Annie Sloan Chalk Paint And Desigining A Kitchen

It was only a matter of time until Annie Sloan Chalk Paint arrived at our home..i have been wanting to try it for so long and have watched my blogging buddy Amy of the beautiful blog http://maisondecor8.blogspot.co.uk/   paint anything that didn't move! Amy is also an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint  stockist and also has a beautiful online store,she has the link to her store on her sidebar....Amy's  blog is a really good read and she has many techniques and  lots of inspiring pictures,she is also one of the nicest girls i have met through blogging...

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I have seen a lot of furniture painted in the chalk paint on Pinterest but i was intrigued by reading you could paint metal,i have painted a lot of light fixtures and iron beds etc and have always had to prime,undercoat and top coat but not with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint you can paint it straight on....

I had this cherub lamp that i shared in an earlier post with it's 1960's/70's onyx and wondered if it could be brought up to date with a little paint and wax.....i will let you decide.....

Here is the lamp below before.....

I used the colour Versailles  which Annie describes as a soft delicate lightly yellowed dusky green that is sophisticated and gentle...i had my  Annie Sloan book on hand that i found in my bookcase that i had bought a few years ago....i went looking for inspiration and thought WOW! i have Annie's book?....don't ask haha......

I painted the lamp with one coat of Versailles  and then washed over Old White,lightly removed some of the paint with a damp cloth to expose some of the old gold  patina before i waxed using the clear wax......

 Here is the lamp after.......

I also painted two white bird houses that i had bought a while ago and have always wanted to do something different with them......We sat down together this week the husband and i and  decided on the colour range for our kitchen at Shingle Cottage which will be pinks,creamy yellows and greens very cottage and pretty......i want my kitchen to have a garden room feel as the door opens into our cottage garden with the white picket fence,so bird houses would be lovely but first they needed to be painted in  Versailles,Antoinette and Old White...... 

Here they are after i was too excited and forgot to take a before picture....the stripey fabric they are stood on is now sitting in the the pile of fabric to be used in the kitchen....it is a really good match with Versailles.....

Love the colours together really pretty and so soft.....

I loved how it just did anything i wanted to do,water it down,paint over it,smudge it,mix it,wet it......it is a really creative paint and i am hooked!....

Loving how Versailles and Antoinette look against my enamelware and old china......

Below is a swatch i found on Pinterest showing how you can mix Primer Red with Old White and the pink colours you can achieve..the pink gingham fabric is going to be on chairs i am recovering for the kitchen and the rose fabric will be at the window so i am going to order Primer Red as the pinks look great with my fabric......

Talking of the kitchen the last time you had a peek it looked like this after i knocked everything out....

Well it now looks like this below...well actually Steve plastered these two walls before we went home and i painted the wood with knot solution and white primer but you can see we have moved the door now and we have so much more room....Steve sweeping up gives you an idea how big our kitchen is....the planked wall were the old door is just breaks up the plaster board and gives the room a bit of character,we also ran the planks above the door a different way to the planked wall,we have done something like this in most rooms and of course our loved wood ceilings are in here too..they make it feel really beach cottage to us....

The plastered walls will be painted in Soft Apple below and the ceiling and planked wall in Beauty Queen.......

The back of the door and the cupboards are going to be in some shade of creamy yellow to tie in with the rose fabric below...........

Oh yes the cupboards that i found behind plasterboard at the other side of the kitchen......

There are two tall ones on the right hand side too and after i pulled off hard board......

I discovered pretty paneled doors underneath and we had them dipped and stripped on Monday ready for this weekends work which will be cladding inside of all the cupboards,re hanging the doors and see the wall were the blue tiles are? this will be planked top to bottom....i picked up some cut glass door knobs from TKmaxx about two years ago for these doors,it will be so nice to see them go on soon.....

The cupboards are to the left of the picture below just as you come in through the front door,you can just see the frame.....where Steve is working there will be a small table and two chairs for friends that stop by for tea or for our Sunday morning  breakfasts....there i go all dreamy again...i so can not wait to live here......we had a central front door but decided it had to go,it is so much more cozy in the middle of the cottage without it,remember the little white cast iron fireplace in the hallway? well that is were the old doorway was.....i know people say you should not walk straight into a kitchen but this is a beach cottage and it works......we are having french doors on the dining room at the back of the house so when we have guests for dinner they can walk up through the pretty cottage garden and straight to the dining table.....

