Graphite French Country Tables

I have someone interested in having a dining set painted in Graphite, the Annie Sloan chalk paint color that isn't quite black, but a lovely charcoal color. The shade deepens to nearly black with layers of dark wax. I have been dying to try it out, and gave it a go with two french country tables I acquired recently.

These Bombay coffee table and end tables were in need of repair - both had damaged surfaces, but were otherwise in great, sturdy condition. (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the coffee table in the BEFORE stage)

First, I sanded down the table tops to remove most of the damage and smooth out the surface. This convinced me that I really need to invest in an electric sander! Using sanding blocks and manually doing it was a you-know-what! And I was doing this in my garage, on a friggin 90 degree day, when the humidity was high enough to drown a duck in its own sweat! No fun.

Next, I painted each with a coat of ASCP in Old Ochre - a sort of antique white color. Then I painted the tops in Graphite. It went on a bit blueish. A very pretty color indeed! I made sure to paint in every direction - left to right, up and down - purposely giving it texture. After it dried, I began waxing it with several layers of dark wax. Each time it got a little darker - and more beautiful - because the wax settled into all of that texture. The color is spectacular - aged and beautiful! Then I clear waxed the legs. Next I distressed the edges of the tops and just a bit on the bottoms of the legs. I went over all distressed areas of the tops with another layer of dark wax. The bottom distressed areas got clear wax again, and I finished by putting just a tad bit of dark wax on select areas of the legs to age them a bit too.

Here's the finished pieces:

Charlotte can't resist a photo shoot!!

These pieces are for sale: http://twigandtwinenest.blogspot.com/2012/04/items-for-sale.html

A Wreath and Coffee Table Kind of Day

Today I decided to do something that would remind me of Spring - considering it was in the low-40's and raining for the 2nd day in a row. Our sunny weather is M-I-A, and I needed something that would warm my spirit, if not my bones.

I drove out to AC Moore and grabbed a 14" grapevine wreath and all these beautiful silk flowers: pink Joyous Gerberas (okay the name says enough!), Lemon Leaves, pink Lupinus, onion leaves, green Pom Poms, and a greenish-pink hydrangea.

On the drive back home, we also stopped by a thrift store, where I found my next paint project: a curvy coffee table with beautiful carved accents. And a lovely decorative pull handle. Check her out!

This is going to look so pretty when it gets a fresh coat of paint and dark wax in those carved spots!

That means I have to finish up the dresser I am currently working on. I gave it a final coat of paint today. If its any nicer outside tomorrow, I will wax and distress it lightly. The final step will be to polish up the hardware and put it back on. Pics to come - I promise. But, here's a sneak peek...I love this color!

So back to the wreath...

I got home, snipped the flowers off their stems and got out the trusty hot glue gun. Then I just started glueing those bad boys on. In about an hour it was all done! Here's a little trick I learned online for getting rid of the pesky hot glue strings - zap them with a hot hair dryer for a few seconds. They disappear!

The weather outside might be less-than-perfect, but the inside of my door looks mighty nice!