Where have I been?

Boy has the past year flown by!! It doesn't seem like it has been that long since I posted. I tend to do all of my posting on Facebook and list things on Etsy and then one thing leads to another and next thing I know I have neglected this site for year!

We did move this summer, still in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC area. We love it here and do not see us leaving here anytime soon!!  I have painted a few custom pieces for clients and working on getting this home decorated. One of my favorite things is a sign I made for our breakfast area. I used an old piece of barnwood, painted it with American Paint Co. Lincoln's Hat, distressed it and then, using pieces of silverware that belonged to my grandmother I made this... While I didn't have a full set of silver for my family to use for meals it gives me a way to keep it in use and not sitting in a drawer somewhere.

I am also in the midst of decorating the formal dining room wall with a display of my Rose Medallion dishes. I cannot wait til this wall is done and I will post a picture. The room was already painted in Chinese Red so the dishes are going to look fabulous hanging up there!

You may remember this lovely Martha Washington sewing table. I initally painted it in a turquoise shade. I looked FOREVER for knobs to go on this table and just could not find anything that spoke to me so she has been sitting patiently for me to finish her makeover.

Well, while shopping Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago I once again found myself sifting through all the knobs when I found them, Martha's New Knobs!!!

 

My daughter thought I was crazy but I had a plan! Snatched up 3 of the knobs, went home and Martha ended up getting a complete overhaul! She is no longer turquoise but was sanded down and painted in General Finishes Milk Paint color Lamp Black and then sealed with GF High Performance Top Coat. The knobs, well they were originally white, more aged or dirty looking though (I tried to post a before pic of them but it would not load, you can see their BEFORE on my business page over at www.facebook.com/tatteredorange) The knobs got several coats of Martha Stewarts Metallic paint in Antique Gold and then a coat of GF Top Coat as well. I just LOVE those elephants!!

 

 

 

Martha looks even better in person! She currently FOR SALE and waiting for her new forever home! As much as this Gator fan hates to say it, I think she would be a fabulous addition to a Alabama fans home!

 

I promise to get back here more often! I have lots of projects in various stages of finish right now and my mom is on her way here to visit for a few days and she has picked up some goodies for me on her recent trip to Tenn. Cannot wait to get them here and get started working! Come back to see the pictures and be sure to message me if interested in adopting Martha Washington!

 

2 For 1

I am currently in the midst of re-doing the credenza and in the process I have been able to use 2 more of the samples I have received so I thought I would tell you all about them!

This credenza is going to be so beautiful when it is finished, I just cannot contain my excitement! I wish it was done now but it is still quite a ways off from that point so I will just have to give you some sneak peeks  here.

I started off painting the top of this piece with my sample of American Paint Co. Wild Horses. Yes, BROWN! I have never painted a piece brown before and I agonized over this choice for several days before pulling the trigger. (I also have a  sample of their black called Lincoln's Hat which was my original choice for the top) I must say, American Paint which a chalk/mineral based paint with Zero VOC's and NO ODOR (woo hoo), goes on beautifully and dries quickly but as it dried I was kicking myself for not using the black. Then I looked into my big box of goodies from Pure Earth Paint that I won and grabbed the translucent Antique Gold and put it on top of that brown and it got the most beautiful finish, a deep brown but when the light hits it a bronzey finish that is BEAUTIFUL! Then I noticed that as it dried it gave the top a almost faux wood grain look, I wasn't going for that but once I saw it I was in LOVE!

Showing the application of the antique gold onto the brown.

See that finish, I could probably never get that look again if I tried! I ended up going with the brown because the bottom of the credenza is being painted in Pure Earth's Champagne Ice. While it is an antiquey white it does have a lot of yellow tone to it so I knew the black would kind of look odd against that, at least to me. The brown would compliment it much better and I was so right!!

Here is sneak peek of the bottom, I am not ready to share the entire piece yet because there is still so much more to do it but you can get an idea of where I am going with it.

 

I left the top alone for a couple of days then decided to go ahead and add some protection to it and pulled out my sample of Shabby Paints VAX. Let me tell you this stuff ROCKS!!   What is VAX you ask? Well, it is a  "protective finish that combines the style of wax with the durability of a varnish". You can apply with a brush, a clean rag or a sponge. You are not even limited to painted surfaces for applications. Slap some on wood, tile, laminate, metal tin, ceramics, I can go on and on. Plus it cleans up with soap and water! I have always polyed my pieces instead of waxing just because I prefer the lasting durability and the feel of the poly compared to waxing but I will no longer poly unless a client requests it. This stuff is awesome, it really brought out more depth to the finish and it protects it. I have only applied 1 coat of the VAX but I will be applying at least 1 more before the piece is completely done.

I almost forgot! VAX also comes tinted and that is called REVAX...cannot wait to get some of that!!

 

 

 

 

So now you are wondering where do I get these products. Well, American Paint in a variety of colors can be purchased through my friend Jill at Weathered Pieces. Her FB page is www.facebook.com/weatheredpieces  and you can get Shabby Paints from Shannon at www.facebook.com/Shabbypaints and you can get Pure Earth Paints, which have been talked about in previous blogs at www.facebook.com/PureEarthPaint

 

If you do purchase any of these products be sure to send me pictures of what you did with them. I love to see creativity in action!

