Best Farmhouse Decor Purchases---EVER

I have to admit that I have joined the farmhouse decor group (if there is such a group). I took a look around the house and saw that there are a few purchases that meet that style for me.

White slipcovers: These are easily found in many homes today. Ikea Ektorp sofa and loveseat met the need at a very affordable price. They are a part of an active family or a family with pets because of their ability to be laundered.

Mirrors with a look of old and antiqued look was possibly the first addition to my living room. Hobby Lobby had these on clearance a couple of years ago for about $40. The mirror isn't the best and can add pounds with a glance. But the over-all look is right on target.

My favorite two tier stand is from World Market. The round plate stand has the touch of metal and wood. It is easy to change the look of the kitchen by adding holiday decor.

Our family get-together meals are usually buffet style. The wood and metal stand is perfect for those. It is beautiful when displaying a cake or salad. I hope to find a glass cover to fit it.

The two shelf piece was another Hobby Lobby find. By purchasing on the 50% off week it was easily under $20. I have this in the guest bath. The best part was how easy it was to adhere to the wall since the screws went through the round ends.

Any old piece of furniture can be updated with a coat of paint. I added a backing to the open shelves with luanne. By using chalk paint I mixed with the color of the kitchen cabinets (SW Westhighland White) so the entire kitchen would blend. I may add beadboard wallpaper to the back since I've had a roll in the garage for several years.

Countertop spaces are always at a premium. I like using this shelf so I can double the useable area. I know...it is wood and metal. There isn't a difficulty in finding those. Hobby Lobby was another 50% off visit.

Craigslist is always a good place to find used furniture. A few years ago I was always searching for Broyhill Fontana pieces. Since the popularity grew after viewers saw it on Everybody Loves Raymond, the furniture was available. But, it involved several trips to various cities and states. My husband was a dear to take me wherever! I transformed the pine to a two tone farmhouse look for pennies since I mixed my own chalk paint.

After taking a walk through my house, I see I have a problem. Maybe too much wood and metal leveled pieces. This too, shall pass. But for now, it means home to me. HomeFrontThoughts for sure.

First Project 2017

A couple of years ago I transformed my Broyhill Fontana family room furniture with chalk paint. You can read about it  here. 

But...a couple of years have passed and I was ready for a lighter top. The family room receives little light and the dark table tops seemed to soak the limited light right out of the room.

The tables were acquired via Craigslist and were from different locations. Some had been used as a pounding board for little kids apparently. The coffee table was the worse for being "distressed". I decided to do it "right" this time. Using the Dremel sander I used three different sand paper discs to sand the distressing away.

It really wasn't as bad as I had dreamed. I broke up the sanding into two days. The only issue was I decided to do this project when it was 10 degrees outdoors with snow on the ground. My car was living in the garage so the family room became my work room.

I decided to strive for a whitewashed farmhouse look. I picked up this arrow at Hobby Lobby and used it as a visual reminder of what I was duplicating.

I like to make my own chalk paint. First, it is so much cheaper. And it seems to be much smoother in texture. I don't know what Annie Sloan uses in her recipe but it ends up with a sandy texture and I constantly have to add water to the paint. With my use of latex paint and calcium carbonate it applies just as in regular latex. Like chalk paint it dries in a few minutes and can be recoated in minutes.

I googled to find a recipe and used this one here.

There are several places to find close matches to Annie Sloan with different brands of paint. Since I prefer Behr I used this sight to match the colors I chose.

Vienna Pink site was the one I saved on my Ipad to take to Home depot for purchasing the latex paint.

My first two coats of paint were Behr Ethiopia PPUS-6d (ASCP CoCo match).

I then dry brushed Behr Dainty Lace MQ3-11u (ASCP Old Ochre match).  If I thought it was too light in places I dry brushed some of the Ethiopia back on. Once I was satisfied I let it dry for a few hours. I don't know if that was necessary or not but I could relax for a bit so it was a win-win!

The final steps were adding the wax. I didn't have any of AS dark wax so ran into Lowes and picked up the Valspar antiquing wax. This was applied with a cheap chip brush in a dry brush technique. After it dried a bit I rubbed it with a soft cloth. Next came an application of AS Soft Wax.

All in all, I am satisfied with the result. With the lack of light in the room, it is difficult to acquire a good picture of the actual result.

I may go over the bases and legs again in the future. But for now--the first project is complete.

Home Made...Chalk Paint

When the need arises, making my own chalk paint became a priority. Recently the kitchen update began with hiring out painting the oak cabinets to white. The contractor used SW paint in West Highland--a creamy white. I blogged about that project here.

I decided to change the color of the side board from Annie Sloan graphite to the same creamy white.

The dark cabinet did make the white pottery and dishes pop. However, I am on a white and light kick!

The first purchase I made was Annie Sloan pure white--I was sure that it would do much better than Old World White that I had used. 

It was quickly apparent that Pure White is pure white. No cream involved! 

I already had a quart of Behr paint mixed in SW West Highland. Several months ago I had purchased Calcium Carbonate (powder form) from Amazon. I was too scared to try it out! Sure, I had read it was much cheaper to make chalk paint. With the realization that I had the materials to possibly attempt the correct match I googled and watched several YouTube videos. It looked easy. And it was. I quickly made enough to put on a first coat of West Highland chalk paint.

I did need to purchase another quart of Behr flat paint because I had used most of the quart before this latest project. It was $14. Yes, $14 for a quart. And I mixed two cups of paint with a couple of tablespoons of the calcium carbonate with WARM water. I think I was apprehensive because I envisioned lumps. There were none. I mixed the water and calcium carbonates and stirred with a paint stick. I poured it in the two cups of paint and stirred again. Probably a minute of work!

The only difference I did use is that I topcoated with General Finishes satin top coat rather than waxing. I figured if this was a project gone bad or worse--it would be easier to try something else if I didn't apply wax.

I can't say enough about mixing chalk paint with the desired color you wish and hope for!