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

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...



http://oldworldpatina.blogspot.com/2014/09/pictures-of-my-messy-studio.html

Monday party here:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2014/09/welcome-to-amaze-me-monday-blog-linky-party.html

and also at Distressed Donna's

http://distresseddonnadownhome.blogspot.com/2014/09/make-it-monday-3-link-party-and.html

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:

http://artandsand.blogspot.com/2014/09/passing-on-blog-love.html

Sharing at these parties this week:

http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/2014/09/tweak-it-tuesday-107.html





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!



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:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2014/09/Amaze-Me-Monday-75-blog-linky-party.html