Olive U!

Olive U!  Well, if you say it really fast it does sound like "I love you", right? OK...maybe not! Maybe just a little!? :)

This next custom job we painted was just an ordinary older chair.  Nothing fancy about it.  Here is what it originally looked like:

These are the type of jobs we love!  Transforming something that needs a little attention and making it look new.  

Erika already had the fabric she wanted to use for the chair pad, seen above, in a warm leather brown.    

She had a great swatch of earthy colors she wants to use in her space, so I matched the paint to one that she already picked out from a local paint store. We decided to go with Olive Annie Sloan Chalk Paint®. 

Olive in its true form was a little too dark, so we mixed 3 parts Olive to 1 part Old White.  I am always amazed how much I end up loving Annie's colors once I paint something with it.  I have never used Olive before and really didn't have an opinion about it. 

As you can see from the below pictures, my kitchen (yes, that was my studio this past week), is painted fairly similar to Olive. The chair fits perfectly, right?  Hmmm, I thought to myself....  Maybe I could tell Erika a disaster occurred, the chair suddenly disappeared! or... It got up and walked away on its own.  (OK... totally joking! Maybe! ...uh, not really!)  So it got me thinking----Oh, what could I paint in my kitchen in this color!  See the stool peeking at you in the right hand side of the picture in the oak color?  

Yep, I'm thinking OLIVE! Another project, Another Day!

  After sanding the edges to give the chair more character and to draw out the detail, I used Annie's Soft Wax to seal it and buffed it a lot. 

I love how it turned out! The color of the chair pad and antiquing the edges just pulls all the colors together.  

Here is the chair in Erika's home.  It fits right in with the color of the flooring and walls. Looks great! 

Thank you Erika for giving us the opportunity to transform your lovely chair!

Cheers!

OK... so I was so excited to get started on this project that, yes...I forgot a before picture.

This all happened within 24 hours! My neighbor Michelle told me she was looking for a cabinet to use as bar one evening.  The very next day, we picked up this cute cabinet in ole Bessie and I immediately thought it would be perfect as a bar.  I showed Michelle, we picked a color and I bought the paint.   It was a whirlwind  romance  ~  truly it was.

We were originally told that this cabinet was a bar that they used as a media cabinet.  After working on it for a week, I realized it was just the opposite!  The placement of some of the holes, the flip top and just the wear of the stain, made me think differently. I believe it housed a record player from the get-go.

I have to say, this piece was in really good shape and very sturdy. It didn't need a lot of prep work. I fell in love with the detail and couldn't wait to antique it. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® does not make a true black chalk paint so I used a flat paint with primer from Behr.  It was pretty nice to work with.

Without further a-do..... here she is--in all her glory!!

 Looks awesome in her new home, right?

This is a picture of the detail on the sides and front of the doors up close without antiquing it. 

Here is a picture after with sanding it just a little to emphasize the rope detail. Just used a simple sanding block and sanded away! Super easy and a great effect.

I had a hard time trying to figure out what type of hardware. I hemmed and hawed over what to get. I almost ordered brushed nickel; however, after I antiqued it and the golden/coppery color came through,  I knew hardware with a copper/bronze color would look great. So, I found these super pretty 'birdcage' pulls.

Now, you probably saw the above picture and wondered.....what in the world is that messy looking paper on the shelves?  Well... I got inspired!  Since this was going to be a bar, I thought it would be fun to line the shelves with drink recipes.  So that is what I did.  I found a copy of the 1935 The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book reprint on Amazon. We tea stained the pages to make them look old. (A fairly simple project that my daughter and her friend helped with.)  We just made a few cups of tea and painted the crumpled up pages with the actual tea bags.  After two coats of mod podge and poly each, I think it turned out quite unique. 

I have to say, I keep looking for another cabinet like this one because I just know that I could find a place for one just like it in my house:)

School, Organization, and NOT!

School is right around the corner for the Sandpaper kids! In fact, it's on Tuesday.  Oh, I cannot wait!....oops... did I really write that??  What I really meant...... Darn! Shucks! Oh, what a pity!! (insert major sarcasm.)

With school -comes paper. Lots of paper and even more paper. Is there a special organizing system you use?  Here is what my organizing system looks like.........

NOT! NOT! and NOT!  One can dream right? This is compliments of a cute blog called Tobi's Blog.

Here is actually what my organization system looks like at this point and time.

Go ahead! It's OK. You can judge.... I will just say what everyone it thinking. HOLY COW! That looks bad. Yep. It does! Needs a little makeover and some cut backs.   Don't worry, though, plans are in the works to get this baby back in order and ready to go by Tuesday.  

Once, complete, I will gladly share a new picture.  

What do you do to get ready for school? Are there any favorite organizing items you just HAVE to use?  Just make a comment below for all to share.  Perhaps we can get through the mounds of school paper together.

A Linky What?

A "Linky Party"! Ever hear of it? It's this fabulous new way (or maybe it's old and I am now just catching on) to learn or share your newest recipe, DIY project, home improvement idea or in our case, our painted furniture.  Hopefully, it will be a great way to spread our name and get people interested in our new endeavor.  We submitted our blog post for Amber Gold's Salon.

If you hop on over to Liz Marie's Blog, which by the way is so stinkin' cute, you will get an idea of this cute online party!

Share your newest idea or project with her and don't forget to post it back in our comments.