Breakfast with Annie Sloan and her Wonderful Chalk Paint

I have been a furniture rescuer for a long time. I pick up chairs and other things curb side. Our city has bulk pickup days every month where you can put out big items like couches, etc. It is not rare to see nice items that are just slightly scratched and that people put out because they are tired of them. They just need a little TLC. I also scour thrift stores and garage sales in search of that perfect item to make over. I don't see an old, decrepit thing, I see the potential to remake it into something scrumptious.

My husband cringes but he lets me roll with it. We'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary shortly, and I thank him for his infinite patience. (I did let him have his midlife crisis at 50 when he bought a Corvette, his dream car. He loves that car. I call it The Precious.)

But I digress. I am always searching blogs and websites for inspiration and that is how I discovered Annie Sloan. No she's not a cowgirl from the Wild West, even though her name sounds like it. Annie Get your Gun. Annie the Sloan Ranger. Annie Oaks Sloan.

She's a British lady who created this wonderful chalk paint. This paint is perfect for imperfect people. It is very forgiving. You just slap it on, you don't need to sand or prime. And you can give furniture the most beautiful historical look, especially when you distress it and use the dark wax to give it an well-aged, patinaed look.

After reading so much about this wonderful paint, I decided to try it. I ordered a couple of quarts from Piorra Maison in Montreal. Tried it, loved it and have since ordered more.

I recently acquired a good loot at a garage sale. For a whole $3, I got 4 old frames, a very chippy child's rocking chair in pieces, a waxy, messy looking wood candlestick and this breakfast tray.

Love the rattan edge!

While it had a nice vintage look to it, I thought it was too vintagey. In a dirty way.

The legs were very wobbly too.

So, I cleaned it, glued back the loose legs and gave it a couple of coats of ASCP Paris Grey. Then, inspired by its original mauvy colour, I traced this antique looking French ad graphic I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy and went over it with a raspberry, mauvy acrylic paint. Gave it a coat of clear wax, sanded it down to distress it and went over it with the dark wax and the clear wax.

The final step was a good buffing and here she is in all her glory, ready to grace someone's lap with a lovely breakfast.

I need to find a place to sell my stuff. If only to support my habit. I probably also need a space somewhere to store all this stuff. So that I don't paint in the garage so close to The Precious. I hate to think about what would happen if paint got on The Precious. We might NOT be celebrating another 25 years, lol!


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and

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Feeling a little blue

But in a good way. Last time, my post was all about pink, so I thought I would do a 180 and post about blue.

Our living room, dining room and master bedroom have a lot of soft blues. I guess, subconsciously, because I thought it would help us achieve a higher level of relaxation and serenity. I think it works to some extent.

First off, the best shade of blue there is: Tiffany blue. This little box has the power of 

sending many a girl's heart aflutter.

And when the big day comes, why not have the bridesmaids match the little blue box?

How about just a touch of blue to make this exquisite cream bathroom stand out even more?

A feminine, curvy settee against a robin egg blue wall with ornate touches of grey. Delicious!

I love the blue background of this built-in armoire and the ornate fan detail above.

No doubt inspired by the sea, the magnificent turquoise of this 

bedroom is perfectly contrasted by touches of orange.

Oh and this bathroom! Feel the breeze as you relax in this opulent 

tub overlooked by a whimsical buddha! How zen!

So inviting!

This powder room artfully mixes old world charm with modern. 

Not sure about the window treatments, but the rest of the room sings to me. 

The inexpensive Ikea coffee table is a perfect accent.

Again, a pretty settee with fantastic pillows. Love the shell 

sconce and the gorgeous wallpaper.

Here the pieces in this room are mostly traditional, but the punchy 

blue gives it a modern feel. The tufted banquette is noteworthy.

I hope all this lovely blue helped you relax somewhat. I know I need it. We have been uber-busy. May is always a typically busy month for us. We have a couple of birthdays, mother's day, etc. Spring also means working in the yard. Back-breaking labour. And finally, we have mostly been trying to get the house organized, in between the routine cleaning and cooking, etc. This part is never done it seems.

