Kona Coffee Sack Table ...

I saw Donna was having a Grain Sack party and I had to join in!  Grain Sacks were my inspiration for this piece.

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.



I'm partying over at Funky Junk this week!

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