Lake Cabin Main Bedroom Redo

 

Happy Memorial Day, My Lovelies!  I hope you've had a wonderful weekend.  We're still celebrating at Lake Martin with family and friends.

In today's post I wanted to share our recent redo of our main bedroom in our lake cabin.  We've wanted to redecorate for a long time, and we were inspired by our hotel room in Montana.  I wish I'd taken more photos of the room because it was brilliant in its decor and functionality.

What we loved about our room:  The rustic wood-clad walls; crisp white linens; leather headboards; industrial lighting; and floating bedside shelves.

Our cabin is small, so we painted the walls in Benjamin Moore's Super White.  There's a texture on the walls to reduce sound, and we opted not to change that.  Next we upgraded our ceiling fan, and we upgraded from a queen sized bed to a king.

Rather than clad the entire wall with barn wood, we instead bought a headboard.  We found floating shelving with drawers we liked a little bit better than open shelving, and Trip decided to hardwire the lights we found.

We didn't change the carpet because it's in very good condition.

I like that the headboard has random white and gray planks.

I love the little sconces with the retro shape, bulbs, and pulls.

We are enjoying the neutral bedding, and we've added white linen bedding for summer.

Our pine pieces are now sporting jaunty MacKenzie-Childs round and fish knobs.

The chests are opposite our bed, and between them are large sliding glass doors.  We also installed new (blackout) white linen curtains.  I forgot to take a photo of them! 

The only thing we kept in the room is the vintage Mardi Gras poster.  It looks even better with our new decor.

This is quite the departure from how I normally decorate because I'm a maximalist, and I love color.  But that's sort of the point, for the room to feel like a little boutique hotel.

Mr. Bookish was so helpful in helping with the decorating decisions; installing the sconces, bedside floating tables, and ceiling fan; and helping move the kingsize bed up a very steep flight of stairs.  

We also totally changed our porches at the lake, too.  I might share them later if I remember to take some photos.

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Lake Cabin Main Bedroom Redo

Monday, May 29, 2023

Chair Makeover With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

 

Happy Tuesday Morning, My Lovelies!  About two weeks or so ago I painted a chair with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I would've posted about it sooner, but I caught a nasty bug that put me to bed for several days.  I'm so thankful that I'm finally feeling better!  :D

The chair I painted is my kitchen desk chair.  I enjoy planning meals, blogging, and going down Pinterest rabbit holes at my desk.  The problem I had with my Windsor chair is that the finish had worn completely off in several areas as you can see below.

The way that the sunshine is hitting the chair highlights the wear on the chair:

notice the raw wood on the seat.

I had planned to paint my chair for quite a long time, but I couldn't decide on a color.  About a month ago I was looking at my new issue of The English Home Magazine, and I saw a photo of a pretty console table, and I thought it was painted the prettiest shade of blue.  The caption said that it was painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Aubusson Blue.  It might have been waxed in a darker wax, but I decided to wax my chair in the clear wax.

The inspiration photo

While I wasn't really looking for a chair cushion, I saw this cushion on sale on the MacKenzie-Childs website.  It also has a matching throw pillow.

I like how they match my chair, and there's just enough pink to match our cabinetry and island.

I think I might have photographed the pillow upside down.  What do you think? 

I am very pleased with the results.  I painted a Bloomsbury Set Keepsake Box, Charleston, by Annie Sloan before tackling this chair project.  You may read about it HERE.   I also learned a few things about working with chalk paint:

• If I want to paint something and not have the brushstrokes show, I will definitely dilute the paint a lot and paint several coats.  NOTE:  Annie Sloan reached out to me on Instagram.  She is so lovely!  She said not to do this unless the paint is left out for a period of time.  This did happen to me while painting the chair because I had a couple of needy people who distracted me from the task at hand.  I do recommend diluting the paint if you forget and leave the paint sitting for a few hours.
• When I painted the box, I liked having the "charcoal" color to darken colors and the "original" color for lightening.  Keep this in mind if you like a color but would prefer a lighter or darker value.
• These colors mix easily, and I could easily mix my own custom shades.
• The paints need quite a bit of shaking/stirring/mixing before use.
• The oil based clear wax bothered my asthma.  But everything bothers my asthma!  I worked outside while waxing the chair, and it helped.  
• The paint is super easy to work with, and if I ever want to transform furniture, I will use it again.  I'm thinking about painting and decoupaging a chest of drawers next.
• Annie Sloan's wax brush is worth the investment if you plan on waxing your projects.  I highly recommend it.

