Faster, Pussycat! Kilz! Kilz!

(I crack myself up)

I'm starting my bedroom re-do, and as I'm going from the existing fairly deep blue

to a pale grey, I wanted to be sure I would have a true color, so I Kilz'd the bedroom today.

It was my first experience with Kilz, and it went pretty well.  It covers quickly, and dried fast.  I'll be ready to put the latex on next weekend.  I'm using the same color as the living room/dining room - Benjamin Moore's "Natural Elements".  It's the exact color as the grey in the bed linen I'm going to use - Court of Versaille's "Linen Rose"

Tura Satana would be proud of me!  ;)

trailer for "Faster, Pussycat!  Kill! Kill!"

Toe In The Water

I now have a Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaFrench

I'm going to try to sell some of my stuff - locally first.  I have a lot of friends who have encouraged me to try this, so here I go.

Romantic Giveaway!

Rosemary at Villa Barnes is having another one of her vignette giveaways.  Check out her blog for more details; you could win all this neato, keeno stuff:

I was fortunate enough to win a Rosemary giveaway and her stuff is *so* lovely - what are you waiting for?!

Mirror Re-Do

I've had this mirror in my dining room since I lived in my lake house several years ago.  I *think* it came from Home Goods.  It was a dark, almost black espresso color and it's *very* heavy.  The frame is slightly convex, but it's hard to tell from the photos (mainly because the blasted light fixture is in the way!)

Anyway, I like it, and it's been serviceable, but I wanted something different for the dining room.  I really like wall messages, but even though I have fabulous landlords, I'm still leery of painting graphics and text directly on my walls.  I also like the chalkboards at French Country Cottage, but my dining room is rather small and only has one window, so I felt I needed the mirror to make the room look larger. So - I started to look towards the rather broad mirror frame as a background for text.

First step:  I had scored a sample of Valspar "Snow Cap" at Lowe's; 1/2 pint for $1.50!  I painted the frame with two coats that pretty much fully covered the entire original color.

Step Two:  I sanded and distressed the Snow Cap layer.

Step Three:  I wanted a phrase that captured the spirit of dining together with friends, but I didn't want to reference food in a direct manner.  So, I ended up with "...with friends...the wine is sweeter".  I used BabelFish (excuse me...Bing Translator) to translate it into French.

I used Word to type it out in Kunstler Script, and then cut and taped the pieces together to get the layout I wanted.  I used a pretty rustic method of transferring - I used a piece of artist's charcoal and coated the back of the strips with that and then used painters' tape to hold the strips in place.

I then traced over the letters with a pencil.  When I lifted the strips, the charcoal left streaks and marks on the frame which added more depth to the distressing - I love how that turned out.  I then traced the outline of the letters again with a Sharpie paint marker, then wiped off most of the charcoal - leaving the marks I liked. Finally, I painted the lettering with Martha Stewart Acrylic Gloss Paint in "Beetle Black".  After the lettering dried thoroughly, I lightly sanded it to fade it some, and then dry-brushed over it with the Snow Cap.

Step Four:  I painted and distressed the outer top & sides of the frame the same way I did the inner frame.

It turned out exactly as I had envisioned.  It looks really great on my newly painted "Natural Elements" dining room walls.

(how the *heck* do you photograph a mirror, anyway?!?)


Linked to:

Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Make It Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House

For My Grandmother

I never knew my mother's mother; she died long before I was born.  My father's mother was a familiar presence in my life as a young girl.

Grandmommy was Bessie Isabel Daniels Brinson.  She was a typical Southern belle.  I always remember her wearing beautiful georgette or crepe de Chine dresses, and she smelled like Elizabeth Arden's "Blue Grass".  She and Papa (my grandfather) lived in North Carolina and we would often take the train up there from Florida to visit with them.  She always had a cookie jar full of homemade molasses cookies, and when you'd take a nap on her big four poster bed, you'd wake up with the imprint of the hobnail bedspread on your cheeks.

This chair was in her house.  Over the years, what I am certain must have been a lovely tan or cream background to the faux petit point upholstery had turned a distinctly unappealing shade of tobacco brownish/green.  The upholstery itself is in good shape as is the guimp trim.

Today I received 3 samples of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Paris Grey, Antoinette and Old White.  I have been eager to try the paint, but budgetary reasons have kept me from investing in full quarts.  I was excited to have the samples, and I got one of my legendary "wild hairs" while sitting in my living room looking at the paints with my grandmother's chair staring at me across the room.

So...in about 4 hours time, we went from ^^^^^that, and 

this...

to 

this, and 

this.

The frame is Paris Grey with Antoinette for the rose detail and to highlight the other carved details.  The awful tobacco upholstery was painted with half Paris Grey and half Old White.  I thinned it with some water and used several light coats to get the desired color.

The welting on the sides and back was painted with Antoinette.  

As usual, my photos stink, but the back really looks like fine pale grey linen now.  Those aren't splotches, it's the lighting, and I gracefully forgot to remove a piece of painters' tape from the left part of the seat before I took this photo.

I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I am not sure if I'm finished yet; I'd like to do some silvering, I think.

I'm calling her "Bessie" in honor of my grandmother.