Adventures in decorating. My first chalk paint project

Chalk paint is all the rage around here right now. I love the look and the promise of no prep, easy coverage, easy distressing, and durability with wax. I recently scored a desk vanity for MiniMe and want to chalk paint it, but I didn’t want it to be my first attempt. I decided I wanted to try the DIY paint first before choosing to buy Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I was looking for something, anything small I could use as a pilot project. The other day while showing MiniBoobs my new sparkly red pop up target tree I got a wild hair to paint the entry table red. It was a honey pine color and originally a put together table I bought at Lowes in the 90’s.
I’d give my work a 7 overall. I should of used deglosser on the table because when I didn’t get my 1 part plaster of Paris smooth enough it left little bumps of hard plaster in places and when rubbed off they pulled off right to the original finish. I was able to mostly work around or fix it though. I was in a hurry and didn’t want to distress this piece so I chose to rub an ample amount of dark walnut wax into the finish and buff it to a soft sheen. I got the project done in under 24 hours and put 3 coats of chalk paint on it. It does dry very quickly and coverage was awesome. I made my mixture in a glass mason jar and sealed it up well when I was done because I had a ton of the 2 cups I made left. I went with the 1 part plaster of Paris to 3 parts paint ratio. Next time I’m upping it to 1 part plaster of Paris to 2 parts paint.
Here are pics in various stages of the project.

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Live Laugh Ponder Grow

I’m pretty proud of myself for making it 7 straight days writing.  My goal was to write every day for the first 10 days of June leading up to the 1 year anniversary of starting this blog  culminating in some sort of reflection on the last year post I haven’t written but is bouncing around in my head.   I can still remember how I felt right about this time last year. I was  frustrated, angry at times and quite rebellious.  No one was going to shut me up darnit!  I’m infinitely glad I chose to speak, shout, and whisper my stories.     It’s been a long week and I’m pooped.  I’ve grabbed a few more of my favorite pins from Pinterest. I’ve got them all on a board called Live Laugh Ponder  Grow. I think those words sum up my year and life quite simply.  None of these are my own creations, but I wish I could focus long enough to figure out how to take some of the quotes from my writing and make some pretty “pins”, maybe one day.


These are not my words but they are my thoughts and heart

These are all goodies from http//www.pinterest.com  I absolutely LOVE this site. It is invite only, so if you know me shoot me an email and I will hook you up.  Hell, even if you don’t know me, shoot me an email and I’ll hook you up.  I’m too tired to explain it, but here is a link to someone else who already did.   It is basically an awesomely amazing online system of bulletin boards with pins=bookmarks via images of things on the internet.  It is VERY helpful for researching things like decorating, quotes, cooking, crafts, costumes, recipes you name it.   These images are from one of my Pinterest boards, they are not mine originally.    I’m way over committed through the end of the year and I’m exhausted, but I still felt like sharing something of myself with you today.  These are not my words, but they are my thoughts and heart.

Hugs  Mwah XoXo

Lola

PS- OMG I’m So excited. after 5 months of blogging I FINALLY figured out how to line up multiple images all in a nice row like this.   If only I had the energy to go back and fix all my previous pic posts…so not happening


Our Spooky Yard!!! Pics; How to’s coming in another post

These are pictures during the day of our yard and porch as decorated for Halloween  and the neighborhood decorating contest.  I will try to grab a night pic of it all lit up and add to the gallery.

I’m headed out the next two nights and I’m traveling for work Monday and Tuesday. But I will come back here at some point this weekend and give details on how we made all of the crafty things.