and opened that can. I kid you not, my palms were sweating, but with the image of Tricia confidently applying the dark wax over clear and quickly wiping it away, I went for it. Well, almost. At the last moment I grabbed a scoop of clear wax and added dark to it, making a less dark and more easily removed (just in case) wax.

I mixed the clear and dark waxes on a paper plate and loaded my waxing brush from there. If you don't use a waxing brush, I strongly recommend that you get one. This one is from Annie Sloan's line.

And it was lovely, but not quite as dark as I wanted. So, now feeling very brave, I applied a dollop of undiluted dark. Perrrfect!

So it was that when it came time to paint the matching bedside table, I had no hesitation at all about applying that rich dark wax, because I remembered the rule: always apply over a fresh coat of clear wax.

Here are before and after pics of that beside table. You can see that I did a very light sanding on this piece, but I do mean light--5 minutes max. I wanted to see if it made any difference to how the paint went on or adhered. The verdict: no discernible difference. 

I chose to "reverse" the colors from how I did the highboy to avoid things looking like I was trying too hard to match it all up. Here is a reminder of how the highboy turned out, so I painted all but the interior front in the blue. There were multiple steps involved in achieving this colour and finish. You can read about them in the post mentioned above. Even so, the whole thing only took a couple of hours to do including drying time and clean up.

Here is the highboy. Same colours, just in reverse. On both I chose to buff only the blue paint. I allowed the white to remain matte. Even so, as you can see here, when light shines on the finish it is not chalky like before the wax goes on.

So now that these two pieces are done I will move on to working on a plaster bust that has been sitting in our en suite for years--another "i'll get around to it some day" project. Well, the day has come. I'll write about it in my next post.

Blessings,
The Duchess of NewLife

I fell in love with a Purple Painted Lady

If you're anything like me once you set your mind to do something you look for and collect as much information about it as you can. And so it was that shortly after Iron Dog was resurrected I decided the next step had to be saving a rather nondescript old maple dresser from going to the curb. And, I had to do it quickly because with a major home renovation looming, anything that was not deemed essential or too valuable to be chucked was going to have to go.

In the old days, before personal computers and before Google (yes I was there--but I missed Woodstock by a couple of years) I would have gotten myself to the library and spent hours looking up books and magazines. I mention that for those of you who take our time efficient modern living for granted. But I digress. So I Googled Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and started by watching her lovely and ever so helpful how-to videos. From there, I branched out, looking at several web sites and reading about what others were doing. And then I found her: Tricia Migliore Kuntz in New York, aka the Purple Painted Lady!!! Now Annie will always be my first love, since she invented my new obsession. But the Purple Painted Lady is definitely my latest Crush. I read her blog ALL. THE. TIME. So much in fact that sometimes I wonder if it could qualify as stalking. Tricia, if you're wondering who that person from Toronto is who shows up over and over and over again in your SEO stats, it's me. I am a huge fan.

The Purple Painted Lady is an extremely informative, helpful, and inspiring blog and Tricia is oh so talented. I have absolutely no fantasy that I could ever create anything as beautiful as Tricia does in her workshop. She is a true artist. I am not. However, and here is the great thing, with Annie's paints and Tricia's helpful tips, I can do a pretty good job and have a really lovely time while I'm at it. Hint: watch Tricia's video on how to apply wax!!

The other place I have been trolling is Pinterest. If you aren't on Pinterest you are totally missing the boat. But I warn you: once you set foot in it you may not come out for hours. I started a pin folder to get ideas for redoing the dresser. I had a pretty good idea from the start that I wanted to get rid of the old 1960's brown thick as paint stain and lighten her up a bit. But something told me at the same time she should have a little kick of colour. Not being particularly artsy, I chose to collect images that I liked and see what emerged from there.

And that is how I decided she would morph from a dull, mousy brown old girl to  light and youthful in a Swedish blue chapeau. Translation: Old white everywhere except the very top, which I painted in a gorgeous custom blue mix (Napoleon Blue and Duck Egg in a 50-50 mix, then Napoleon mixed with clear wax, a very light wash of Duck Egg, and then dark wax). I decided to leave the hardware untouched. It was all original and over half a century old, so it has a lovely patina.

Now, because I started working on her before I started to blog, there is no 'before' picture. BUT, I do have a pic of another piece that is part of the set (and which I am happy to say hubby would like painted as well). It will give you an idea of how she looked before:

See what I mean? very sad.

 

And here she is now:

 

 

 

Look at the lovely coverage you get with this paint. It is the absolute perfect paint for someone like me, who you would never hire to paint your walls because I always seem to leave them streaky. But chalk paint dries smooth and has such a rich look after a "full" first coat and a lighter second coat (cut the paint with a little water for your second coat). Annie calls this one and a half coats. (OMG I have never met her but I just called her Annie!)

 

 

What do you think of the blue top? The photograph doesn't do justice to the depth and richness of the color. And, although I am happy with how she turned out she is far from perfect.

 

I learned a lot about applying wax by doing this project. For example, there is a BIG difference between wiping off the excess (which you must do every time you apply wax, no matter how much or little you apply) versus taking off the paint under it! LOL.  The other thing I learned is that it is best not to use a cloth that can wrinkle or that has a texture when wiping or buffing your wax. This project was done with cheesecloth and it did leave little "cuts" in the wax. But I believe we learn a lot not just from our own mistakes but also from other people's. So, if you can learn from my misadventures, I am happy. 

So that's the story of the little brown dresser. Do you think she looks like she needs a little something on top? A lamp? Well, there was this ugly little red lamp... but that is for my next post!

Blessings,
The Duchess of NewLife