 

 

*I was not paid for my views on any of these products

 

 

 

Ugly Duckling...

Remember this credenza I picked up a few weeks ago? Well, I entered it into an Ugly Duckling contest over at Pure Earth Paint and I WON!!

My bounty arrived this week and I cannot wait to use some of it on this piece!

Here is a picture of everything I won...

Thank you to all who headed over to their page and voted for me! Time to paint!!

Daddy Van's

So today we are talking about oranges...not the actual fruit but the scent. Orange oil mixed with Beeswax and Lavender to be specific.

I was offered a sample of Daddy Van's All Natural Furniture Polish and all I have done since it arrived is open the lid several times a day and take a big whiff! It smells so good! I hated to have to use it for fear I would run out and not be able to get my "fix".

If you have not heard of Daddy Van's I can tell you it is an All Natural Beeswax Furniture Polish that is chemical free and safe to use in your home with your family. You can use it to nourish and protect kitchen cabinets, wood accents, even butcher block. They even package it in recycled tin cans. There are no solvents or artificial fragrances or petroleum byproducts in Daddy Van's.

Anyways, this morning I sucked it up, after a BIG WHIFF, and tried out this little container on my kitchen table. We've had this table for several years and it has lost its luster with the beatings we (ok, I) have put it through. Not only do we eat at this table but I cover it quite a bit and use it for painting projects and other craft projects not mention all the stuff the kids have stuck to it over the past few yrs. It has been a mail catch all at times, display table for a yard sale where people only wanted to buy it and not the stuff on it and it has moved with us through 3 moves. It still looks good but just needed a little pick me up.

With the Daddy Van's a little polish goes a long way. It is best to use it with a cotton cloth, I used an old t-shirt and started rubbing it into the table. After the table was covered I let it sit for a few minutes and then took the same old t-shirt and buffed it. My surface was flat but you can also use it with a brush if your item has nooks and crevices that you want to get the polish down into.

I loved this stuff and the best part is you can even use it on painted furniture, on old hardware, the possibilities are endless! An added bonus, if your fingers are anything like mine from sanding and painting furniture, the Daddy Van's makes your dry fingers look good too. (Wonder if I can try it on my heels?) Hear that Daddy Van's, you might want to consider going into the All Natural beauty products business too? Just saying!

If you would like to purchase some Daddy Van's please visit Angela Davis over at A to Z Custom Creations. Her FB page is www.facebook.com/AtozCustomCreations It comes in the Lavender with Sweet Orange scent, Lavender and Unscented. Of course I am partial to the orange.

Pictures below are BEFORE, DURING and AFTER using the Daddy Van's.

As you can see, kind of dull

Top of pic is unpolished, bottom of pic is during application process

After, gives it a nice sheen

 

*I was not paid for my opinion, it is solely my own!

Better Than Chalk/Mineral Paint?

Today I am talking about Farmhouse Paint Frenche Furniture Paint. My fellow furniture painter over at Chipped and Charming contacted me letting me know she had signed on as a retailer for this new paint line and asked if I wanted to give it a try. Not one to turn down free paint I said "Absolutely!"

This paint is new on the market and they do not have all their website, FB pages, etc...up and running yet. The jar claims it is "better than chalk paint" so I could not wait to see if it lived up to its claim. I had big plans for this sample for a French leg coffee table I have been holding onto. Sadly, when my sample arrived the jar had cracked and leaked out into the box so I was only left with about half of what was originally in the jar. After looking through my stash I decided there was probably enough to use on a chair that has taken up residence in our office. This chair started out with a dinette set we purchased almost 16yrs ago when we got married. The table and other 3 chairs are long gone but this chair just won't die. Since it seems to be standing the test of time I decided it needed a facelift.

I chose the color "Palace Gray" which is a really light gray but once I applied it to my chair and it dried you can see a undertone of lavender, very subtle though. The paint went on very smooth and dried really nice. My only problem with the paint was the smell. It is NOT a chalk paint and based off the smell it is not low or no VOC. I had to take the paint outside to use it in order to have enough ventilation. I love chalk paint for the simple fact that if it is too hot outside or raining and I need to paint something I can set it up in my living room and paint away. This is not a paint you can do that with.  There is not much I can tell you about this paint other than they say they are water based. Once they get all their marketing together I am sure there will be more information available regarding the paint itself.

Over all it was a nice paint and looks really good on the chair I painted. It went on smoothly and dried quickly with little to no brush strokes. The paint is thick but not too thick and I am sure it would thin out well if you wanted to use it in a sprayer. Is it better than chalk paint? I don't know if I would say better but it is another option out there. My only real drawback was the smell and not being able to use it indoors like I can with my chalk paints.

There are a couple of lines out there going by the name Farmhouse Paint so I am including a picture of the jar so you can get an idea of the logo if you want to buy it and give it a try. I know one of the Farmhouse Paints comes in mason jars (cute!) but this is not the one. If you have any questions about Farmhouse Paint or if interested in purchasing Farmhouse Paint you can contact Amy at Chipped and Charming. Her FB page is https://www.facebook.com/ChippedAndCharming


Here are the before and after of the chair as well as the paint logo so you know what to look for when purchasing Farmhouse Paint Frenche Furniture paint.

