LIVING ROOM COUCH PICTURE TURNED INTO CHALKBOARD

While stopping for a garage sale last summer, I spied this picture sitting in the corner.  There was no price on it, so I went up to the gentleman having the sale and asked about it.  He said he would take $3.00 for it.  Not bad.  The picture itself was not very attractive, but I loved the lines of the frame.



Notice the somewhat blurry linen mat between the frame lines.


I decided to try my hand at spray chalkboard paint.  I wasn't very successful.  The can dripped constantly even though I shook it the appropriate amount of time.  When it dripped, I just wiped it with a rag, sprayed some more until the entire canvas was covered with chalkboard paint.

I might interject here.  Even when it seems that a project it an utter failure, drive on.

Back to the project.  Years ago, my neighbor in Virginia threw a chair out into the garbage.  I confiscated it before I took the girls to school.  I went to Wal-Mart and bought  some Color Place paint, a color called Blue Diamond. The blue matched the French blue color that you see in a lot of Claude Monet paintings.  The year was 2007.  Mr. Thrifty cut a hole in the seat and I planted spring flowers in it.

This picture below hardly looks like the vibrant blue that it had been painted.

So, I went to my paint supply not knowing if the paint was still good.  It appeared somewhat runny, but since I was going to paint a $3.00 picture frame, I thought I would give it a shot.


                               Here is the chalkboard with two coats of the Blue Diamond color paint.

I painted the frame and the linen mat.  Here is a close-up.

How is that for some vibrant color?   Now I wanted to try out a new product that the Annie Sloan line carries.  It is called gilding wax.



 

I am in LOVE with this wax.  To apply, all you do is use your index finger and go to town.  I wanted to accent just the tips of the frame molding.  The down side is that the wax goes everywhere.  The up side is that once it was all over my hand, I grabbed the lacquer thinner and it wiped right off.  Since it worked so well on my hands, I thought I would try it on the smudges I left unintentionally on the frame.  It cleaned right off without affecting the paint.

 

Isn't this amazing!
 

 

 

 Another look....

 

                                                                      

Wait until you see how this chalkboard is incorporated into my July 4th mantle this summer.

 

Hard to believe that an ugly $3.00 picture could turn into such a treasure.