Saturday, September 27, 2014

Another Shade Of White



It's no secret, I like to paint things white.

I went crazy when I saw all the WHITE Fall
decor when I went to Laurie Anna's shop
in Canton Texas earlier this month
All these pictures are from LaurieAnna's
blog. I've put a link below.




Of course, I came right home and started
painting my old orange pumpkins white.


I bought two medium and two small white
pumpkins at Laurie Anna's shop.
The creamy whiteness of the pumpkins
is a perfect brownish white.

I'm planning to take one of the pumpkins down to
Home Depot and have the paint department use
their computerized equipment to color match
a quart of paint to the white color of the pumpkin.

I received no compensation for this post from
Laurie Anna's or Home Depot.


Here's a pumpkin I painted next to two little ones
from Laurie Anna's. You can see how white
the one I painted is compared to the two smaller
ones I bought at Laurie Anna's.


All that's needed is a sample the size of a 
quarter and they can match any color for you.
I'm sure other places can do it too, I'm just
familiar with Home Depot's process.

Once, to match an old wall color, we took a small
piece of the wall out of a corner of a closet.
The touch-up paint matched perfect.


I've also had Home Depot color match paint
to a yellow sweatshirt and a towel that was the prettiest
shade of brown. They put the fabric right on the
equipment and it turned out perfect too.

Check out LaurieAnna's here:

http://laurieannas.blogspot.com







Sunday, September 21, 2014

Chairs In The Making




I've been having quite a painting party
here in the cottage. Nothing finished, but
lots of starts.





My main effort has been painting this table
and four chairs that I bought for $20 at a garage
sale when we visited middle daughter last June.
$20...Who could resist?


Do you think Wild Bill was thrilled to learn
we had to haul them home? ...yeah, right!
The seat covers were pretty good, just a few
water stains. Painting them seemed easier than
removing and recovering them.

You can see the type stain they had in the upper
right corner of the chair seat in this picture.

I used an old can of Behr paint in a white color
called Popcorn and a quart of Ben Moore's paint (in
a buttery yellow color) to make an off-white color.

I added a 50/50 mix of Plaster of Paris and water
to make the paint chalky, using about 3 tablespoons
of each and mixing it up in a disposable paper bowl
before pouring it into the paint in the pint jar.

To paint the chair seats, first I wet the material
with the water I cleaned off my brush in.
I'm nothing if not lazy thrifty!

Next I dipped the wet brush in a little paint and
kind of water-washed the paint on.

You need to let the thin coats dry between
coats, and it helps to use a piece of fine-grade
sandpaper every couple of coats to make the
material smoother and less stiff.

If you try this, be sure to paint the seat's material
first, as the watery paint will drip onto the legs
and you can then just spread that out in a
thin first coat on the legs as you go.


When the seats are completely coated and dry,
I'll smooth them with a little more sandpaper
and finish them with Annie Sloan's soft wax.








Hope you'll join the "progress party" at...



Monday party here:

and also at Distressed Donna's





Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Giveaway At Art And Sand's Blog




Little Miss Creativity over at the blog
Art and Sand
is having a giveaway.

Hey, before you go there...
let me tell you what I would do if I won.

I would pick a banner.

Here's one she made for Summer.

Of course, I need one that says
FALL
or
HARVEST

for the mirror on top of my kitchen cabinets.
Something to perk it up...up there!
See the ladder just waiting for me to climb
up and hang it across the mirror?

Maybe aged down white with black letters.
Like the tags hanging off the baskets.

Well, what are you waiting for?
Head over and enter:


Sharing at these parties this week:







Thursday, September 11, 2014

Stronger




There once
was a day
in 2001,
when a
few men
thought
they would
make our
country
weaker.


They were
wrong.

They made
U S A
stronger
country.

And,
we will...

never
never
never
forget!






Monday, September 8, 2014

Two Birds With One Stone




Do you need more storage space?
Me Too!

While putting out the Fall decor, I discovered
some storage for my Christmas decorations
that are too delicate for the garage.
The tops of my kitchen cabinets!

You can't see it, but under the baskets are
plastic shoe boxes holding ornaments and
small decorations.
Then, in the large baskets, the larger
decorations like deer and such fit in.
 I bought some more of my favorite baskets
at Target -- The ones that come with black
wooden tags on one end and one side.

I plan to paint the black tags white like the 
the tag with the number 7 that I hung on the 
basket on the left in the picture below.
Are you still with me?
That was a mouthful!

I really have a thing for numbers and chalkboards.
Luckily, you probably do too -- unless you're my
dear husband, who does not get the whole
chalkboard or number thing --

I've learned to say:
"Bless His Heart!"
A term in the South that denotes the person
referenced is just a little off...
 So...you can see in the picture above,
I got four baskets up above this side of
the kitchen.
The two on the left are different heights
because I ran out of plastic shoe boxes
and need to go buy some more.
 I bought a new chicken at a thrift store for $15.
I like her because she looks a little pissed.
If Wild Bill riles me up, instead of saying
"Talk to the hand"
I can say
"Talk to the chicken!"
(bless his heart)

So, as you can see in the picture above, down
came a pumpkin and up went the chicken...
to the right of the scarecrow.
One of my favorite things about the kitchen
cabinets is how the molding on this cabinet
wraps around the wall.
Simple things occupy simple minds!

Speaking of that, Wild Bill said he was
amazed how I could spend hours and hours just
putting up Fall decorations and changing them
around. He commented it was a real gift,
but laughed when he said it so I'm not sure
exactly what he meant...
Bless His Heart!


Partying this week at: