Artwork with van Gogh Furniture Make-up

Whenever I want to try a new colour combination on a piece of furniture I like to test it first.  Just before I started work on a recent Test board Frank suggested that I make it a piece of art that could potentially accessorize the sideboard we were about to paint.  Brilliant!  I had been working on some new stencil art based on an image transfer from the Graphics Fairy, so I decided to test it on this piece.  Do you love the Graphics Fairy as much as I do?

I painted a Restore cabinet door in Balsamic first, once it was dry I placed my stencil.  For this stencil I used a sticky back 8.5 mil Ultra Mask material.

Here is the cabinet with the embossing plaster in place, now it's time to let it dry.  This is a large area so it took about 3 hours for the plaster to dry.

After the plaster dried I gave it a coat of Revenge (black)

Once the Revenge dried I gave the piece a coat of Muddaritaville's studio colour "Sangria"  it's a burgundy red.  I love the translucent quality of this.  I left this overnight to dry.

I then gave the piece a coat of Cashmere (which I later changed to Muse but I didn't photograph those steps)  Isn't it funny when you go through a stage of not liking your results you stop taking pictures.  Oh well, not to worry, we got it back on track!

Here is the final reveal, with Muse as the top coat of paint, then distressed and waxed.

Isn't it fun?!  My passion is in working on pieces like this.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kona Coffee Table ...

We purchased this coffee table just after moving into our house 2.5 years ago.  It was a Kijiji deal from the same seller we purchased our Ektorp sofas from, the coffee table and matching end table were $40. The are really sturdy and REALLY ugly!  I've been threatening to paint them since Day 1 but my vision for them kept changing.  

Here she is ... So Pretty, ummm nope, but useful yes!

I started by giving the table a really good clean.  The table has a checkboard wood pattern on the top and I wanted to minimize that from showing through so I decided to sand the surface.  Then I turned the table on it's side and painted the sides and legs with van Gogh Chalk paint (vGCP) in Bole.

 Once the base was dry I let it sit for ummm 2 weeks.  Yep!  Every day I got more and more frustrated with the lack of space in our laundry room, aka The Studio.  Ahhh! are you freakin kidding me.  Note in the picture above right side is our dryer, I have about 10" between the dryer and the edge of the table.  Anyway after Christmas I finally got my S*!t together and decided to paint the top.  First I gave it a coat of vGCP in Cashmere, once that was dry I rolled on Serenity one strip at a time.

While the Serenity was still wet I dragged a Kitchen Scrubby through the paint to create a look of a burlap sack.

Next I created a stencil for the stripes, I'm too impatient to tape out the lines.  I taped a guide line on the  table so I didn't end up with lines that weren't straight (I do not trust myself to be accurate).

Once the stripes were complete I felt the burlap sack effect was not strong enough, so I took out the RL Linen effect brush and dry brushed the base paint Cashmere over Serenity in a cross hatch pattern.  That's better!

Next I added a Kona Coffee Logo, I created a stencil for this too.

Do you see my mistake here?  I didn't notice it until I was waxing the table.  Once the stencil was dry I lightly distressed the stencilled areas and table top.

Now can you see the mistake?  When I weeded my stencil I didn't remove the period after the U so I had to realign the stencil and fix it.

All Fixed!

My original intention was to wax the base and use Table Top finish on the top where the daily use happens.  Do you do anything different when finishing pieces the you are selling compared to those you plan on keeping?  We have a new puppy so we don't really put much on the table right now, well other then our feet now& then.  I love the wax finish so I decided to wax the top of the table.  I used both clear and dark wax.

Here is a shot of the top of the table, I still need to add more wax but I ran out!  Yep, this wax is so great I sold out, and I'm OK with that.

I'll leave you with this final image of Molly inspecting the room.

Table Makeover

I purchased this little beauty at our local Antique Dealer,  Antiques on 48.

Isn't she cute!  She's going to be Stunning! Can't you just hear Bruno from Dancing with the Stars ... Stunning!  Actually she has the Leg of a dancer, too bad she only has one.

I broke out the van Gogh Chalk Paint in Chivalry, Chalk and Mama's Boy.

Here is the drawer painted with Chivalry and Mama's Boy on the inside for a little POP of colour.
I painted the drawer on our kitchen island while listening to Sophia Lauren and Cary Grant in the movie Houseboat, every once and a while I would watch a little of it.

 Here she is painted and the base and apron have been distressed, she's smooth as buttah!
Oh btw, every time I work on this table I think of Sophia Lauren so I'm calling her Sophia.

I designed a french graphic using my Silhouette Design software, then cut it in vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo.

Here is the top of the table prior to distressing with the graphic painted in Mascara and Chivalry.

I added a silver glaze (moon glaze) to the base and Apron to give it a luminous glow.

This glaze is part of the soon to be released van Gogh furniture make-up.

Here she is all finished, I'd like to introduce Miss Sophia!

I'd like to thank my studio assistant for being a good girl and not coming into the studio until Miss Sophia was complete.

Cookies for Miss Molly Brown!

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Living Room design decisions ... input welcome

I want to spruce up the Living Room, I've wanted new slipcovers for some time and by the time I decided to go with blue Ikea had discontinued the blue I wanted.  Online search to the rescue and I found a lady who had 2 brand new slipcovers available ... yay!

This is what the every day living room looks like, nope I didn't tidy or dust!

Believe it or not the walls are butter cookie yellow but the current slipcovers don't help the wall colour.

This the a quick peek of the new blue slipcover, with one of my existing throw cushions.

The blue in the cushion matches the new slipcover but it doesn't light my fire, it's kinda blah.

I also have some dark denim throw cushions.

Then there's this exquisite piece of furniture (finger down throat)

I picked it up real cheap, with a matching end table.  It's been waiting for it's reinvention for 2 years now.  What?  I've been waiting on new slipcovers.  I was between the blue or white slipcovers.

Since we now have a new puppy that Frank invites on the sofa I just could not do white, I'd be washing the cushion covers ALL the time!

The PLAN for this table is a grain sack feel with either Red or Blue stripes.

The colour we choose for the throw cushion fabric will determine the stripe and graphic colour on the coffee table.

See my problem, one decision based on the last, if I hold up on one it puts everything on delay.

I've had a love affair with Toile for some time and have not used any decorating this home and I'm still not sure if I will use any traditional toile - you will help me decide ...

Here are my red choices, I was thinking I could do the front of the cushion in toile (left side) or the french stamp option (left side) and the back of the cushion with the ticking fabric (middle).

This gas fireplace is my reason for wanting to add a pop of red to the room.

The other direction I was considering is the yellow/blue toile to pick up the yellow walls.

the back of the cushion would be gingham, I'm leaning toward the blue.

What do you like?  Red Toile, Red French Stamp, Yellow&Blue Toile with yellow or blue gingham back?

Here is the link to the survey

Living Room Cushion Selection Survey

Quick 2 sided sign for mantle shelf

I had a scrap piece of wood that would be perfect for a small sign.  I measured it, then gave it a base coat of van Gogh Chalk paint in Buttah.

While the Buttah (I love that name!) was drying, I went into my Silhouette Studio and started designing what I wanted to put on this piece.  I have so many signs with words and sayings and honestly I could have them all over the house but I wanted a graphic option on this one.  I decided on a couple of birds sitting on a tree branch.  

Once the Buttah dried, I put the painted wood piece on the shelf and felt the yellow might be a little too bright for what I wanted so I put a coat of Muse over it.  Muse would pick up the warmer tones in the faux brick on this wall.  Meanwhile the conversation in my head was bouncing back and forth between a graphic image and a saying (I have SO many sayings I want to paint).  Then a light bulb went on!  Yep, I still have it!  Why not paint something on each side and I can turn it around a show the side I feel like seeing on any given day.  Cool huh?

So, I cut out the saying Believe in yourself and the Birds on a branch image, weeded them, applied the transfer tape and applied the first one to the painted wood.  Once on the wood I stenciled them with the Starry Night.

Then I let the paint dry slightly before peeling back the vinyl stencil

 Once completely dry I applied the van Gogh clear wax ... OMG this wax is heaven!  It smells like honey and had me craving toast with Buttah and Honey! 

I waited til the next morning and applied some dark wax, rubbed it in and called it a day!

Here are the finished signs up on the shelf

I haven't been to any party link ups in a while so I think it's about time, don't you.

I'll update my list as I link!

Hugs,

JoJo

Life is amazing

A year ago I was so disappointed when it didn't pan out for me to become a Mini stockist of Annie Sloan chalk paint. I approach things with a positive attitude and I knew that something better was going to come along. I had no idea it was going to be this good - Yep I'm so excited! Why you ask? The person behind all my excitement is a lady by the name of Kathy Van Gogh. Kathy is a decorative painter who has launched her own line of chalk paints manufactured right here in Canada. I am thrilled and honoured to become the Ontario distributor of Kathy's fabulous paints. I have started playing around with the paint on some of my own projects, I'll soon have a website launched for online sales but I'm also looking to assist Ontario retailers who would like to sell this paint and host workshops in their stores.

Following is the chart with available colours in van Gogh Chalk Paint, I will be working on some hand painted swatches that I will share once they are complete.

This week I cracked open the paint to do a couple of small projects.  I repainted my mantle shelf, painted my barn star and did a little 2 sided sign for the mantle shelf.  I love that this paint sticks to all surfaces without priming!

Here's my barn star in progress

First coat of Patina VGCP to star

Patina coat complete

 Here it is complete, with a coat of Starry Night over the Patina then I rubbed a damp cloth over the edges to expose the Patina coat, once completely dry I gave it a clear top coat.

I'm going to show you the sign I made in another post - stay tuned!

Hugs,

JoJo

Today's Guest Blogger - Miss Molly Brown

Hi!  My name is Molly Brown.

I'm 11 weeks old today and my human parents think I'm pretty smart.

I'm learning so much, like there is this big white thing with doors in the kitchen that my humans keep opening and food comes out of it!  How kewl is that!  This morning I tried to open it myself by biting it but that didn't work.  Sometimes when it's open I can run in and lick the bottles on the bottom shelf.  And and there's this big square thing in the middle of the room where my humans sit all the time. they put food and drinks on it, I think Mom called it a coffee table, well the other day I was able to put both of my front paws on it but Mom said "Off!".  That's just weird, if Dad can put his feet on it, why can't I?  There are a lot of rules around here but I'm doing really good learning them.

I have lots of fun stuff to chew on and attack, don't tell Mom but I'd rather chase Dad's feet and pull his shoelaces. Well, it's better then pulling his finger like some kids do with their Dad ... ewwww!

Well, I gotta go, I'm sleepy.