first impressions

After the curb appeal. After the front porch. After the front door comes the entry area. The area where you welcome your guests into your home. This has always been a favorite of mine in home decor. I like to look at photos of pretty entry ways. Some are defined as entry halls, some are cavernous, some are cozy, some are defined by platform of tile or wood and there you have it. Regardless of the size, this is still the first and the last area of your home that your guests see. Therefore, I love to decorate it.

Like I need an excuse to fluff in my home.

Minus a rug and a updated light, my entry area is all but done. Well there is one more project that will be repainted or moved, but we won’t discuss that right now. Mr. Rust might have an issue with me removing an object that takes two mollies to secure it to the wall.

About a year ago Mr. Rust and I went to market…the flea market that is. And I found three pine tables for $100. The three consist of one sofa table, a large rectangular coffee table and one side accent table. My thought was that they would serve a need in my home right now, but they would also be perfect for Riley went she moved into her first place. For over a year they have vegetated in our home with thoughts of painting them, but there were always other things to get done. That is until, the sofa table just happened to take up residence in my entry way. Okay, now we’ve moved from “thinking” about painting to “getting it done”.

We had just completed the painting of all the woodwork and the last thing I needed right at Christmas, was another project.  Besides my husband would have taken me to the woodshed had I even thought about painting furniture.  So I bit my tongue and moved on.

But now…all of the dust has cleared and I now have free reign to wield my paint brush whenever I please.   And so I did!

I really thought I knew just exactly what color I wanted to paint this table too.  That is until I painted it gray and then I had second thoughts.  This is not a rare occurrence in our life.  In fact everyone is so used to it, that no one even so much as blinked an eye as this table sat just like this for about a week.  Right smack in the middle of my entry way.  Nice first impression, huh?  You betcha!  At the least it was a great conversation starter.   And then this little project got added to the “goals” and this is where the story gets good!

Enter the second color, not a full coating but a nice liberal dry brushing of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in my favorite color, Coco.  Yum!

and then I went to town with  my sandpaper!

and all of that wonderful chalky goodness was collected and dabbed into the crevice that was bugging me.  All of which pretty much wiped away when I was wiping down before I applied the dark wax.

The table will now be fought over when Riley does get a place… I’m claiming it because it’s so wonderfully awesome now!

I love the way the bluish gray peeks out from the crevices and corners.  And can I just say that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint can make the ugliest piece of furniture look like a million bucks.  Even the scratches look awesome!

and then we fluff…

and then you tell me the black shelf  might have to go or get repainted…

oh!  look…what’s that on the drawer?

Oh snap!  it’s a little touch of funky…

some vintage and rust. more fluffing and…

It’s a wrap!

You just never know what kinds of wonderful you can create when you paint!  Sometimes you know exactly how it will turn out and other times it’s a complete surprise.

This indeed turned out better than I expected.

Now about that black shelf.

…to be continued!

peace.love.rust
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It All Started With Paint

Miss Mustard Seed