Swede

Daily Dose of Beauty: Shell Sculpture

 

Today's dose of beauty is not a real flower for a change, it is a shell sculpture of flowers I purchased at the antique show in Round Top, Texas in September.

I currently have it on my foyer console table. There is a note on the bottom that says Morro Bay, CA 9/91 but I think it was made in the Philippines and perhaps sold at The Shell Shop in Morro Bay. I wish I knew more about it.  It is 20w x 16h, quite heavy, very sturdy and has copper wire around the branches.  Made of hundreds of shells cut into the shape of flowers. Leaves are mother of pearl. On the console behind it are sample finish boards covering up the bottom part of my gold mirror. The finishes were done on cabinet doors from my faux painting classes in Jackson, MS at the Southern Institute of Faux Finishing.  I will paint the black frame tomorrow in Annie Sloan's chalk paint since it is the only frame I have that is black and it is bugging me in the photos.  I just got the new paint color French Linen which is a dark gray, so I will probably use that color.

Here is a close up so you can see the details. 

I counted the shell "petals" on one of the flowers and there were 18. Not something I would normally buy if it was in a gift shop, but put among my other coral pieces and sea sponge, I like it's charm even though it is not old -- well 20 years.  Somebody spent a lot of time making it.

Summer

Photos: Swede

 

Faux Painting: Unlimited Designs for Your Beautiful Decor

 

Do you faux?

Can you envision this turquoise and gold on your powder room walls?

 

Are you curious how this is done?

 

Have you ever wanted a silver drop dead foyer?

 

Can you imagine this painting over your fireplace mantle? [with your signature in the corner]

 

Would you like your artwork frames to look nicer?

 

Ever wanted kitchen cabinets 2die4?

 

Does this cabinet door lift your spirits every time you see it?

 

Or maybe you love an oriental look.

 

Ever wonder how this is done?

 

Does this take your breath away?

 

Or this?

 

Can you imagine where you could put these?

 

Does this make your heart pound faster?

 

Need choices?

 

Love turquoise?

It's all here:

 

Let this lovely lady teach you how to make your home expressly unique.

 

To see available classes, go here: Southern Institute

You will love the endless possibilities of how you can change your decor yourself.  I've loved every minute of the three classes I have taken here. The instruction is supurb.  I only wish I had discovered this Institute years ago.  The fun awaits you!

Summer

Photos: Swede

Annie Sloan: Chalk Paint Inventor's American Tour

 

 

  

Annie Sloan of England brought her Chalk Paint to the American market. Formerly only available in Europe, the formula is now produced and distributed in Louisiana.

Her American tour, March 1-15, takes place in Louisiana, Mississippi, California, Texas, North Carolina and New Jersey.  To learn more, go to her website: here 

Virginia Weathersby, owner of The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in Brandon, MS hosted the one-day workshop on March 4. For the website go here: TSIFF 

 

This workshop, taught by Brit Annie Sloan was to introduce her paint line called Chalk Paint to American painters. As the old addage goes, "necessity is the Mother of invention", Annie created Chalk Paint to get the desirable properties in a paint where others failed to perform to her liking.

What is Chalk Paint and how is it different? In Annie's words, this water-based paint available in 24 colors is a soft matte paint for use on almost anything to allow the user to work in an independent, intuitive and creative way. 

 

You can create a distressed French or Swedish look, a plaster look, a washed wood look or even do a blackboard. Each of the 24 colors can be expanded to more colors by combining paints.

 

This storyboard shows examples of fabulous applications on furniture, walls and doors. Love that door on the right.

The 21 women and men in this workshop prepared six boards to demonstrate the techniques: Two Color, Textured Colored Wax, Clouded Stipple, Crackle Paint, Textured Paint and Lime Look Wash. Starting with this:

 

And ending with this:

 

 

I guarantee you this is not difficult. It is a lot of fun and you can do it too. Students in the class ranged from professionals who make their living faux finishing to students who had never painted before.

I'll walk you through a few of these techniques. The first one is the Two Color Technique on a piece of egg and dart molding.

 

 

Let dry between each coat.

 

The secret here is the English wax. Clear always goes on first. Wipe off excess brown wax to suit your taste. Below is what the Hannant's wax looks like.

 

Next, sand through to expose the underlying color. You can distress as much or little as you like.

 

Here's the end result. See, how easy was that.  With a little instruction, you can paint anything.

