Sweet Anne's Sideboard Makeover

I bet you have an old Queen Anne style side board in your dining room or possibly your attic. It may have been given to you by your aunt or your grandmother. You are probably thinking....I don't need this anymore and it doesn't go with my new furniture or what I want to do in this room...right? This is where you just need a little vision and some chalk paint.  

I picked this up from my sweet new DIY friend Anne the other day.  She said she didn't need it anymore and I was more than happy to take it off her hands.  

I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted to do with this.  You can see Isabelle gets very excited too when I start to paint :).   I wanted to do a crackle in old white and have a pink show up through the crackle.  I thought that would look pretty neat.  So I painted my first coat pink, put the crackle on and then painted the top coat in old white.

It worked in some places and not as well in others. This is where people get frustrated and feel like they aren't meant to paint or they aren't doing something right. But, you couldn't be more wrong. This is where you sit back and say...hmmm....not really what I want so let me try something else. Not a big deal.  Get out some Zinssers Shellac, and spray it over the crackle.  If you don't, the crackle will continue to activate with your next coat of paint.  I painted over the crackle with some country grey and began to distress and sand the top.  This is also where every painter stops in the process and thinks... is this working? Step away from it.  Look at it from another angle.  I liked what I was seeing.  

I used the old white on the front and back panel and did the legs in country grey to combine the colors on top and pull the look together.  

I love how distressed the top looks. 

I changed out the hardware to something a bit more chunky to support all of the distress and gave it a clear wax.  I decided not to use the dark wax on this piece.  See...you don't have to use the dark wax!

I love how this piece turned out.  Change the decor and this piece will go in any room.

I bet you have an old piece of furniture that needs a makeover.  Go ahead and give it one. You won't regret it.

Thanks for visiting.

Have a great Thursday.

Paula

Linking to:

Not Just A Housewife

The Dedicated House

Green Willow Pond

Savy Southern Style

French Country Cottage

Nancherrow

Domestically Speaking

A Stroll Thru Life

Cedarhill-Ranch

Linda-Coastal Charm

Upcycled Treasures

Time Washed

Miss Mustard Seed

Favorite Room

Do you have a favorite room in your house?  A room that you walk into and it just feels good? Or maybe you have a favorite corner or chair in your house that you love to sit in?  I think it's important that we all have a space that we can call our own.  A place to read, sit quietly and gather one's thoughts.

This room, although a bit dark due to all of the rain we are having down in SC, is one of my favorites.  The coffee and end tables were my parents when they first started out and the white chairs in the opposite corner belonged to my in-laws.  My children are pictured above an old Italian chest and the sheep skin rug came from my "bestie" Chris when I sent her on an errand to find it in CA (she is still trying to understand it's purpose). It's kind of a true "family room."

My favorite piece in the whole room is the picture above my sofa.  This is a gorgeous water color painting of a scene in Venice, Italy.  My mom is the fabulous artist.  I handed her this little picture one day from a magazine and asked her to paint it.  She took that little image and turned it into a masterpiece. She is truly talented and I will forever treasure this painting.  I took this picture with my phone and it just doesn't do it justice. 

So thankful that I have things from my family and friends that sit in this room.  I guess that is why it's a favorite place to hang out.  It feels like home.  

Hope you have a great Wednesday.

Paula

You Are Creative

I have never thought of myself as a creative or artistic person. I first realized this when I was in kindergarten.  I was coloring a picture at my desk when the teacher came by and told the little girl next to me how beautiful her coloring was. She looked at my picture, but didn't say anything about it. I looked over at the girl beside me and saw that her her picture was so much prettier than mine. Her lines were even, soft and effortless.  No matter how hard I tried to color like her - I never could. And then came Art class. The teacher would always use that little girl's projects as examples of what we should be trying to do and encourage us to create like her. No matter what I did or how hard I tried, I didn't use the right colors or my proportions were wrong.  The teacher was always coming by to "fix" what I was doing. So it was at an early age that I realized I was not an artist and thought that I was not creative.

It is sad to say but from the time we are little, we are brought up and taught to listen to someone else's idea of what is good or bad or how something should look based on their ideas and concepts.  We are taught early on about perfection and what it means to be artistic and creative by someone else.

I think Pablo Picasso had it right.

"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

"If I don't have red, I use blue."

"I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else."

One of the things I love about painting, is that I am able to create and have learned that it's ok to mess up. Pick a color and if it doesn't work, try another. Try a new finish.  If you don't like it, paint over it.  In messing up I am learning what works and what doesn't.  At the end of the day, I can see what I've done and what I've accomplished.  And for the most part, I stand back and say....."yeah, I like that."   And that feels pretty darn good.

Bring out your own creativity in life.  One small step at a time.

Happy Tuesday.

Paula