To add to the mix, we have had to attend the funeral of my best friend's mother in Montreal. She was like a second mother to me in many respects. I will miss her. Then my daughter had her high school graduation dance. We held a little get together beforehand for her limo group and I put out a little spread for the kids and the parents who came to take pictures. The sun was out thankfully!

They had a lovely evening. Another milestone achieved!

So this explains why my postings are sporadical. I also want to post about the pieces of furniture I make over, but being so darn busy, I can only work on it by stealing little moments here and there. A coat of paint one day, let dry. The next day, too busy. Then another coat, but no time to finish, I have to drive somebody somewhere. That's how I roll. I'll be back soon. Hopefully. In the meanwhile, I'm going to relax in my blue living room.

Pink is not just for little girls

From my garden - De tout, de rien

I have always loved pink. To me, it's the ultimate feminine colour and it expresses romance and softness like no other colour. 


In my first studio apartment, I painted a feature wall pink. I needed something to liven up that dingy hole and pink has always had a way of making me feel happy.


When we got married, I chose pink as my wedding's theme colour, in spite of my future sister-in-law's protests. She much prefers frumpy beiges and khakis. (I was thinking of asking her to be a bridesmaid, but needless to say, after those protests, she wasn't asked, lol.)


I painted our first bedroom in our first house in dusty rose. Our duvet cover had large cream and pink cabbage roses. My husband was sweet enough to let me get this out of my system.


And I was happy when we had our two daughters because it meant I could use a lot of pink. And I did. Lots of tutus and ballet slippers. ;^)


Today, I've eased up on the pink in my home, but I love seeing touches of it used in decorating. When done right, it just adds an element of romance to any room.

Love the soft pink with the crisp black - Suzanne Kassler

Here pink is mixed with cream and gold.

Pink is mixed with very trendy elements here. I want that giraffe!

Elle Decor - This gorgeous cream settee pops against the pink wall and vintage elements.

Pink unexpectedly mixed with a cheerful turquoise. Stunning! - Better Homes & Gardens

How rich looking is this room! Just a couple of pink accents to punch up the taupes - Better Homes & Gardens

How about this scrumptious Chocolate Kisses toile knob? It would pretty up any furniture.

A study in contrast: an industrial cement wall is a perfect backdrop to show off the ultra-feminine curves of this gorgeous settee and the rich chandelier dripping with crystals. A beautiful collection of pink and mauve silk pillows punch up the look.

Again, just a touch of pink in the pillows, but it livens up the gold.

Stunning bathroom by Betty Lou Phillips. A perfect way to not commit permanently or invest expensively into one colour is by making all the main elements neutral, such as in this room, and just adding colour with the accessories. In this case, pink towels, easily replaceable, provide the pop of colour.

So opulent looking!! - Suzanne Kassler

Lovely chairs! The gold touches are perfect.

So nice with the grey marble!

I may just have to redo a room in pink after showing you these! 

How about you, have you used any pink in your grownup rooms?

Awake at last and a chair makeover

It is spring. I'm back, baby, ready to post again. Watch out, the big grumpy bear is awake, lol.

I'm touched that my fellow bloggers left me such lovely comments when I posted about my lack of inspiration due to the fact that I was "hibernating". It's not that I was depressed or anything, but I think I do go through a down time after Christmas. I always think because it's such a quiet time of year, here's my chance to get caught up on all sorts of things and finally work on all sorts of projects, but my body has other plans for me. I sleep. A lot. And I putter around with no real direction. It doesn't help that I tend to have low iron.

Anyway, I'm pushing the clouds away and getting back in the swing of things. The blogosphere has been abuzz with talks of the famous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and I was so inspired by the lovely makeovers I have seen done with it that I broke down and ordered 4 colours from Piorra Maison, one of the blogs I follow. Catherine, whose blog it is, is following her dream and opened a lovely store in Montreal and also became a stockist for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I wish I lived closer so I could visit her store, but I can at least order the paint from her, so that's what I did. I have started a few makeover projects with it that I will be showing you in the next little while.