 

Let's walk through another one. This is my favorite called Clouded Stipple.

 

Versailles is the base coat. Then dapple on small amounts of Old Violet and Old White with the tip edge of your brush and merge to make cloudy.

 

Brush on sizing and let get tacky. Then apply the gold leaf sheet.

 

This is how mine looked.

 

 

 

 

You can also remove some of the brown wax by using another coat of clear wax.

 

I won't run you through all six finishes step by step.  Here are some random shots of the Textured Colored Wax, Textured Paint, Crackle Paint and Lime Look Wash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wipe off as much or as little of the brown wax as you prefer. That was easy, wasn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you're done!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are various finishes you can create with Chalk Paint.

 

 

And here are photos of the class.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed your class with me in Brandon, MS via this post.

If you would like to take a Chalk Paint class, the next one at The Southern Institute is April 15.

All the best,

Summer

Photos: Swede

Shops With Beautiful Things: Annelle Primos, Jackson, MS

 

Whenever I am near Jackson, Mississippi, I must stop in at Annelle Primos. I am always looking for beautiful items for the tabletop, and, of course, I love light painted antiques.

 

Annelle Primos's interior design shop is in Highland Village right off I-55.

 

Have you been to a shop that is so "you" that you want to ask for the key so you can just move in and never leave because everything is to your liking?

 

Annelle Primos provides interior design services as well as a bridal registry. Visit the website here:  Annelle Primos

 

My favorite item in the shop is this French mirror. The chest is wonderful also.

 

Here is a closer view of the fabulous top. Notice the birds.

 

How gorgeous is that? The gold bowl is 2die4.

 

I love light-toned neutral furnishings and painted wood finishes as they are so soothing as well as flexible when switching out accessories.

 

This mirrored pair of white painted doors makes a great backdrop for the Swedish sofa.

 

These light woods make decorating so easy. 

 

I liked the shape of this piece by Bliss Studios in California.

 

So pretty.

 

Another light toned cabinet.

 

Nice console, trumeau and framed intaglios.

 

Antique altersticks. Notice the little bird under the glass cloche.  And, the table below has a bird cage.  Birds are a favorite accessory for spring.

The shop always has several dining tables. I like the way they display the tabletop items on each table in place settings.

 

This makes it so easy to see how these items will look on your own table.

 

Here is a close up of the place setting.

 

The Kim Seybert fringe beaded placemat with the antique china plate. Charger is clear glass with a gold rim. Totally elegant. I do like that this shop carries antique plates and mixes them with new ones just like I do.  It gives the table so much character.

 

Here is another dining room. Note the painted green cane chairs.

 

The tablescapes are designed for Easter.

 

Cute rabbits and eggs.

 

Below is the place setting.

 

Neutral tones with lots of varying textures.

 

This dining table's cloth has a burlap look to the fabric's weave which goes great with the seagrass rug. It is tied so cute at the corners.

 

A really smart way to update a dark wood table that you are tiring of.

  

I love how they have mixed the antique plates here with new chargers and placemats. Note the unusual shape of the goblets.

 

A small table in Easter decor with a "feather" tree. Love the stemware here and the napkin with the aqua colored plates.

 

And here is another one.

 

A cute Easter rabbit with her baby. I like the planted carrots.

 

Another room at Annelle Primos has decor for more casual, rustic interiors and lake cabins.

 

Look how big and sturdy this dining table is. The antique French bench provides interesting seating instead of chairs.

These deer plates were a nice look for a hunting cabin theme.

 

I loved the amber stemware with the glass buttons. They were very reasonably priced. I will show these in my tablescape in a few weeks.

 

The deer napkin rings are unusual. The green placemat and octagonal plates make a great look.

 

This paneled screen is very pretty. Bird cages are very popular.

The registry section of the store carries exquisite china and stemware.

 

The cabinetry was painted by Virginia Weathersby of The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing.  I came to Jackson to take my third class at her shop. I will do a post next on that topic. Virginia is the one who told me about Annelle Primos and I am so glad she did.

 

I see they carry my favorite French china, Jaune de Chrome. The cabinet above is displaying Juliska.

 

You won't want to miss the chandeliers.

Here are a few of my purchases on my dining room table.

 

Maybe I should say this is the "before" shot.  Being a painter, you didn't think I would leave them this way, did you? 

 

These three Bliss Studio pieces didn't make it 24 hours in my house before getting some gold "make up".  They needed some added character so they didn't look like they all came out of the same Chinese factory [which they did]. 

