Farmhouse Table: Getting the chippy look from Sugar & Succulents

Good morning everyone! Today I'm finally going to explain the process of turning our recently built farmhouse table into the finished one we are in love with today!

As you may have read, we built this farmhouse table:

I thought about leaving the natural wood, but my heart was set on black chairs with a white table. I wanted that older look, so I went with Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint in farmhouse white. 

The first coat went on with minimal coverage- the wood looked whitewashed as opposed to painted.

I did love the wood showing through, the character of the uneven strokes, and the charm brought out from the nicks and dents. I then added a second coat.

The second coat definitely added more coverage, but I wasn't getting the chippiness I was looking for.

I think because my pieces are usually new wood or sanded down, I don't get those gorgeous cracks and chips that milk paint is famous for. I was disappointed, but determined! I looked up some "recipes" online of how to get paint to crackle. I found there are mediums specifically for that purpose, but with such a large table I didn't want to invest in an expensive paint additive and then not get the results I was looking for. 

I went with the cheap alternative: children's school glue and chalk paint. The process is simple.

Once the original layer of paint has dried, add a thick layer of glue. I used a cheap paintbrush. 

Let the glue dry to a tacky consistency. If the glue gets too dry the process won't work, but if it's too wet I had trouble painting on top of the glue. It's not an exact science, just a little guess work. Then I used pre-mixed chalk paint for the next layer. I chose chalk paint instead of milk paint for a few reasons.

I wanted to keep the table white, but I knew I needed a different shade or type of white to see the cracks and chips correctly. My concern with using the milk paint was that I wouldn't be able to see these perfect imperfections. I was also running low and didn't want to keep mixing up new batches- especially when I wasn't sure how it would react with the glue. 

After I painted on a thick layer, I left it alone to dry. The image below is after 1 hour of drying time. You can see there are still wet areas and bubbles.

I decided to leave the table to dry overnight. In the morning, I had this perfect chippy cracked goodness:

(all of the heart eye emojis here).

I did the table in parts, so you can really tell difference before and after on this junction of the leg and sideboard.

I finished the whole table and I was starting to really love the look of it; but as always, I wanted MORE. I almost thought the chipping and cracking looked too uniformly done.

I brought out my favorite little sander and went to town chipping off large chunks of paint and distressing the table. When I finally finished sanding, I took Miss Mustard Seed's Tough Coat and covered the table in two coats. This coating is protective against water and food, but also has a matte finish. I wanted to use a matte finish to cut the shine from the glue, so this seemed like the perfect solution.

After the first coat, I waited 2 hours and added a second coat. While applying, it looks a little milky white but dries clear. 

Y'all, I am IN LOVE with this finished product. This table was definitely a labor of love, but every step was important. I'm so happy we decided to stain it before painting; you can see here the layers of the stain and wear on the wood. The two different shades of white added to the effect of an older table with multiple coats of paint over the years. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Have you painted a table with so many steps and layers? Will you attempt after this DIY lesson? Let me know in the comments!

**Blog post courtesy of Taylor from Sugar and Succulents. 

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DIY: Cottage/Farmhouse Chippy Mirror Frame

Hi!! I’m Taylor and I run a little store/blog called  sugar & succulents.

I absolutely love the modern-farmhouse/cottage style. I've been acquiring pieces and staging my decor to add that delightful southern charm to my home. We recently moved into a new place and I've been quickly filling it up with decor pieces that I love. Some items came with us, others were found and foraged from my hours spent at antique stores and flea markets, but this mirror found me in a really cool salvage/thrift shop called Construction Junction in Pittsburgh, PA. 

I say "it found me" because I had no intention of purchasing a mirror that day. I went shopping the first week of March, right before we were moving out of the area. I was walking around looking for structural pieces and large furniture to take with us, when it jumped out and said "Taylor take me home!!" (okay, not literally, I know mirrors don't talk, but it did speak to my soul, if you know what I mean). How could I say no? It was real wood, heavy, and oh my goodness those curves!

...$20 later and it was coming home with me for a makeover. 