And now let me tell you about this project years in the making that I finally finished.

Here in our city, we have this wonderful bulk pickup programme. You can put out any bulky item you want to get rid of by the curb 3 or 4 days before the city pickup and people can drive by and help themselves and this avoids having a lot of items end up in the landfill.

I have a thing for second hand furniture, particularly for chairs. When I see them left by the curb (or in a thrift store), I want to save them. no matter how sad looking they are. For a while, I was hoarding chairs and I finally just had to give in to my husband's pleas and resurrender some of them to the curb side. Luckily they were all picked up again.

This particular chair I found about 5 years ago. A lot of people hold a garage sale before a bulk pickup day and whatever doesn't get picked up goes to the curb. I had driven by this garage sale on my way somewhere and had seen this chair. Didn't have time to stop. I told myself that by the time I drove back, if it was still there, I would buy it. Well, even better than that, by the time I did drive back, the sale was over and the chair had been left at the curb. Free for the taking.

As you can see, it seemed it had been used as an art project by a toddler.

I sanded it down, primed it and painted it in Simply White by Benjamin Moore. I printed out the word "Sit" on paper and traced the word on the chair using graphite paper. I then painted the word black with craft acrylic paint and I sprayed several coats of zero gloss varnish on the seat to protect it.

It is now a whimsical chair that invites you to sit and pause a while!

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missmustardseed.com

Hibernating

I don't know what it was with the month of January, and now with a third of February. 

No posts. 

No inspiration.  

No creativity. 

My mind was a blank slate. I hate that since things were so quiet on the home front and with my part time home job, I could have gotten back to making jewelry (something I love and that I put on the back burner when we bought this house last year and went through all the renos, the packing, the move, etc.) repainting some of the furniture I have waiting for a redo, taken pictures, crafting, sewing, anything!! Didn't even read a book, hardly went to my drop-in fitness class. 

I want to be so productive, so creative, I long to achieve great things and realize my dreams, and yet, here I sit.

What happened?

It seems like I went into hibernation.

Perhaps I'm part bear and I need that slowdown to recharge my body and my brain.

spreadshirt.com

It was like my life came to a frozen standstill.

De tout, de rien

De tout, de rien

Or perhaps it's just that I need a swift kick in the pants. Girl, enough with the nonsense. 

I need to get off my

De tout, de rien

and get the show on the road. 

The groundhog said it will be an early spring, the robins are back already,
 proving him right. 

The days are getting longer, so rise and shine.

How do YOU get inspired?

My Humble Jumble Cookies

Hi everyone, Happy New Year!! I wish you all the best for 2012, mostly health and happiness. The rest is inconsequential.

I had a request from the Fabulous Miss V. over at Vonlipi's Favorite for my jumble cookie recipe, so here it is:

JUMBLES

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
Sugar and nutmeg to roll biscuits in

Method:
Cream butter and sugar. Beat egg whites and yolks separately. Add to butter mixture. Slowly mix in flour. This should be a very soft dough. Roll into balls in sugar and nutmeg.

Bake:
Bake on a greased cookie sheet in 350 F oven for 7 - 10 minutes. Biscuits should not change colour.


I got this recipe from Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. If you're ever in the area, do yourself a favour and take the tour, especially at Christmas time. The home of Sir Allan Napier MacNab, one of Canada's first premiers, it is so magnificent that the locals called it a castle. We took a tour of it a few years back at Christmas and the tour guides are dressed up in era costumes. This grand victorian home was all dressed up in natural greenery for the Holidays and it looked breathtaking. It really appealed to my love of everything victorian.

We sampled the jumbles in the servants' kitchen in the basement, and you could get a copy of the recipe. I have been making them ever since at Christmas. They're particularly delicious with a cup of Earl Grey tea, with your pinkie in the air, of course. Or not.