Home Made Chalk Paint - My Review

I am so late to this party, that is for sure ;)

I finally, finally (!) got around to trying chalk paint, well home made, at least.  Annie Sloan's version is very very close to being here in Australia and New Zealand, and I am looking forward to trying it after all the hype I have seen (read) over the past two or so years.

I picked up this desk last week and decided this was my guinea pig for chalk paint...

(phone photos...sorry!)

There are lots of recipes on the internet for home made chalk paint, they mostly consist of mixing plaster of paris and water into acrylic paint (some use calcium carbonate and some use grout).  I went with plaster of paris and mixed it into a paste with water then mixed that into some low sheen water based acrylic (good old classic Dulux Antique White USA).

It mixed to a nice consistency fairly easily and I started painting the desk straight away (after cleaning it thoroughly but not sanding it...this paint is meant to stick to 'glossy' surfaces).  After about 10 minutes it started thickening, at first not too thick for me still to paint with, but a few minutes later you could stand the brush up in it, and it needed watering down again.

I had read that this paint dries very quickly once painted on the furniture but to be honest it didn't dry as quickly as I thought it would, but we have had some pretty wet humid weather here lately (I painted on a fine sunny day though).  I ended up doing 3 coats in total over two days.  In between coats I put the lid on the container with the chalk paint mix in it and it kept it fresh, just needing a bit of a stir and some more water and paint on the second day.

After it was fully dry I distressed the desk by hand (using 240 grit sandpaper) and true to what I had read, it did distress very easily...almost too easily for my liking!

I personally don't like an unpredictable chippy distress job which I think is what this chalk paint is meant to do...see in the corner there...that is what it did and I don't particularly like it. I was worried it was going to come off in big chunks if I kept sanding.  Some people like that look so I wouldn't necessarily say this is a flaw...it just doesn't suit me and my preferred style.

I don't love the handles either but as this was a real trial piece, I decided to leave them as is.

I finished it off by sealing with wax.  It has come up quite nicely and certainly an improvement!

My verdict on home made chalk paint:

I am not convinced at all.  I don't like the way it chipped off in some areas like it wasn't going to stop. Maybe I watered it down too much after the first application but I put it on pretty quickly...if you need to remix with water and more plaster of paris/paint every 10 minutes or so it isn't very user-friendly.  If I am going to go to the effort of finding and paying for a nicely shaped piece of furniture to give new life to, I want to make sure that it has plenty of years of new life ahead of it.
I don't have faith that home made chalk paint will definitely give me that, so I am going to stick to the tried and trusted quality procedures and products I usually use (and wait for Annie Sloan's to land here!)

What I found this week...and how to find it

It has been quite a while since I did a post showing some of my finds, but today I've decided to show you what I have bought this week.

I get asked all the time...where do you find the furniture you upcycle?  My answer...all locally, mainly at op shops and tender centres.

I do the 'rounds' of my favourite local haunts alot.  Like several times each week.  Sometimes I set out to go there, other times I am going to Bunnings or the supermarket, butcher or wherever my errands take me, and it seems silly not to just pop in on my way past and see what treasures are on offer!  I never seem to have any trouble finding what I am after, and I always find great stuff that I never knew I 'needed' till I spotted it there for sale ;)  Consistency is the key to finding great treasures.  You can't go in once and write the place off as smelly, full of junk and a waste of time.  You never know what is being unloaded off the next truck to pull in there!  

I may have *ahem* been known to hang around when I see a truck being unloaded...hey...you snooze you lose!  I have bought great pieces that way, straight off the truck before they have even priced them.  

I live in a small regional area so even though there may be more places to hunt, such as estate auctions, on offer in the big cities, don't write off small towns as not having good stuff. They do...it never ceases to amaze me what people get rid of.  Actually the fact that ebay, gumtree and the like don't seem very well used in small towns like this is probably why the op shops have great stock...it is too hard for most people to get rid of stuff online. Or maybe we are just a charitable bunch that like to support the local op shops...I know I certainly hand over a fair bit of money to them :)

Of course, I miss out on a lot of awesome things too.  The upside is, I don't know about them because they are in and out of the stores before I even see them.  (I go there a lot but I don't live there!)   It almost goes without saying, but...if you see something you love, grab it, don't walk around and think about it, don't come back tomorrow, next week, whatever.  

It won't be there.

So this is what I found this week:

A large solid wood sofa bed for out on our back deck.  I have been after one of these for a while, and most of the ones I have seen were the tubular metal type...not exactly the look I was after, and they all seemed to be priced too high - at around $85-$100.  More than I wanted to pay for something that wasn't quite what I wanted.  Luck/good timing/persistence/call it what you will was on my side this week as I found this one for....$15.  The shop was overstocked and had put all their furniture on half price.  This would have been a bargain at full price, but I wasn't going to argue!  The mattress is a bit tired and obviously the frame requires painting, and I will sort those things out as time permits.  In the meantime, a duvet cover over the mattress makes it a comfortable and welcoming spot to sit.

