Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Reveal!

 Here are the promised pictures of my Annie Sloan chalk paint reveal. I had two pieces of children's furniture that were cute, but needed some personality. Who better to assist with that than the famous Annie Sloan.

I had read countless blogs praising chalk paint, but this brand especially. I tested it out to find out if all the hype was valid. I have to say while expensive, Annie Sloan did live up to all of it's fame. It was great coverage, easy to distress, and looks great when waxed.

Here's the transformation of these pieces.

This message brought to you by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 

Remember this guy? Cute, but boring

After a coat of blue latex on the outside and white chalk paint on the inside.
I actually distressed both paint the same way. I took a damp cloth and wiped paint away before the paint was completely dry. 

Here's a close-up of the overlapping paint.  After I wiped the areas where I wanted wood to show I wiped oak stain on. Then I finished off the distressing job with Minwax Paste finishing wax and buffed.

Here's the little rocker. I used two coats of Antique White and then wiped away areas that would have wear and tear naturally. Again Minwax Paste Finishing Wax came next. I let it dry for 20 minutes and then buffed to a nice sheen. 

It can be yours for $49

I love how this little one turned out!
$75 

Not bad for my first time. Even though I did enjoy the Annie Sloan paint, the price tag is still a little rich for my taste. So my next experiment will be to blend my own chalk paint. 

More to come on that later...

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Teaser...

So I have been doing a lot of research on the best paint for distressing and getting that beautiful worn-in look that's so popular these days. One name keeps coming up over and over- Annie Sloan. I'm sure you've heard of her. ASCP is everyone's favorite it seems. So I bit the big price sticker bullet and bought- a sample. (Hey, I'm a cheap 50 cent oops pant kind of girl.) I couldn't commit to the investment of a quart until I knew if Annie lived up to the hype.

I needed something to test the ins and outs of this chalk paint trend.
Here are the two pieces I felt comfortable practicing on.

Children's furniture seemed perfect to test on- small, and possessing the charm that chalk paint can enhance. Here goes...

To be continued. :)

Weekly Gift Idea: Antique Sewing Basket

With Halloween officially over, it seems Christmas season has begun. To get in the spirit we are starting a weekly feature on a specific piece that would make a great, unique gift.

To kick off this week we are featuring our musical antique sewing basket. It is perfect for any sewing, crocheting, or knitting enthusiast in your life. A surprise feature of this basket is the music box addition. Still in perfect working condition the basket will play you a soothing rendition of "There's No Place Lie Home". A one of a kind gift for the bargain price of 34.99! Can't beat that.

This little beauty got a fresh coat of stain and polyurethane. It looks as good as new. 

Red fabric inside and a pin cushion on top. 

Made in Japan. 

Come see it at Galeria CTR!

Newport Furniture

When we decided to start this crazy adventure and open a store we knew we needed to work with a great company to get our business going. We decided to start with Newport. They are a new company that opened in 2010 in Mississippi. In two years they have created a beautiful, stylish, solid line of furniture that we are proud to offer in our store. Working with companies that create more jobs for Americans and support environmentally conscientious manufacturing was very important to us. Newport does both of the those things from using recycled materials in their cushions, to keeping their manufacturing in the U.S. instead of overseas.
Here are a few of the Newport offerings we currently have in stock.

Newport Kane Collection Microfiber Set

Kane Chair 399.99 

Kane Sofa 699.99

As a set with sofa, chair, ottoman 1299.99

Kane Ottoman 189.99

Kane Ottoman

  

Marbella Love Seat on sale! 474.99 Sofa also available for 699.99

Dupree Recliner Sofa 794.99 Loveseat for 629.99 

Sofa, Loveseat, and Rocker available in Grey or Tan 

Dupree Rocker Recliner shown in Tan SOLD

Guiseppe Love Seat 694.99 and Ottoman 199.99 

More to come from this great company soon. Special ordering and lay-a-away available.

Jumping on the Mid Century Modern Bandwagon

It seems like everyone has become smitten with anything MCM lately and our little store is no exception. Our inventory is bursting with great pieces ready to help you create that Mad Men ambiance in your own space.

So here's a showcase of what mid century items we have available now.

Side table $69.99

Askel Kjersgaard Wall Mirror $199.99

Wall shelves $19.99

Nightstand $49.99

Hide-A-Bed $420

Bassett Credenza $450.00

Metal Shelf $29.99

And these are just what are available now. We have several projects in process right now. More beautiful mid century modern items to come!

The Finished Product

So here are the finished pictures of the little contact paper covered side table. 

I love the diamond pattern! What a fun surprise. 

All of this amazing refinishing was made possible by this product: 

So much easier than sanding down to the wood and restraining- this let's you sand lightly and combine the original finish color with whatever new stain you would like. So easy and as you can see- great results.

After using the Polyshade. I don't know why anyone would cover such a pretty top. 

 I am working on another piece using Polyshades. More to come on that soon!

Adventures in Contact Paper!

So last week we got a little table from a friend's garage sale. It had potential, but someone had covered the top of this little guy with contact paper, it did have a wood grain-like design, but WHY? No idea why it had been done. So it was my task to remove this sticky mess...and I didn't feel an urgency to apply all that elbow grease. But then yesterday a nice UIC student came in to purchase the table for an art installation and the table got moved to the top of my to-do list.

Here's my process and all the helpful things I learned.

So as you can see- this one's a fixer-upper. 

I went to the hardware store and asked their advice. The helpful employee recommended a rounded scraper and goo gone. So here's my first attempt. Very slow work. 

Then I had a light bulb moment- heat! That definitely sped up the process. 

Just a few seconds with my handy hair dryer set to high and the sheets came right off.

After removing all the contact paper the sticky residue was still there. 

I saturated the table with goo gone and let it sit 10 minutes. Then I scraped the majority off and used a cloth to rub away the rest. 

And here's the top contact paper-free! 

Now I just need to fix the missing wood trim. More photos to come of the finished product.