The mirror got packed up and unpacked into our new bedroom, where it found a home on the floor in the corner. I left it there while I worked on some other projects, including this simple ottoman I made and these dining chairs I refinished. Fast forward to this Friday, when I decided it was finally time for the makeover party:

I gathered my materials:

• The gorgeous mirror
• Rags
• Newspaper
• Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk paint in Farmhouse White
• Miss Mustard Seed’s Bonding Agent
• Paint brush
• Small cup for mixing lender, water
• Blender
• Water
• Painter’s tape
• Hair dryer
• Extension cord
• Sander and medium grit sand paper 

I took my mirror to the kitchen where I used a rag to wipe down the wood frame. This helped get the dust off and made sure the paint had a clean surface to adhere to. Then I moved the mirror outside and laid it down on top of some newspaper.

While the frame was drying, I mixed up some milk paint. If you’ve never worked with milk paint before, it is amazing- you’ll love it! Not only is it nontoxic, it comes in a powder form that's easy to store. To be honest though, I really hate mixing it. For my last project I mixed it by hand with a paint-stick and it took a long time and I couldn't get all the lumps out. I decided this time to use my blender; which also turned out to be a terrible idea (foreshadowing).

Once I had my paint mixed, I added the bonding agent. This is an important step if you're painting on anything other than untreated wood and you don't want to take the time to sand or strip the surface. As per the directions, I mixed equal parts milk paint and bonding agent and took it outside.

I taped the edges of the mirror so that I wouldn’t get paint on the glass; but in hindsight I wish I would have taped newspaper to the glass too or covered the whole thing in the painter's tape. While I was brushing the paint onto the frame, little flecks were landing on the mirror for me to clean up later. An even better solution would be to remove the frame from the glass, if possible. Unfortunately on this mirror, the back was permanently attached and I didn't want to risk ruining the whole piece by trying to pry it off. 

I painted my first layer of paint. Milk paint feels thin but goes on nicely and I was happy with the coverage for the first coat. I used my hair dryer on hot all along the mirror to create a “chippy” look, but I knew the paint underneath was not fully dry. To let the bonding agent set, I planned to let it dry for two hours. 

I went back inside to clean up my milk paint mess only to find that the paint was sticking to the blender. I was having a really hard time washing it off. I took the blender apart and was able to scrub out the pitcher using a scrubby pad, but it also left little scratches on my pretty glass blender. 

Then I tried to clean the paint off the blade using a brush, and as you could probably guess, moments later sliced a nice gash in my finger. 

Finger cuts bleed a lot, you know, like a whole-roll-of-paper-towels-while-asking-google-how-to-stop-the-bleeding lot. Ended up with a quick (read: hour long) trip to Patient First where they were able to get it under control; I didn't even need stitches! 

Okay, where were did I leave off?

Back at home, the mirror had dried so I added my second coat. Then we went out for Japanese because I didn't feel like cooking with only my left hand. After dinner I moved the mirror into the garage for the night. Saturday morning I looked at it; the mirror definitely needed a third coat.  At this  point I started contemplating if I should have sanded it down to the natural wood underneath, but third time's a charm. 

I painted it in the sun, and used my hairdryer for a longer period of time. I painted small sections and then blasted them with heat to get a very heavily aged-look of cracked layered paint. I set my timer for two more hours and let it dry. (The light you see in the photo was attached to the extension cord I was using, it was not used for this project.)

 

At this stage, I was really loving the level of coverage and the layered look of the paint, so I pulled out my little mouse sander with a medium grit (80) sandpaper. 

     

I ran the sander over the edges of the frame, the places that wear would naturally occur from moving or bumping it over time. 

This is the best part about the milk paint, it flakes off in a very naturally-aged way. I kept distressing until I was happy with it.

Isn’t it perfect? I’m so thrilled with the way it turned out. I’m considering antiquing the mirror glass as my next project, but I’m not so thrilled about all the chemicals involved; so I might leave it as-is or find a safer alternative to doing so.

This beauty definitely deserves to be hung up! Hopefully I can get my husband to help with that bit.

Overall this was an easy, quick, fun way to get add an antiqued chippy look for the cottage or farmhouse feel. It wasn't very expensive (I owned all of the materials already except the mirror), and I finished it in a weekend.

As mentioned, I would NOT recommend mixing the milk paint in a nice blender, instead you can hand agitate it in a mason jar, or mix it by hand. You could probably also use an immersion blender. I would also recommend removing the mirror from the frame if possible, or covering the glass while you're painting. I spent a good amount of time with Windex, vinegar, and nail polish remover scrubbing those paint speckles off.  Lastly, be very careful with your sander if you aren't sanding by hand. I scratched a little bit of the glass in some places because I didn't notice the sander was touching it. Oops, that just adds to the character, right?