Today I needed to go to Bunnings, and the paint shop.  So it was a 'I'll just pop in on my way past' sort of a trip.  I found myself staring at these prints of some pencil sketches of Bath, England.  Not even my usual thing but there was something about them that I really liked.

I had been wanting something different to put on the wall behind the bed in the guest bedroom and I just found it, for $6 a piece.  

I love all the detail in them.

I think this 'Old Bond Street' one is my favourite.

There were actually six in the shop but I thought four was plenty behind the bed and I didn't really like the other two, plus the frames were slightly different.

(I actually did a quick frame switcheroo on the floor of the shop to ensure that the four frames I bought were the same.  That left the two in the shop with matching frames so I think I was helping everyone by doing it!)
Sometimes I have no shame ;)

My best find of the week has to go to this lamp...

It is a really pretty cut glass table lamp, really heavy and well just gorgeous.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.  Why? Well, because about 15 months ago, I found the exact same lamp in a local op shop...and now I had a pair!  I thought I had posted about it, and I know I shared photos on my Facebook page at the time, but I can't seem to find them now.  Here is a photo of my other one...

I pulled the lamp to bits and painted all the brass coloured pieces white to freshen it up.  The base on this one was in just as bad a condition as the one I got today, so I know it will come up nicely with a bit of work.  Hope I can get the same silver shade...or if not, I'll just buy another two that match :)

How much did I pay for the lamps? They were both $15, at two different op shops, 15 months apart. Funny!

Last find for today is this solid wooden desk...

Just a sweet little simple desk that will look gorgeous with a coat of paint.  Watch this space! 

Happy New Year, halfway through January!

I'm a bit late for a Happy New Year post, aren't I!?  

I am still enjoying holidays with the kids, they start back at school at the end of the month...gosh 6 weeks goes so fast, I am loving having them home and not at all missing the school morning and afternoon routine!

We had our first trip back to New Zealand since moving to Australia in 2011, and it was wonderful.  We got to catch up with our much loved and missed family and friends, and enjoyed it very much.  It was so nice for the kids to see their mates, too.  They miss them a lot.  We had two weeks there and it went so fast, as holidays tend to do.  Would have been nice if we could have spent longer with everyone but that is one of the downsides of choosing to move away, and I accept that.  

This is where we spent the bulk our of two weeks - at my parents' home in the Marlborough Sounds.  You can't drive there, it is boat access only which makes it even more special.  I took this photo standing on the deck of their home.  It is an absolutely stunning spot, and I am so glad that my parents had the foresight to buy a block of land in the bush 30 years ago (even though we had to go from a nice home to a doer-upper in order for them to afford it!)  They have worked really, really hard over the years to create a beautiful home and stunning landscaped gardens, and recently they have decided to share a piece of their paradise with others, renting out their holiday cottage on the property.  It is proving very popular and I think it is wonderful that they've done this.

Christmas morning fun getting dragged around behind a boat...we went faster once we got further out!

During our time in Christchurch, we had a wander around the CBD (what is left of it) and it was pretty overwhelming.  The lack of tall buildings left was a real eye opener, as was seeing our old work building (the Westpac Canterbury Centre) completely down.  I absolutely loved the Cashel Street container mall though, it was far better in person than I was expecting it to be, what a lovely buzz the place had about it...seeing and experiencing that gave me real hope and excitement for the future of Christchurch.  It will take a long time to rebuild but it will be an amazing city once it is all done.

Excuse the quality, this was taken from our moving car.  This was a large department store, Farmers.  The building still standing is the Central Library, also to come down I believe.

Again a moving car shot, and in the rain, not great sorry.  This lovely clock tower on Victoria Street stopped at at the time of the Feb 2011 earthquake...12.51pm, and still sits stuck on that time almost 2 years later.  Still can't believe this happened to my city!

Before we knew it we were saying our goodbyes and back on the plane to Sydney.  After a night there, (and a Saturday morning trip to Ikea!) we were in the car on our final leg home.  

Isn't home always sweeter after you've been away from it for a while?  Doesn't everything look a little bit different for the first day or so?  Or is that just me, lol!  When we opened the front door Geoff commented that it 'smelt like home', and it did.  You can only ever notice that once you've been away for a while.  I hope it is a good smell ;)

A week after we got home it was market day (last Saturday). 

It was a great day, and thankfully not windy like December.  My oilcloth doorstops proved very popular again, which is exciting.  I am waiting on the delivery of the next lot of oilcloth, which should arrive any day now.  I have lots more projects in mind for that, including a super cute retro kitchen step stool, will show you soon.  

Over the next couple of days I am picking up two custom jobs to start work on - a writing desk and a dining suite.  I am also dropping off some of my smaller painted items (and some more doorstops) to a local store - Paradiso in Hastings River Drive.  I've also been doing a few renovation jobs around home since we got home (I always do that...I miss my home so I come back all inspired to get stuck into it!)

