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From Tired Victorian to Coastal Classic
When you start painting fabric, and staging your efforts, you know you are well and truly hooked on recreating your environment with more paint, than cash. My husband brought this old chair home one day figuring I would want it. He was right! I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with it at first, so it just sat. Then, at the Sussex Flea Market last summer, I came across this sweet little footstool, and it just had to follow me home. Thank goodness it was a little dirty and tired looking, completely over looked until I came along. Just crying for a renewal. Busy Fall, so nothing was done.
At Christmas, the chair became a great display perch for Christmas decorations and back on my radar again. I liked the way it looked, but it was not a look I wanted to live with on a daily basis. It was just too worn.
Early this Spring, thanks to my friends at The Primitive and Country Corner https://www.facebook.com/groups/498473320213504/ I discovered a wonderful vintage store in Minto New Brunswick called Crazy Al's Liquidation Centre. I found that gorgeous old lamp sitting on the lower shelf of the little table there, and the patina in this was the inspiration for what to do with this old chair and my little no-longer-brown table. Look for his Facebook page if you are in the area. Fascinating things to be found there.
The final piece of my painting puzzle came together during my last time Calgary. I am always looking for new techniques and products to create interesting textures on my pieces and I discovered Interiors to Inspire and a new to them product, called Saltwash. Love the texture it added, not only to the wood, but I also added it too the fuzzy green ugliness that was on the sides of the footstool. (what were they thinking!!). I mixed the Saltwash with ASCP Old White. As I hoped, the sides dried nice and firm, but the top is fabric soft with a leather like feel, after I added a light coat of clear wax to the whole thing. You can find the video for Saltwash on You Tube here: https://youtu.be/kxB2HXK6gPA Just click or copy the link and you will see how it is used. For those of you who use other chalky paint finishes, or even homemade mixes this will work equally well for you too. I am going to try it with a chalky paint mixed from Ralph Lauren and MockChalk paint powder. I bought the large 40 oz size of Saltwash and found that two scoops (scoop included) to a cup of paint gave me just the texture I needed. The entire can is designed to be mixed with a gallon of paint. You can buy a smaller container, but I'm a go big or go home kind of gal! It was easy to use and I can imagine all kinds of uses for it. I will share those in another post.
This project was painted with ASCP in Duck Egg Blue. My husband and I live in a log house and I love the cool contrast this color brings to my warm pine log walls and rustic softwood floors. Our non-log walls are white and we are located on the bank of the Saint John River, so this particular color resonates with me on multiple levels. So coastal looking! I have painted lots of wood now, but this was my first venture into fabric. I couldn’t be more happy with the results. There are some great YOUTUBE videos out there for doing this. Locally, Melissa at Suite Serendipity in Saint John and Melanie at Carte Blanche in Moncton are your go-to-stockists. They are fun, knowledgable and so helpful! I have purchased in both of their shops and am always peppering them with questions as my painting adventures continue. Melanie and Melissa I am hoping you will add this to your shop locally, so I don’t have to order from Calgary anymore. It is definitely my new favourite thing! Check out ilovesaltwash.com
If you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout!
For now,
Simply Crafting Deb MacCallum