What do y'all think? Do you have a mirror you’d like to add some cottage charm to? Would you antique the glass as well or leave it as is? I’d love to hear from you! 

xxo,

Tay

**Blog post courtesy of Taylor from Sugar & Succulents. Visit her blog for more DIYs and inspiration!

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It's a New Year and a New Life for an Old Chair!

I found this old chair on a local Facebook garage sale site and I knew I could make it look good again!

I loved the detail it had, but it was in bad need of a refresh! I decided to re-do it and give it to my daughter for Christmas. I knew exactly what I was going to recover it with! She had made a comment several times how much she liked this Waverly Ikat fabric.

I was lucky enough to find a couple remnants at Hobby Lobby that was more than enough to makeover this chair! I had my husband help me with tightening all the screws and gluing a couple spots to make sure it would be sturdy for her. The next step was to remove the seat and to paint the frame. I decided I wanted it to be black,  I used Rustoluem 2X Satin Canyon Black.

After wiping down the whole chair to make sure there was no dust I gave it two coats to make sure I got good coverage.

 

After the paint was dry I decided to distress it in the spots where it would have shown wear if this was the original finish.

 

While the paint was drying I went back inside to re-upholster the seat cushion. Usually I would use the old fabric as a guide for cutting the new cover but the old cover was vinyl and it was pretty brittle. The old cushion had seen its better days too, so it all went right to the trash. I used the wooden seat bottom as a pattern to cut new foam. I used an old mattress pad we had, that we no longer used. (**hint** mattress pads are an inexpensive way to get large pieces of foam and a lot cheaper than foam from the fabric store) I decided to use a double layer of foam to make the seat nice and cushy.

 

Then I measured out batting wide enough to wrap the foam and secure to the seat bottom.

Next I began stapling the batting to the under side of the seat working opposite sides back and forth and pulling the batting tight and even, leaving a few inches from each corner free to work the corner.

 

Once all four sides were secured, I started to work the corners. I usually fold mine like wrapping a present. There are many ways to do this but just work it until it looks nice and lays neatly, then staple.

After all the corners were finished I trimmed off the excess fabric.

After the batting was trimmed I repeated the above steps with the fabric covering. My fabric had a large pattern so I made sure it was centered nicely before I cut out the piece I was using.

 

Here is the under side once the fabric was secure and trimmed.

This is the top side before attaching it to the chair.

Now all that was left to do was to attach it back to the frame of the chair.

I also had enough fabric to make a little pillow to match.

I think it turned out so cute and she loved it! 😍 

I hope this gives you inspiration to upcycle an old 'ugly' piece to make it new, fresh, and to give it a new life! Make sure to check out my blog at Karensays.net 

                                                      Happy New Year! 🎉

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DIY Trendy Christmas Gifts/Tassel Necklaces

I love making jewelry, and I usually make a few Christmas gifts for my close female friends and family. This year I decided to try my hand at making tassel necklaces. I've been seeing tassels on everything and all over the fashion blogs. I have been making jewelry for several years, but I think with some basic beading/jewelry making skills you can make your own! I will walk you through the steps I do to make these necklaces.

I used either embroidery floss or leather cord. (my pictures show the process with the embroidery floss but the process is essentially the same for the leather cord)

Remove label and open the floss, keeping it in a big loop.

I wrapped my floss around my hand three times.

Then gather one end and begin wrapping with wire (I used 26 gauge) about ½ to ¾ of an inch from the top. Wrap it neatly around 6-8 times. You can also use metallic thread or twine to wrap your
 tassel.
 

With wire you'll want to twist it to keep the wire stable then trim and tuck ends. If using thread or twine you'll want to tie a knot, trim the ends, and secure them with a bit of glue.

Feed about 12” of wire through the loop at the top of the tassel and fold in half and twist

Once you've twisted the base of the wire now you can be creative with your beads

At the end of your beads you will want to use a crimp bead. Then feed the wire through a ring and back through the crimp. Bead and crimp it to secure, then clip the excess wire.

Now cut the bottom end of the floss ‘loop’.

Feed a long chain through your ring and admire your handiwork! I'm sure your friends will love their trendy gift especially since it was designed by you just for them!

If you liked this tutorial, make sure to check out my blog at Karen Says for more DIY's, recipes, fashion, and home decor articles! See you there! 😊

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