Birthday Vacation

7 Jun

Another year, another moment of reflection. Time seemed to have sped up on me, and every day I am finding that life can be so fragile. I want to wake up every day appreciating all that I have, because I feel that everything might not have existed if I had made one wrong decision. Enjoy life now, every day, it may never be this sweet again.

I had the best birthday week ever, my husband is so absolutely amazing, I love him truly. He showered me with so much this month I feel so guilty! Today was especially nice because he surprised me with a visit to Peinture!

The store was pretty swanky!
Duck egg blue with an old white base and white washed!

Peinture is an Annie Sloan distributor in LA, I had so much fun on my trip and even got away with a can of dark wax!


The store was beautiful on the inside,lots of pretty furniture, and everything ASCP! I especially loved all the pieces that were done with color washes and paint layering. There were also pamphlets with color samples and paint chips.

The price for these pieces were a little outrageous, ranging from about $400 to $900 for a drawer! To be honest, I don’t see any difference between ASCP paint on furniture and just regular Behr paint mixed with POP at home.

I totally love all the ASCP samples on chairs!

The lady at the counter told me painting classes were booked until the end of July! Nooooooooo! =P

 

 

 

Super chippy

Such a beautiful piece!

My hubby surprised me with a delicious birthday cake on the way home! He is such the perfect guy!

By the way, I can’t wait to use my ASCP dark wax on my new projects!

All in all, a perfect birthday. Goodnight world.

Hardware Gal

26 May

I never thought that I would be spending my time at Home Depot on the weekends. Seriously, these days have been spent roaming the hardware aisle looking at all the sparkly little gems that are oh so beautiful. They look so intimidating, big burly mechanical things that seem to scream “NOT for wussies”. Honestly I find it very exciting. I am ready to take on these bad boys ;).

Palm sander or orbital sander?

I knew that my first expensive investment would have to be a palm sander, I hate having to spend so much time sanding everything by hand. As of right now I don’t really do too much prepping before painting, and although my projects look great without it, I am a perfectionist and was raised with the “do it well or don’t do it at all” mentality. These things won’t just cut my sanding time in half, but will leave a very smooth foundation for my paint as well.

I know a lot of people say that you don’t need to prep for chalk paint, but honestly sanding is so important because you are removing a surface of grime and dirt that has accumulated over the years. It just can’t look its best without sanding.

Saws and more saws!

I was watch American Restoration on the History Channel last night and I learned that you can make your own wood filler by saving your sanding dust and mixing it with glue! How awesome is that? I just love learning new things.

Another thing I discovered is that you can use foam to kneel on. My husband got these egg crate pads from shipping containers at his hospital, they make it bearable for when I am on my knees painting or sanding. It’s fantastic!

Use foam pads to kneel on!

Furniture refinishing really brings out my artsy side, I can literally transform anything with color. Don’t like the color of those cabinets? Paint it! Stains on your dresser? Paint it! Worn out looking table? Paint! The whole world comes together in a canvas in my mind, and I am the paintbrush. It feel good knowing that I no longer contribute to the million tons of garbage that gets dumped into our landfills and oceans every day. This is a good feeling that is also extremely addicting.

I love to cook but I feel that painting is starting to become a much bigger passion. See you at Home Depot!