Homemade Chalkboard Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this tutorial on the HGTV website from Miss Mustard Seed herself.  I knew instantly that I NEEDED a large chalkboard for myself!!  I just needed the right supplies.  While I was in my favorite thrift store in Milton, FL, Helping Hand Missions, I saw a gorgeous, excessively large curvy mirror.  The frame was plastic and ugly but it had a wood grain...I had found my supplies.  The mirror was SO heavy.  I had to get two men who worked in the store to carry it to the register for me and then put it in my car.  I didn't let the weight of it scare me though.  Adam got it out of the car when I got home and we proceeded to take the mirror out of the frame.  Talk about relief!! The frame weighed next to nothing, but I think that was the single-most heavy piece of glass/mirror I've ever seen in my life.  I followed Miss Mustard Seed's directions and purchased some hardboard and Rustoleum Chalk-Board paint and got to work.  I painted the frame in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Aubusson Blue and waxed it with Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax and Furniture Wax.

*note the particular ugliness of the frame

Then my wood working-proficient hubby cut down the hardboard for me and I started painting it.  First, I primed the hardboard with some spray Kilz primer.  Then I started the chalkboard paint coats.

The first coat looked pretty rough.

The second coat looked better.

And the third coat is what sealed the deal.  I put the chalkboard into the frame and proceeded to wait for THREE WHOLE DAYS!!  I know, right, but the chalkboard paint has to cure before you can start writing on it :(  Major bummer. 

Once my three days were up, it was time to season the chalkboard!!

To season a chalkboard you rub a piece of chalk sideways all over the chalkboard, covering it with chalk dust and then erase it.

(*This is a step you need to remember because if you ever wash the chalkboard this has to be done again.)

I mulled over what design I should put on the chalkboard and came up with this:

And here's the final product, hanging in our den over our couch.

Now go find a frame and make one for yourself!!

Blue Drop Leaf Table

Today I want to share with yall a little beauty that I never got to name.  She was a gorgeous dark wood, but she had always wanted to be blue, so I obliged her.  I painted her with ASCP Aubusson Blue and did a combination of dark and clear wax on her.  I know, I know this piece has already sold and I didn't take any before shots.  I'm kicking myself.  But I still wanted to share this little gem with yall.

 This little beauty was whisked out of my life almost as quickly as she was whisked into it.  I'm proud to have gotten to paint her though :)

And so the projects begin...

To say that I've always wanted a blog might be taking things a little too far; but recently so many people have shown interest in keeping up with my life (even though I already live in a glass house so to speak). The natural conclusion...start a blog. Maybe people won't get their hopes too high, or maybe I just won't let them down. Either way, tonight I begin this journey of chronicling my life and activities. 

My latest passions, other than my Lord, my family, and all things Disney have been refinishing furniture. Not just the sanding, restaining, and varnishing that instantly comes to mind...but the as my husband calls it "ruining a pretty piece of furniture" sort of refinishing. Before the influx of chalk and milk paint on the design scene, I often found myself being made fun of for liking furniture that was painted and then "scratches up."  I am by no means a "wood purist," though I am a sucker for velvety smooth walnut finishes and intricate inlays. But give me some gloriously chippy milk-painted buffet or a buttery soft chalk painted dresser with light distressing and I go to a happy place. My hopes from this blog are to be able to share that happy place with you. And so, dear readers we begin this journey together.