At my local Ace Hardware Store, I found this helpful Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint Workbook.  It has sections for different styles of country decor, and there are folders in it to hold paint swatches, fabric, magazine pages, or other items you might need while planning projects and rooms.

Come back Friday for a review of Remarkably Bright Creatures.  It's the best book I've read so far this year.

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Chair Makeover With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Adventures With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

 

Happy Last Day of February, Lovelies!  

Today I'm sharing with you my latest adventure:  painting with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I know I'm the very last one to the chalk paint party (as usual), but I thought that if I like painting the small box, then maybe I'd paint furniture in the future.

I selected the Bloomsbury Set Keepsake Box, Charleston.

The kit comes with everything needed to complete the box, with five samples of paint and clear wax.

According to her webswite, Annie has created three limited edition colors inspired by the joyful use of paint and color throughout Charleston farmhouse. The Paint-Your-Own Keepsake box contains all of these three Limited Edition colors.

Firle: a fresh, zesty and crisp green.

Rodmell: a dusty, damson purple.

Tilton: a deep, bright mustard.

The Keepsake box features 120ml tins of Chalk Paint™ in Rodmell, Tilton, Firle, along with two neutral colours: Original and Graphite. There's also one 120ml project pot of Clear Chalk Paint™ Wax, a wax cloth, plus the Large Round and Large Flat Detail Brushes, and an inspiration guide.

This project was a challenge to me for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I love the Bloomsbury look, and I did want to recreate the feel of Charleston farmhouse.  Looking closely at photos from the farmhouse, most of the painted surfaces are hand-drawn, and brushstrokes are evident.

This is not how I paint at all, but I gave it my best shot.  I looked at several Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury-inspired patterns on Pinterest, and I found one I liked for the top of the lid.  I was also inspired by Annie Sloan's example on the packaging for the sides.

After painting and before waxing

The fat brush I bought extra.  It is an Annie Sloan wax brush, and I highly recommend it.  I think you should use paintbrushes you're accustomed to, but her paint brushes in the kit are high quality, and I like them.

The photos below are after waxing and buffing.

What I Learned:

• If I want to paint something and not have the brushstrokes show, I will definitely dilute the paint a lot and paint several coats.  
• I liked having the "charcoal" color to darken colors and the "original" color for lightening.  These colors mix easily, and I could easily mix my own custom shades.
• The paints need quite a bit of shaking/stirring/mixing before use.
• The oil based clear wax bothered my asthma.  But everything bothers my asthma!  Next time I will either work outside or in a better ventilated area.

Have you ever tried chalk paint?  Please tell me about your projects in comments if you have.  

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Adventures With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

February Activities

 

Happy Presidents' Day, My Lovelies!  What are your plans for the day?  I have a meeting this afternoon, so I probably won't be doing much this morning other than a few chores and reading this:

It's a very interesting read so far!  

I'm happy to announce that I had my follow-up mammogram, and I got a very good grade.  I won't need another one for a year, and I already have my appointment for Valentine's Day 2024.  I've also been released from physical therapy.  My health is a top priority these days: I walk the Westies daily unless it's pouring down rain.  We enjoy our little walkies, and if you follow me on Instagram, you can see videos of our walks sometimes.

I continue to slowly deep clean our home, but I'm also trying to find a little joy, too.  I found some pretty chamomile at Trader Joe's and placed it in the art studio.

I'm still not painting, but I am slowly working through a realism drawing book.  I love popcorn, and whenever I pick-up my drawing pad to work on the popcorn drawing, I start craving it.  Popcorn is my favorite snacky-snack.

I'm almost finished with this one.

I love maidenhair ferns.  Love them.  They're my favorite house plant.  I kill lots of them, and I don't like doing that.  I found a great video and article from The Spruce HERE that teaches how to grow and care for them.  An added benefit:  They are nontoxic to both children and pets.

I have them displayed on our dining room table.

I'm also planning our container gardens for spring.  I cant wait to start planting!

I haven't written a Literary Friday post in a while, but I will be posting one this Friday.  I read a book entitled The Book Haters' Book Club, and in it a bookseller recommends books in newsletters.  Being the nerd that I am, I read three of the recommended books (I sort of went down a little rabbit hole).  I will be reviewing all four books on Friday.

I have made it a goal to read five classics this year, four I've never read and one re-read.  Here's my current read:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is long, so it will take me a minute to read it!

Also, I've started a rather large project.  Here's a hint:

Coming-up March 1st:

Thanks for reading my blog!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

February Activities

Monday, February 20, 2023