Project: Chalk Paint

The Before Photo

Last year, my word of the year was "Project." It's a word that can be a noun or a verb. I had several projects in mind that I wanted to share with you. However, things didn't quite turn out as I planned. Life is like that. Yet, at the end of the year, I realized that maybe I had not accomplished the specific projects I had planned but I had accomplished others.

This dresser is one. I have had it for years. I don't know where it even comes from. It was boring and slated for a yard sale. Then I heard about chalk paint. Evidently, chalk paint has been around for quite some time but it was new to me. Now, here's something I learned last year.

What you experience in person is better than seeing it in print or media.    

Shortly after I saw chalk paint in a magazine, a local antique store, advertised chalk paint on their outside chalk board. So, of course, I had to stop in. There were several pieces of old furniture that had been given a new life with chalk paint. I loved the colors and the textures. The store also sold chalk paint. The price was prohibitive. So when I came home, I researched on-line and learned to make my own with plaster or Paris, water and paint.

Midway through the painting

The painted drawers and drawer pulls

 The little set of drawers seemed like a perfect project for chalk paint, so I took them outside and went to work. It took just a few hours and the chalk paint dried very quickly. the pale green was perfect. I decoupaged scrapbook paper on the drawer pulls for a little bit of pattern and color.

 

 

Here is the final result. it now sits in my studio full of supplies. I'm glad now that I saw the sign at the antique store. Otherwise, chalk paint would probably still be one of those things that I see and think "Oh, I have to try that someday" and then forget about when I turn the page.

What about you? What difference does it make to your creativity to experience something as opposed to reading about it? Do you regularly go out of your studio, your comfort zone to experience new things? let me know.