Dude - You Forgot Your Blog

I took this photo in Amsterdam in April and titled it, "Dude - You Forgot Your Bike". Seriously....how long do you think this bike has been sitting there? And locked up, no less. Just in case someone was thinking about riding it home:

Poor, sad wee bike :(

Kind of like this blog, in fact ;)

For a while now I've been too busy painting and making/eating Christmas cookies with my family to blog. To remedy that situation, I'll share my most recent Annie Sloan painting project. I used a few techniques and paint colours for this one and I think it turned out pretty well.

First some before photos. This is an iPhone photo of a buffet I bought from someone on kijiji last year. I think I paid $50 for it? When you see the close-up shots, you'll wonder why I paid anything for it. I'm starting to wonder that myself...

 

 

Someone had a major party and forgot to clean up one night, it would seem. Honestly - how does this kind of damage happen in day to day life?

This next photo is worse:

It's true. I paid actual money for something a dog almost chewed to pieces. What is WRONG with me? Live and learn, I guess.

Some wood filler, sanding and a bunch of coats of paint later, and now I have this:

 

 

 

(Please forgive the pinkish cast in these photos. It's dark here today so a few lights had to be on to take these)

The base colour here is Annie Sloan French Linen which I love, love, LOVE. But alone it was kind of dull. So I first added a wash (watered down coat) of Old White and then rubbed off most of it, leaving the white just where the details are and in cracks/crevices (not unlike the ones under my aging eyes). Once that was dry, I followed with a very thin coat of clear wax and followed THAT with a coat of dark wax, rubbing off the excess as I worked so the wax didn't make the finish look too dirty.

The top and inside of the buffet are Annie Sloan Graphite. The top got a coat of dark wax to deepen the colour (Graphite is quite blue on its own), followed by a good buffing.

One little tip Kathie Jordan (my closest Annie Sloan stockist) was kind enough to share with me: If you find the wax looks uneven even after buffing, take a clean cloth dampened with mineral spirits and wipe away some of the excess wax until the finish looks even again. Then you can wax again. In my case, I wiped some mineral spirits all over this piece....anywhere the dark wax made the finish too dirty looking. And then followed with some more clear wax and a good buffing with cheesecloth to finish.

I'm pretty happy with this first try. I'm sure with practice I can do better but I think I successfully gave this piece a new life for now :)

Coming up: I bought some fabric with Christmas money that was burning a hole in my pocket...planning on making a modern quilt with that. I also bought an instructional DVD from Slipcovers by Shelley to learn how to make my own slipcovers. I have a few fabric samples so once I choose the winner, I plan to slipcover a chair. Wish me luck!

In other news, I just found the world's biggest cobwebs in my powder room. Apparently more than just my blog needs some attention ;)