Chalk Paint Chair DIY

So I am continuing to add some red to our living and dining rooms. Here is the next addition to the new red color story going on in our house. I bought a pair of these chairs about 15 years ago when we lived in Philadelphia.  They have just been collecting dust in our basement for the last few years.  They used to be black.

 I covered the black paint with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint pure white.

 Second coat was chalk paint from Walmart ($7.98).  The color is Imperial. If you’ve purchased chalk paint before you’ll know what a great deal that is!

 I did it very quickly, not worrying about getting a smooth even coat.

 Then I took some sandpaper and “distressed” it.  Distressing is just sanding off parts where it would have naturally worn off over time. I used 100 sandpaper which is a medium grit. If you don’t like this sloppy look , just make sure that your top coat of paint is even strokes.  

 The arms are a place that would get a lot of wear over the years, so I sanded there too.  Annie Sloan suggests using a coat of paste wax before you distress, but I think it distresses easier if you sand before you wax it.

 I sanded the legs and also the rugs and any other place I thought would get natural wear over the years.  The idea is to make the areas that you distress not look deliberate, but look like it happened naturally over time.  When I was finished I gave it a coat of paste wax. 

 The final step was to recover the chair seat.  Sorry I didn’t think to take any photos of how to do it.  Just google it, if you need some instructions. All you need is a staple gun, screwdriver to remove the seat, and fabric to cover it.

Right now the walls in our dining room are a pale yellow. The red chairs are going in there and I have a red chandelier that will replace the white one. I’m thinking of painting the top half of the walls navy blue. If I don’t like it, it’s only paint…  

I didn’t mention this to my husband yet.  I wonder what he’ll think when he reads this post!

Thanks for stopping by. Got time for a cup of tea?  I’ve got my red and white tea set all ready!

Rhondi xo

Valentine Tablescape

Hi

So glad you stopped by. How is your day going?  I often wonder as I write this who is going to read it.  Will someone randomly find it surfing the internet?  Will they come from another blog where I linked to?  Are they a subscriber? If you’ve never left a comment here. I would love to hear from you today. I am always excited to receive your comments and I always try to reply to first time commenters. No matter how you landed here, I am so glad you came to visit!

I seldom do any decorating for Valentines Day, but yesterday I found a couple of goodies at the thrift shop which inspired me to do a Valentine tablescape.  This is what I found:

                                                           four square plates with hearts on them

 a heart shaped candle and  a heart dish that is blue and white, perfect color for me to use year round 

                                   and a nice bright red ceramic candy dish.  I spent a total of $5.25.

 I covered the table with the red and white quilt I made a few years ago.  FYI…the walls look SO bright in these photos.  They  are so much paler in real life.       Come take a closer look at my table.

                            The little hearts I make for my family every Christmas hang on each chair

 I made napkin rings from a toilet paper roll covered with gift wrap and a garage sale snowflake glued on.  We used them for our Christmas lunch.  Since they were red they are great for my Valentine tablescape , and especially fitting for all you northerners with the amount of snow you’ve had this year!! The napkins are vintage.

                                                                     Some milkglass goblets

and a knife and fork with pink gingham handles complete the festive place setting.  I got 8 sets of knife, fork and spoon, 4 pink and 4 pale purple for only $1  at a sale last weekend.

 My red and white tea set had to make an appearance.

Just had to show you this beautiful soup tureen I got recently. I have found several tureens lately at very cheap prices so my collection has grown rapidly.  The white provides a nice relief from all the bright red.

                     A heart shaped dish which I’ve had for a few years.  It’s great for dips and crackers.

Finally some flowers for the center in a red pitcher.  A table always needs flowers and  daisies are one of my favorites.  These aren’t real, but they are so cheerful.  In the movie  You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan said, “Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower” and I have to agree.  (By the way, You’ve Got Mail is one of my favorite movies.   I always cry at the end as soon as “somewhere over the rainbow” starts.) That has nothing to do with my Valentine tablescape…

So this is my dining room table all decked out for Valentines Day.  I’d like to leave it like that but we use our dining room table every night for dinner.  I use the quilt for special occasions as a tablecloth,but don’t want it there every night, too much chance of it being stained.  Maybe I’ll use it again on Valentines Day.

If you happen to drop by my house today we can sit there and have a cup of tea, before I take it off.