So although it is still holidays, things are starting to wind up again, and I feel rested and ready for it...2013...bring it on!

Oilcloth Doorstops

Hello, bet you didn't expect to hear from me again so soon after my last post ;)

My family and friends who read my blog won't be surprised that I haven't been able to wind down as much this week as I planned to ;)

This project came out of necessity...a necessity to create, which is constant for me, and the need to stop my doors slamming.  We are very lucky to live in a stunningly beautiful coastal village in an area with a wonderful climate that to me feels like summer almost all year round.  It does get hot in the actual summer but because we are near the beach we usually get a lovely coastal breeze that helps cool things down a bit.  I love having the doors and windows open to let the sea air in, but that means doors don't stay where they should, and often slam.  I have been using those little rubber wedges but they don't stay properly under all my doors.  So...as I was staring at my pile of pretty oilcloth offcuts the other day, thinking I wanted NEEDED to make something with them, it came to me...oilcloth doorstops.  I had seen some in this pyramid shape a few years ago and thought 'I must try those one day'. 

So here they are...

Once I had made a few for myself, I figured I'd make some to sell as well - they are cute and practical and I am sure I'm not the only one with slamming doors round here!  I think they'd make a great gift...something the recipient can use, but also something nice and pretty to look at, something a bit different.  Some of these have sold already, and one customer said to me she'd been looking for a doorstop but all she could find was a chicken, and she didn't want a chicken (don't blame her, lol!)

The doorstops are filled with sand and weigh approx 2.5kg each.  I have double stitched the seams to ensure no sand escapes.  Where I left a gap to turn them in the right way, I glued the gap shut before hand stitching it.  The base measures approx 17cm square and the height to the top of the handle is around 21cm.  This fabric is known as oilcloth but it is nothing like Mexican oilcloth which looks and feels completely different (it is basically plastic).  My oilcloth is actually pvc-coated cotton and excellent quality.  This stuff will last for years and years.

I've amassed quite a collection of prints and styles of this beautiful fabric over the years, and look forward to replenishing my stocks in the next few weeks.

I will have a selection of these with me at the Port Macquarie Foreshore Market tomorrow.  

They are $25 each.

Client Commission: French Country Hall Table

Hello!  It is a hot one here today as forecast so I have been hiding in my workshop finishing off the table that I mentioned yesterday that I had been battling with.  Here is what the 'before' looked like:

A cute enough hall table but just a bit outdated colour-wise.  And that colour was what gave me all the grief...it was covered in thick wax which proved a bit challenging to remove but I got there in the end with a trolley load of 80 grit sandpaper.  

I think I lost 2kg in sweat working on it yesterday, not that I am complaining about that ;)

I primed it with Zinsser BIN which is the best product to use on a previously waxed or oil-contaminated timbers to ensure the paint adheres properly.

The top is being left natural, the timber (I am not sure what it is) is beautiful and has lots of character on the top, it would have been a shame to cover that with paint.

I had to paint the sides and back of the drawer which isn't something I would normally do, but due to the design of this table, they are visible (you can see what I mean in the finished photos further down this post).  

The owners of the table wanted me to trim it down a bit to fit in a specific space, so I had to get over my fear of using the circular saw in a hurry!  To ensure I cut a nice straight line I measured 15mm out from the front and back outside legs of the table, then used a sliding square to draw a line up the edges and along the table top.  

I then held my circular saw on the table top and lined up where the blade would cut with the line I just drew. (The little notch on the black part of the saw marked '0' is where the cut will be).  I held a piece of scrap timber against the right hand side of the black part (don't know the technical term for it!) and clamped it in place at one end.  I then measured the distance from the edge of the scrap timber to my line (35mm), and measured the same distance at the other end to make sure my timber ran parallel to my line, then clamped that end and fired up the saw.

I am pleased to say it worked a charm...what a lot of sawdust two little cuts make though!

After one coat of primer I gave it two coats of off white, lightly distressed it and waxed it - clear wax over the paintwork and liming (white) wax on the table top.

You can see what I meant about the drawer sides being visible in this photo above.

I'm also just about to put the finishing touches on a little pine side table I bought a couple of days ago, I think it will be a keeper as I have just the spot for it on my deck, right between my wicker armchairs.

Once that is done, that will be it for me and painting projects for the year. I'm closed for commissions from now until the end of January so I can spend the next few weeks getting into the Christmas spirit in a relaxed fashion...baking Christmas treats with my kids, attending the school end of year Christmas concert and prize-giving assembly, Christmas shopping, packing for our holiday home to NZ for Christmas (which we are all VERY excited about!), then enjoying the rest of the school holidays in January before school starts again in February.  Sounds like a long time away but I bet it will all go in a flash.  Always does!

I have one more market stall for the year, The Port Macquarie Foreshore Market next Saturday 8th December.  I will be having some super special deals on the day so if you are local and have had your eye on something, here's your chance to grab a bargain!  Even better if you want to make me an offer before the day...you can contact me here if you want to do that.  And you can see here what I have got for sale at present.