Chalkboard Desk

I've had this really great desk for a while now.  Hubby got it for me at a local thrift store, and I adore it.  It have lots of work area and storage.  We just redid our floors in my craft room and our kitchen, so I decided this ol' girl needed a paint job.  I knew I wanted to use black paint, and I thought a chalkboard top would be great for me and my little girl.  I made my own chalkboard paint using this tutorial from Emma and Elsie at A Beautiful Mess.  It's super easy, just add 2 tablespoons unsanded grout to 1 cup of paint.  I used latex paint, but you can also use craft paints.  

Here's a before picture of my desk...

And here it is after painting...

I made the curtain from an old bed skirt.  As you can see in the next picture, Lula approves of the updates.  She has drawn on it for the last two days.  And if Lula is happy, then Mommy is happy.  

I'm also working on a mural in my art room, and I plan on posting some pictures of it soon.  

Embrace Your Mistakes

A couple of years back my grandmother got me a vintage sewing machine desk from a thrift store.  It is very functional; it stores my sewing machine when not in use and holds all types of supplies.  But it wasn't very pretty.  So I had this idea that I would paint it.  At first I thought I would paint waves on it, but my dining room has changed into my art room and I wanted something more colorful.  Instead of practicing on a canvas and planning, I just went for it. 

I had a base coat of spray paint that was dark blue for the original wave idea.  I thought I would add some crackle paint and paint a coat of white over it.  It worked well enough until I started painting details over the crackle finish.  It just peeled off.  The crackle paint did not adhere properly to the spray paint, and I had to scrape the entire thing.  Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is in the process of being scraped down.

The terrible mess it made in my floor.

With a coat of gesso and the back of it painted black.



I have learned a lot from my mistake, mainly to plan, practice, to take the time to do it right.  I am practicing on canvas right now and learning to paint, repaint, and experiment.  Something I may not have learned if I had not made this little mistake.  I think crackle paint would have been boring, now I am in the middle of a bright and beautiful painting that I am pleased with.  I am also very happy with my canvases, and will share them with you in the next few days.  And I will also be sharing some more work in progress shots of this desk.