Rhondi xo

Sharing with

The Style Sisters at Centerpiece Wednesdays

Tablescape Thursday at NOTP

Hearts

Last year I started a tradition of making a heart for each of our children and grandchildren for Christmas to hang on the Christmas tree.  Hopefully  they'll each have at least 20 before my eyesight starts to fail!  I plan to do a different pattern each year.  Last year it was this nine patch.

This year I made the log cabin pattern.  On the back I embroider their name and the year.  A gift from my heart.

I think the hearts just get packed away with the other Christmas decorations at their homes, but I like to look at mine all year so they sit in a bowl.   I just love hearts.  I'd like to have a whole lot more!

Don't forget about my giveaway.  You have until Thursday night to enter.

Rhondi xo 

Flaunt Your Red

Nancy at Southern Lady is hosting a Flaunt Your Red party today. I love red so I thought it would be fun to join in and "flaunt my red".
Here is our red dining room.

Red pillows on the couch.

Red books on the mantle.

I painted the hutch in our kitchen red.

Sometimes I hang this red quilt I made on the wall in our front hall.

If you have time I'll make us a pot of tea in my red teapot. Some red hearts I made nestle in a white bowl.

Madeleine sits beside a red patchwork pillow.So that's just a little sample of some of the red in my house.

Make sure you stop by and visit Southern Lady to see lots blogs flaunting their red.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Rhondi xo

Something's Missing

I was thinking about inviting you over for a cup of tea today. I can get out my cute little red and white tea set I bought last Christmas. I've got some cheery candy cane stripe mugs we can use.

But wait....something's missing! I have no Christmas cookies!

Maybe if I put your mug in the middle of the plate you won't notice?

I know, I'll could put these hearts I made on the plate. That might distract you from noticing the plate is empty.

Maybe if I spread the hearts out so they fill up more of the plate it won't look so empty.

Oh well, come on over anyhow and have a cup of tea with me. None of us really need any cookies anyway do we? So tell me, are you all ready for Christmas? I'm not!

Rhondi xo

A Delightful Morning

I headed out to the shops first thing this morning to get a few last minute things for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was one of those beautiful sunny mild days we get in winter here in North Carolina, which is one of the things I love about living here.

My first stop was The Dollar Tree where I got these red plates. Aren't they great? There were also large bowls and mugs too and cute wine glasses with white snowflakes. I resisted and just got 8 plates. By the way, notice my apron has cherries on it? I forgot about it yesterday when I was photographing cherries! My next stop was Wal Mart. I thought it would be busy but it wasn't and the lady who was at the check out was singing Christmas songs and was just as cheerful as could be.

As I was heading home, I passed by the nursery and saw their "half off pansies" sign. I am really late getting pansies this year and thought I had missed my opportunity. So I was able to get all the pansies I needed for much less than I usually paid and they were bigger than what I usually get too.

I was back home by 11:15. A delightful morning full of bargains, sunshine and cheerful people.

I hope you find some sunshine and cheer in your day today.

Rhondi xo

Puttering Around The House

Hope that you had a good labor day weekend. Our internet connection wasn't working and we just got it fixed today, so I haven't responded to any of you or read any of your blogs. We just got it up and running late this afternoon and I have a lot of catching up to do!


Friday I got puttering around with my living room and since summer is almost over, I thought it might be fun to make it less summery and more cosy for the fall. The living room was all yellow and blue white and I decided to to replace the yellow with red.


As you can see I already have lots of red in the dining room. I love the look of blue and white with red.
I moved the sofa so that the green wicker table could be seen better.

I made new red covers for the pillows on the couch, with some old fabric that used to be pillow shans.
I put blue and white piping on the pillows.
I covered a lampshade with red toile which I already had. As you can see I haven't actually finished it!
I added some red books.

draped some quilts over the back of chairs

rearranged the furniture

put some shutters in front of the fireplace, dragged a table out of the attic
put the sofa in front of my blue quilt.

and put the church window mirror against the wall.
The white hall table had an encounter with some black spray paint.
I added some "stuff"

more stuff
more..
I brought in an interesting magazine rack.
piled up some books beside the chair.
I rearranged some things on the hall table.

I found this table for $10 at the Salvation Army store.
Here's a view of the finished room looking from the dining room. I think it turned out well.
I probably won't be posting again for a few days because I am hosting Robbi Joy Eklow, a quilter who is teaching some workshops for our quilt guild. She will be with us until Sunday.

Hope you have a good week.

Rhondi xo