annie sloan

…brushes

April 8, 2013 By christen Leave a Comment

The right tools will make your life easier and will make you want to paint. True. I also know that if you just want to chalk paint a table here and there, you really don’t want to spend a ton of money if you don’t have to.

Annie Sloan makes some beautiful, thick paint brushes in all sizes. They are an investment around $40 a brush from a stockist. If you don’t want to spend the money then go to your hardware store and find a 2 inch bristle brush. I actually like the plastic handled ones because I find they do not shed like the wooden-handled kind. If you plan on doing alot of painting then make your life easier and get at least two. You will thank me later when you carve out a day of painting and you don’t have to run to wash a brush in every time you switch colors or take a coffee break

Here are some of Annie’s brushes. They are fantastic.

And the wax brushes. Make sure you wash them at least every few wax applications so the bristles don’t get hard and stuck together. Lye soap works great. I actually soak mine overnight and then scrub.

To be honest, I am starting to find that a piece of cheesecloth or a rag can sometimes makes the clear wax application a bit easier if you have detail to wax. The brushes can get a bit stiff. I actually just cut up a J.Crew shirt that had some holes in it (because that vintage cotton never seems to last long) and it worked perfectly.

This is my handy dry brush that I use after sanding. It’s large and does a great job. Reserve it just for this purpose.

I heart my small wax brush because it does let me control the application. As you know, I also love using a pad of find steel wool behind it to wipe off excess. Yes, you may get steel wool shedding, but just wipe it off with your dry brush.

Here are some other useful tools.

Love my can opener even though I always seem to misplace it.

A scraper for those really old pieces or if you get a dried paint clump on a surface.

Wood filler for obvious reason. Those old pieces sometimes need a bit of TLC.

A must for scrapping mirrors and glass.

I usually do not offer stripping when refinishing a piece, but if need be to get off excess peeling on an old piece I will.

There’s that J.Crew shirt for the clear wax!

Upholstery.

Blue tape for taping off pretty metal bits that I want to keep as is.

These tools will make your life a bit easier if you plan on doing alot of work. You may find, as I have, that keeping these items organized is a bit more tricky. If you’ve seen my working garage, you know what I’m talking about:)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: annie sloan, cheesecloth, clear wax brush, dark wax, dark wax brush, J. Crew, Paint brushes

…stifel & capra

March 6, 2013 By christen 3 Comments

I’m happy to announce today that I will be selling a few pieces at Stifel & Capra in Falls Church. Dear Teresa & her sweet, spice-making DH Bob have welcomed me into their eclectic, vintage, artsy, hip shop. Yes, it’s the big, white house-shop on the corner of Broad St.

I did my very first showing at her Holiday Market about 2 years ago. And my dear friend, Liz, bought my first painted piece at the show!

Of course it was a family affair.

I know quite a few of you have asked where to get started selling. An indoor/outdoor, holiday or summer craft show is a great way to test the waters.

Come on in and see the shop! Along with lots of treasure, you will find Cece Caldwell Paint available. Colors are a bit different than Annie Sloan, but there is a huge range. It’s also a completely green product, eco-friendly & non-toxic. I’m excited to try them out in the near future and posting. I already picked up some Memphis Blue to experiment with.

P.S. I will still be selling pieces from my website, my Etsy shop, Luckett’s Spring Market & Chartreuse Market Days.…and refinishing custom pieces from my home of course.

P. P. S. Happy Snow Day!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: annie sloan, blue egg brown nest, Cece Caldwell Paint, Chartreuse and Co, Etsy, Lucketts Spring Market, Stifel & Capra

…all about Old White

November 29, 2012 By christen 3 Comments

If you ask this 4 year old if white is a color her answer would be no. The white crayon does not make a color on her construction paper like, say, the red one does….or like a red crayon shows up on a wall, which she knows something about. Of course she is a bit more feisty than the average. White is actual an awesome color, particularly Annie Sloan’s Old White.

Annie Sloan Old White is more versatile than any of her colors because you can create so many looks with it. It can be a clean look, white-washed, or my personal favorite tea-stained & shabby. I decided to do another video tutorial on Old White. Hope it’s helpful.

Here are some more examples from Blue Egg:

Shabby & antiqued.

There’s no dark wax on this dresser so it’s a bit of a cleaner look. Very little sanding.

Heavy sanding & distressing on this amoire.

One thing you should know that when you work with Old White is that the distressing process will be much more prominent because you are doing it to a light color. If you use dark wax you need to know that it will be DARK in those areas where applied. If you sand the piece the contrast of the wood and the white paint will make the piece look super shabby. It will be a county, shabby look, which I love. Keeping in mind that when you decide to chalk paint a piece you do not want it to look too clean and white and perfect. If you wanted that they you would go to Pottery Barn or Ikea for a dipped piece. The distressing on a white piece will make it storied & unique. Embrace it!

Another tip to note is that if you, say, have a black piece that you want to chalk paint white, know that when you sand the piece to distress it you will get shades of raw wood and then that black coming through. If it’s black, it will look weathered and cool. If it’s, say, red underneath and you don’t want any red in the room you’ll be putting that piece in DO NOT sand it. Just use the dark wax in the crevices. You know what I mean?

Got Questions? I’ll compile & post next week.

xoxo