Chalk Painting, My Newest Obsession

We're redoing our bathroom. The old version of the bathroom was split into two rooms, with a door between. It had two sinks, one in each of the rooms. And the sinks, tub and toilet were all robin's egg blue, and, I'm thinking, about 50 years old. My cleaning lady commented that the tub must be too small for me. "How did you know?!!" "Footprints on the walls." So true. A 5' tub for a 5' 4" bubble bath lover. Oh, and the carpet - yes, carpet in the bathroom - 1970's plush, icky sort of harvest moon-ish brown.

So, some wonderful burly men from Bernhardt's Remodelling Center in Lakeville, NY, came over and ripped the bathroom to its studs. They've put down some lovely tile on the floor. They've put up new walls. They came highly recommended, and I must say, I've been extremely impressed.

So at the moment I have one room with nothing but tile on the floor and a medicine cabinet that I bought on craigslist. The room gets painted on Monday. And then my new tub and toilet and sink arrive, and the guys will do the installation and plumbing. And then I want to fill it up and make it into my sanctuary.

I don't want to build shelves or a closet. I've decided I want an armoire. So I started wandering around craigslist looking at armoires and wardrobes, and that's when I noticed Chalk Paint. It started with The Purple Painted Lady, a local place. That's where I read about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. That led to ordering books by Annie Sloan from my local library. And then I noticed something about Milk Paint, which led to Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint. That lead to another round at the library for her book, Inspired You: Breathing New Life into Your Heart and Home. That hasn't arrived yet, but I think it looks like a terrific book. I really liked her website and her youtube videos.

Next? Many youtube videos. I don't usually binge on youtube all that much, but I had a night where I was wide awake, so I watched videos. Chalk Paint versus Milk Paint, how to do various techniques - you name it, I watched it. By the time I was done, I was in full dither about the virtues of Chalk Paint versus Milk Paint, and then finally decided on Chalk Paint because it's thickerer.

But wait, there's more! It turned out that the Purple Painted Lady is having an event - The Purple Painted Lady Barn Sale Jamboree! Coming on September 26th, doesn't this look cool? I am totally going! It is in Palmyra, New York, a place I'm not sure I've ever been to intentionally, and will have more than 80 artisans, raffles, and demos of chalk painting. I am so totally in! I'm meeting up with some cousins.

But even that isn't enough about Chalk Paint. I've decided I need to learn from the master, so I've signed up for a workshop on it in October. My cousin Michelle and I are taking the workshop, and I can't wait. I've already got my first project picked out. I bought a cabinet for my husband's bathroom at a garage sale. It's a rather bold blue, and I want to make it white. Well, more than just white. I'm still thinking through the details.

I saw this stencil that I thought could look really interesting on the inner rectangles of the front of the cupboard. It's called Rockin' Roses Damask Stencil. I like it, but, it's pretty girly, so I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do for something in my husband's bathroom. I found a stencil technique in Annie Sloan's Painted Kitchen book that looked really cool. You use two different colors of the chalk paint and roll to get a two-toned affect.

Anyway, stay tuned as the adventure proceeds...