I know it all looks a bit building site but i have everything planned and chosen and a very clear picture of how it will all look.......i watched my mother for years matching small pieces of designer fabrics left over from where she worked as a seamstress,she would make these into cushion fronts and match them with charity shop finds.... buttons and trims saved in her sewing cupboard would finish the look...

It will all come together in the end....

I am happy i have found a place for the lamp shade below too,i made it because i loved the fabric not thinking were it would end up,you can't see in the fabric but there is a pale greeny grey pattern on the fabric that looks beautiful against the Versailles  and the pink in the roses has the same tone as rose fabric which will hang at the window.....see how the bottom of the bird house in Versailles matches the bottom of the large rose covered jug? such a beautiful colour to ground all the pretty sugary colours.....

So lots of work to do this weekend,we can't wait to get there tomorrow and then i can finish my wall that i painted with a sandstone colour last week to tie in with the tiles on the hearth...this weekend i will lightly sponge and dry paint it with pale grey and antique white to give it a soft faux stone look....we had to light the fire last week it was so cold in June!!!.....The skirting board is on a slope as it is waiting for new floorboards to be pushed underneath it......

On top of the chimney we now have a baby sea gull who is just adorable...there were three chicks but one has died and one is missing...other gulls will snatch the chicks if they have the chance.....life can be cruel some times but i am concentrating on the one that is alive just like the mother.......

So that's it from me and Shingle Cottage.....

Join me next time for,Annie Sloan paint make overs,kitchen cupboard pictures,Sea gull chicks,lampshade techniques and for more tales and goings on down at Shingle Cottage....

XxX 




Linking to http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/feathered-nest-friday_28.html

How I Cover Lampshades

I have recovered a fair few lamp shades in my time and i have had a few emails and requests in comments on how i do it and how i get the fabric so tight fitted,so today i am going to show you how i cover a lampshade.

Below is one i had made earlier and is the first pretty picture of this post....

Below is the one we are dealing with today but we didn't want to see that as a first picture did we?...

First of all i remove all the trim,this is usually glued and is easy to gently pull off,pop the removed trim on one side as it is a great measure for any future trim you may use on your lampshade and if it has a challenging shaped bottom as this one it will be a good template as you will be able to view the mitered corners for reference....

Next the tack stitching is snipped away to release the lining from the shade,top and bottom...

I have the lampshade held upside down here with the lining hanging out of the shade so you can see i will end up with a lampshade shaped tube,i only undo the stitches top and bottom and not the two sides if the lining is in good condition...

As i can pop it in a bowl of vanish to remove any age related stains,if not i can make a new lining in the same way as the lampshade cover.....

I then unpick the and release the fabric top cover and unpick the two side seams top to bottom....

Until i have two pieces like below,these are my pattern for my new cover and i will need to iron them but i always do this with the fabric between two sheets of paper as the old glue  melts and i don't want it all stuck to my ironing board cover........

I lay the pattern on top of my fabric carefully choosing a scene if it is to be in toile like below and i then add one and a half inches all around to the pattern and then cut out a back and a front.....the one and a half inches i add is mostly cut away after but while pinning as i will talk about in a minute it helps to have extra fabric to grab hold off....

The two pieces are then pinned to the lampshade with the right side of the fabric below facing in....i pin on both sides of the shade and always look up inside the shade to check my pattern is straight.....

I then sew up both sides of the frame with tack stitches working close to the frame to achieve a tight slip cover.....when i have finished i draw a very soft pencil line on the fabric against the curves of the frame.....the cover is then lifted off and taken to the sewing machine.....

You can see my pencil line below under the light of the sewing machine,i sew up both sides using my pencil line as my guide and i use a very close stitch setting that will enable me to pull the fabric tight later without light shining through the stitches or bursting of the stitching occurring.....once sewn the tack stitches can be snipped and unpicked.....the excess fabric on either side is trimmed to around half an inch beyond the stitches..... 

I then hand stitch the new cover  to the top of the light shade frame,at this point the cover is inside out and laying away from the frame in the picture below......then the lining is stitched to the bottom of the frame and pulled up inside and stitched to the top to meet the new cover as you can see below....