 

Don't you just love that fabric! Amazing what a little paint and new fabric can do to an old chair!

 

 

*these views are solely my own, I was not compensated for my review

Review of Pure Earth Paint

A couple of weeks ago I was venting some frustation in my painting group regarding some paint I was using. My venting was just that, venting, never in my wildest dreams did I expect what happened next...I was contacted by several of my group friends who have all started their own paint lines offering to send me samples of their paint to try. I have followed these lines and have wanted to try them but some are so new there are no retailers near me and some I wanted to sit back and let others try first...you know, let someone else waste their money, HA!

Well, I gladly accepted the offers and within a few days the first samples arrived at my door, like Christmas in September!!

First on my list to try...Pure Earth Paint! I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the box and not only were the lids on their paint shrink wrapped but they also wrapped them in ziplock bags just in case something happened during the shipping process! Thankfully they arrived fully intact!

I was at their mercy on the sample they were sending and was happy to see they had chosen for me a 16oz jar of Larimar, a beautiful light blue/gray color and they included an 8oz container of their Black Pearl from their Luminescence Opaque colors. I had been looking at the colors online trying to get a good read on them and LOVED that they included a color chart as well. Let me tell you, their colors are GORGEOUS, especially their Luminescence colors. I cannot wait to give their Ruby red a try!!

After thinking about what I had in inventory to paint I chose the white Bombay end table (I have the matching coffee table that I will paint later but for this review I concentrated on the end table).  Since Pure Earth Paints are mineral paints they require little to no preparation on the item you are painting just like some of the other chalk and mineral based paints on the market. Most of the time I give my pieces a light sanding but this time I chose to just go with it since the table was in great condition already.

Being that the paint is Zero VOC and Non Toxic it is safe to use indoors around kids, pets, etc...and that is exactly what I did. While watching college football on Sat afternoon I laid out my tarp and started painting with my family and dog all in the my living  room.  My husband even stated at one point that he could not smell any paint fumes. LOVE that !!

The paint is really thick which I like and the jar states you can thin it out with some water if you prefer. I chose not to thin it out. It went on so smooth and evenly and when it dried you could not see any brush strokes...WOO HOO!!  I did end up going with 2 coats on the table only because of the end look I wanted but I could have just gone with 1 in order to just give it a shabbier look with the white table peaking through the blue. It dried quickly too which I loved and then when I went to paint the 2nd coat it went on perfectly over the 1st coat. (I have tried some paints that the second coat will occasionally pick up the first and move it around which can be really frustrating at times). I left it to dry the rest of the day since we had things to do and that gave me time to think about what I wanted to do to finish it off.

Sunday I decided to take the Black Pearl Luminescene Opaque and thin it out with water and just do a wash of it over the blue. I LOVE the way it turned out! I ended up doing the top and then got busy and not finishing it up til later in the day. The cool thing about this is that the little bit of watered down paint I still had left in the bowl dried up before I could get back to finish. I hit it with a bit of water and BOOM, right back to the consistency I needed to wash the rest of the table.

Overall I love this paint! Eventhough it is really thick in the container you can thin it out and even use it in a sprayer if you choose. Of my 16 oz sample I only used, maybe 2oz, mind you that was without thining and of the 8oz Luminescence I used maybe a tablespoon so a little of Pure Earth Paint will go a long way!

I highly recommend giving them a try! Once I get a shop opened they are definately on my list of potential paint lines to retail!

You can contact them through their website www.pureearthpaint.com to get the name of a retailer near you or you can order directly through them. Be sure to head over to their Facebook page and give them a "like" and tell them I sent you. They are working on a new product that they posted a sample of last night that I cannot wait to try when it is ready for retail, it is a Glass Bead Gel and it looks so cool, go check it out! Their Fb page is www.facebook.com/PureEarthPaint


Pictured below is the end table BEFORE and the end table AFTER...It is AVAILABLE for sale and I can do the coffee table to match.

A BIG "Thank You!" goes out to the girls at Pure Earth Paint for their generosity in sharing their paint with me

 

 

**I was not paid for this review, it strictly my own opinion

Be on the lookout!

This week I have been given several opportunities to try out some new paints that are on the market. Be on the lookout over the next several weeks as I try them and send out blog reviews of them. I am so excited to be able to try these paints and let you know what I think of them!

That being said, I also found a retail space in downtown Spartanburg this weekend and hope to get into look at it this week. It has enough room for my furniture pieces as well as a separate room that can be used for workshops. Best thing I have seen so far in my window peeking is that it already has some awesome built in shelves that would be the perfect display area for any paint line that I may carry. Praying over this opportunity!

Finally today I scored this beauty! It belonged to sellers grandma and she always planned on re-doing it and never got around to having the time so she put it up for sale and I jumped at the chance! So many ideas running through my head over this piece and cannot wait to share with you what she looks like when finished! If you are interested she is available and for a limited amount of time you are able to pick your own color!