 

Love the shape but it needs some help.  First step is to add French gilding wax.  This took me less than one minute on each piece.  I just put the gold on the pad of my index finger and rub it on. You could use an artist's brush, but I like to feel how it is spreading.

 

I am using two different colors of gold wax for variation in the finish. This is the first step on the finial below. Next it will get a darker gold wax and then some paint.  

 

Here's how all three of them looked after three minutes.

 

Ah, you say they all look the same again.  Yes, they do. But wait until you see what I do to them next in another post.  They each need their own individual character.

I hope you have enjoyed shopping with me at Annelle Primos.

All the best,

Summer

Photos: Swede 

Starting to Decorate for the Holidays

 

 

I'm running late decorating for the holidays. Here is a little display in my home office. I love to mix real coral into my holiday decorating. Metal painted shadow box is from Wisteria catalog. Cross in shadow box is from Hobby Lobby. Cabinet doors are the ones I painted in a class at The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in Mississippi this summer. Turquoise painting is a 4'x6' gallary wrap canvas I finger painted a few years ago and then added some gold leaf.  Are you through with your holiday decorating?

Summer

 

Testing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint: My Trial Results

 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  It is all the buzz in faux painting circles. 

 

The newest paint.  The latest and greatest.  There is nothing like it they say. Certainly a lot of excitement.  Once somewhat difficult to obtain because you had to order it from England [but I think it was manufactured in Belgium], but now no more waiting, converting from pounds to dollars and shipping issues.  It is manufactured in the United States to Annie Sloan's exacting specifications and available from the distributor through stockists. I ordered several quarts from The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in Brandon, MS and had it shipped to me.  You can also take their Chalk Paint classes. 

This is where I first learned about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I fell in luvvvvv with it when I saw Virginia Weathersby's samples at the Institute.  My favorite was Chateau Grey on top of Duck Egg Blue. The cost is $35 a quart. I used less than a pint on my chair.

Duck Egg underneath Chateau Grey is the sample on the right.

My trial of the paint [unscientific, of course since there was no control batch] is done on a French chair I purchased at a neighborhood garage sale.  Since I like Swedish and French furnishings, I chose Paris Grey for the color of the chalk paint.  The chair has a lot of detailed carvings which I thought would look good in gold metallic. For the upholstery, I chose a cleanable white fabric that I seem to use on everything. The cost of the upholstery work is always the most expensive part of the project.  I love white but I also need any spots to be easily cleanable with water and soap.  This fabric is one of my best decorating secrets. This is a new, made in China, reproduction chair that has a gloss seal on it which I presume is varnish.

The test that I was most curious about was the claim on the AS website that you don't have to sand or strip the current finish.  Just paint the chalk paint right over the top.  So I wanted to see if that really worked and if the paint did stick, but further, did it stay on. In Annie's book, "Creating the French Look", on page 83, she also states that the surfaces do not need to be prepared or primed.  Would it stick to my varnished surface?  

http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/copy_of_How_to_use_the_paint.html

 

First step:  Apply the Chalk Paint.  I like working with an artist's brush on small surfaces like these instead of a regular paint brush for better control and neatness.  I applied two coats.  To keep track of which surface I had painted, I rolled the chair in a clockwise motion and painted only the side that was face up and letting each painted side dry before rolling the chair to the next position.  I knew if I didn't do that I would not be able to tell what had a second coat and what didn't.

The second step:  Apply the gold to the detailed carvings.  I decided to try a new product I learned about at The Institute called gilding wax.  It is made in France and costs about $16 for a 30 ml jar.  It comes in about five colors and I chose King Gold since I wanted a lot of metallic contrast between the gold and the Paris Grey.  I applied it with a tiny artist's brush and then rubbed it with my index finger.  The rubbing effect is what makes it glow. I luvvvvvvvvvv this stuff.  Finding out about it was worth the entire tuition to my last class.   

Here is a collage of the painted details:

  Next step:  Apply two coats of Faux Effects Dead Flat Varnish.  I wanted the surfaces to look more antique Swedish with no gloss.  The varnish did "grey-out" my paint with a hazy cast.  It knocked down the gloss of the gold paint. I am debating whether next time I would use Faux Effects Varnish Plus product instead.  

Last step:  Take it to the upholstery shop.  I tried a different one this time as I wasn't satisfied with the last one I used.   So here is the end result. These photos are taken outside on my front sidewalk in the sun to get better light than I have indoors.

