Marking Milestones

Have you heard about Maya?  She set off on a grand adventure on May 5, 2012, the day she turned 40.  

She is riding her bike from Amherst, MA to Milwaukee, WI toting this fabulous aqua typewriter behind her and stopping all along the way in towns and communities and inviting others to contribute to her ever-evolving poem.  I have exactly 122 days left in my 40th year, and although I had all sorts of grand and romantic ideas about how I would mark the milestone, I've pretty much done none of them.  That's not to say that I haven't had a great year, just that I haven't done that one great milestone-marking thing.  Do you think my family would mind if I just took off to join Maya for a few weeks?  Because seriously, is this not the coolest idea ever?  You can follow her adventure here.

Makes You Want to Take the Back Road

You must have food in case you get lost.  First, stop for cider doughnuts and apple butter and strawberry-rhubarb jam.

Taking the back roads is ALWAYS a good idea.  You know the saying "getting there is half the fun..."

Well, in this case, what's waiting for you when you get there is the best part.

Fun With Annie Sloan Paint

I've been wanting to try Annie Sloan's chalk paint for quite some time but just didn't have the right project to work on.  Last week our little town had its annual city wide garage sale and I picked up this little dresser for a song.

Unfortunately I got so excited that I forgot to take an official before shot of the dresser, but you can see from the top that it had a faux limed finish and that scrolled piece of trim laying in front is what I sawed off the front between the two legs.  Here are the drawers so you can see the fancy painted motif on the front.

The paints say that no sanding or priming is necessary, but in hindsight I think I would have given this thing a rough sanding only because it isn't real wood and it had that slick "plastic" finish.

I started with a coat of "Versailles" which is a really soft sage green.

Next came the second coat which I ending up combining "Duck Egg" with "Antibes Green" to get the color I wanted.

I finished up with a coat of "Graphite" and when it was completely dry came back and sanded through the finish in places to allow the other colors to come through.

Once I got it looking the way I wanted, I gave the whole thing a coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax and buffed it to a shine.  Here is the finished product.

I may eventually change the original hardware, but for now I think it looks great in my entry!

Retro Redo Complete

My first reupholstery project is officially complete and at home in my sitting room. Except for the new front leg that I still need to stain.    I had a blast doing it and I'm ready for more.  Do you have a project for me to practice on?