Chalk Painted Chest

chalk painted chest

Hello everyone!  I disappeared because my computer stopped working or letting me work.  Having a Macintosh computer in Italy is like… well it is like being a barefoot California girl in cut-off Levis, when everyone else is in 3-inch heels and has straightened hair.  The fight between Mac and PC, it’s going on over here too, isn’t that insane except no one has Mac unless it is a phone.

I learned something fun recently from a very lovely stylish client of mine who owns one of my favorite café’s in town.  She taught me, you can just buy the metal bolts that go on to furniture in stripes.  This is what they look like.

distressed faux finish

Nailhead Trim

Then you just line up the stripe and hammer in a bolt every 5^th bolt and thus pinning the stripe down.  It makes me think there are so many other projects I could use these for, upholstering a chair, making numbers on a door inside or out, one big SEVEN for example could be way cool, because seven is hip.  Man, I think they would be fun to do on a wall also.  Does anyone out there know what these bolts are really called in English, it isn’t rivet is it? (the answer seems to be nailhead trim)

Here’s what the chest looked like before.  I made my own chalk paint by adding powdered stucco sifted into a small bucket of taupe colored flat paint. I used about two tablespoons of stucco and mixed it really well.  It thickened up very quickly so I am thinking that the Plaster of Paris homemade chalk paint recipe might work better.  I haven’t found Plaster of Paris over here in Italy yet.

the before shot

The good thing about Chalk Paint is it covers everything and it was easy to sponge off in areas to antique the chest and let the wood come through.  After it was painted I wiped over it with a hard dried out sponge to make the surfaces smooth.

The ball gown was one of my mother’s that she wore when she was 18.  It has a twelve ft. long satin shall that goes with it.  When I was young I used to put it on and stand over the kitchen heater that was on the floor and blew up warm air, the gown became huge like a hoop skirt.  I am slowly doing a photo essay of photographing all the girls in the family in this dress.  It is quite lovely.

chalk paint and satin gotta love it!

Cheers,

Natalie

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