So what do you think? I'm pretty happy with the results.

My star system for evaluation on a 1 star to 5 star scale of what I look for in a paint are:

1) Odor - this gets 5 stars for no offensive odor or smell
2) Ease of Application - 5 stars here. It went on very nicely.
3) Thickness/Coverage - I always do two coats anyway, so I'll give it 5.
4) Clean Up - easy here with water, so 5 stars.
5) Sandability - light sanding resulted in "smooth as a baby's bottom" so 5 stars. 
6) Green - see website.  Good here.
7) Cost - at $35 a quart, it is pricey, so 3 stars.
8) Durability - does the paint stay on?  My jury is still out on this as my chair legs came back from the upholstery shop with the paint rubbed off in several places down to the wood that I had to retouch. Not sure how this happened because I transported it on a white soft blanket. This is definitely something that I will continue to evaluate.
9) Looks - 5 stars here.  It just has a beautiful "euro" look when it is sanded smooth and the touch of the finished paint is just wonderful.

For my unscientific summary, the question is would I use it again?  My answer is Yes, but on selected pieces.  I would like to get brave and paint my 1983 Henredon dining room table a light color - Old White or a beige with a gilded edge.  Do I trust this paint for that project? I would not want the paint to scratch off from use of china and flatware.  My sweet husband who occasionally reads my blog just fainted with that sentence. I would use the chalk paint on an antique, new or vintage piece of little value to give it an entirely new look without ruining an important piece if the piece was for my own household. Would I use it in manufacturing new Swedish/French furniture pieces, No.  But I would on a custom painted individual piece for a client. Production finishers do not like working with water-based paints. Long-term durability is a key issue.

Here is another look at the before and after:

 
I look forward to sharing with you my next chalk paint project.

All the best,

Summer Day

Photo Credits:  All Swede

Learning to Paint Furniture at The Southern Institute

 

Last week I returned to The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in Brandon, MS for a second class.  This one was on furniture finishes.  I loved every minute of it. 

This Institute is close to Jackson, Mississippi.

 
Our beautiful instructor, Virginia, who is not only extremely knowledgeable with 15 years of experience, but also an excellent teacher who makes every second a fabulous event.

Here are my photo collages of the six furniture finishes we did.

 
The finish names from top to bottom, left to right are:  Veranda, Arabesque, Chalk, Chinoiserie, Versailles, and Delicato.

 

Making the Veranda finish.  This finish is named after the cover of Veranda magazine's Jan/Feb 2007 issue of a room in the Belgian residence of couturier Edouard Vermeulen.  The console table is 2die4 also. This cover is probably the most talked about cover Veranda has done.  Another cover in similar blue-greens is the September 2009 issue.  I love both of these.

   

This is the gold-leafed Arabesque finish which uses Aquastone for the raised dimensional look.

 

This is the Annie Sloan chalk paint finish.  The Annie Sloan brand is a new introduction to the United States from England so is all the rage lately. The texture sets it apart from other paints. It is now being manufactured in the US giving better access to it than ordering from England.  Virginia will be teaching an entire class on Annie Sloan chalk paint the end of August at the Institute. Unfortunately, I have to be in Seattle but purchased several colors and am testing them on furniture pieces now.  The cabinet in the lower right portion of the collage was done for one of Virginia's clients.  It is the same finish we did in class.

 

Here is Chinoiserie in black and red as a plaque with the symbol for "home" made with a stencil and Tamise gold leaf.

 

This is the making of Versailles named for the motif found in the French castle Versailles. It is one of my all-time favorites.

 

Here is Delicato which is stunning with the aqua against the black.

 

We also learned about antiquing mirror.

 

Students having soooooooooo much fun.

 

These paint finishes arranged by 12 colors are done on small sample mouldings. Each one is uniquely fabulous in it's own right. It would be so hard to choose just one.

 

These finishes are done in the cabinet class. Looks like another fun one to take.

 

And, here are some inspiring wall finishes to intice faux finishers to take that class.   So many wonderful classes are offered at the Institute.  Is it possible to quit work and just go here full time?

 

I plan to hang some of the samples on my home office wall.  Here is Versailles and Delicato displayed on my office console table.

I hope you have enjoyed being a student with me.

All the best,

Summer

Photo Credits:  Swede with the exception of Veranda cover by Francis Amiand.