Holding the shade upside down below gives you a better idea.....the new cover stitched to the top but hanging loose at the wide bottom end and lining stitched tight top and bottom inside.....

Right way up below whilst holding the new cover up in the air you can see the lining stitched inside at the bottom,so i would put the new lining inside the frame and pull the fabric at the bottom out and up and then stitch it to the outside edge of the frame.....

Once all the lining is stitched to the frame as seen below any loose fabric is gently tidied and trimmed away....

The new cover can then be pulled down into place over the frame....

It will look something like this below at this stage,a little baggy and not fitted enough....

Next i pin my center to the frame taking great care that my pattern is looking good and making sure the fabric is pulled nice and tight from the stitched top edge....

Then continue all the way around the shade....

I try it on a lamp base at this stage and spin it around checking my pattern is straight and for any further tightening that may be required....

When i am happy with how it looks i start to stitch the bottom of the cover to the frame,i cut excess fabric away leaving just enough of an edge that i can fold it under twice before stitching it to the frame and lining....

This gives me a really tidy and professional edge and any trim or embellishment will not need to be added if i don't want it as you can see below the fabric is next to the lining and no raw edges are showing so it can just be as is.....

I finally end up with the frame covered nice and tight as seen below and i am ready to make a stripped trim edge to add to the top....

Join me next time when i will show you how i make the stripped trim and how i add it to the lamp....

XxX

Mirror Mirror On The Wall.....

Today i finished painting my mirror that i had told you about in my last post,here is a glimpse below of how it turned out,i will reveal all at the end of this post but first i thought you may enjoy a tutorial on how to achieve this look........

The mirror before was a run of the mill faux aged gold finish,nothing fancy and to be honest a little dull to look at,so i painted it a soft pale pink.....

It looked much better to me already.....i left the edge around the mirror in it's original faux gold to add interest later.......

Next i mixed acrylic paints together...Antique White,Dusky Rose And Orange...........

I mixed a little more Dusky Pink than Orange until i had a pretty Shell Pink.......

I painted the Shell Pink here and there and brushed the rest of the carved moldings in Antique White and it looked like this below......just paint here and there it does not have to be perfect...it will look older and softer to the eye if it isn't.....

Next i mixed Gold,Brown And Antique White together below to create a muddy colour which i then  used to age the mirror...... 

First i painted it on heavy with a wet brush,keep your brush wet as you can work the paint for longer until you have your desired look.....

I then stippled it all over pushing it deep into the molding with a stencil brush.....wipe your stencil brush on tissue in between aging moldings so you don't get heavy wet build up on this brush......

Wipe around the edges of the molding with a wet sponge as it is these pieces that are going to be aged the rest of the mirror will be left in it's base coat of soft pale pink.....

Then with a clean damp sponge gently rub here and there over the molding until you can see the Antique White underneath,leaving the muddy aged paint in the deeper crevices.....

You can rub a little harder on the Shell Pink with the damp sponge and it will lift some of the colour away creating an aged appearance as below.......

The edge around the mirror that i had left in it's original faux gold below was painted over with the same muddy colour,you can see here on the left of the picture that i painted it all around and wiped it back gently with a damp sponge...this blended the soft pink of the mirror into the faux gold.....

Antique White was sponged over the remaining faux gold towards the inside edge next to the glass.....

You can see here below from left to right the softening of the muddy paint on one side of the trim and the Antique White on the other.....

Below the faux gold trim now blends softly and effortlessly with the rest of the mirror and also adds interest and gives a bespoke look......

My mirror finished and ready to be packed for her journey to Shingle Cottage........I  see a few pieces of furniture in her reflection that may be getting a makeover very soon.......

I think it turned out very Marie Antoinette don't you?......

We are driving back to Shingle Cottage in the morning as a little house right opposite ours has come up for sale and my Mum is going to view it tomorrow,it is very exciting as she wants to live near us so that i can look after her.....

Join me next time for more tales and goings on from Shingle Cottage.......

XxX 


Linking to.............

 http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/welcome-to-77th-masterpiece-monday.html

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lemons-to-lemonade.html

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/feathered-nest-friday_21.html