My New Favorite Smudging Product

I glean so many useful ideas and tips from reading blogs.  When Heather Bullard suggested this product, I wrote it down.  I found myself at Lowe’s multiple times last week and bought this antiquing glaze made by their house brand, Valspar.  Heather’s had been American Tradition, another Lowe’s product.  The clerk helped me look for it to no avail.  So I went with the Valspar and was extremely pleased with the results.  A little went a long way when applied with this section of an old sock.  I’ve tried thinning paints, shoe polish and other ways to make painted things look more aged.  The consistency of this glaze was dreamy.  It spread and spread and spread where I wanted.

This vintage bench was shades of dark red originally.  When I painted it off-white, I used only one coat and tried not to fill in all the nooks and crannies.  After it dried, it looked too new.  This antiquing glaze gave it the perfect smudged look.  Thanks Heather!  -- Beth

My "New" Kitchen Wall

I have been really picky about what goes back up on our freshly painted kitchen walls. It has taken me weeks to finally finish decorating this small wall. I made the chalkboard by giving this frame a very light coat of cream paint and a coat of Johnson's Paste Wax. Previously it was gold and held a Louis the Somethingth print. I used the Lowe's house brand, Valspar, chalkboard paint. Two coats went on a thin particle board sheet of wood I had out in the garage.

I was inspired to hang the beat up cream plates backwards by an article I remembered poring over in a Mary Engelbriet's Home Companion magazine years ago. The more crackles, stains and chips the better.

Then two days ago, I figured out how to hold some chalk and the eraser close by. I found this tin strainer thingy at a flea market in Paris last spring.

It held both things perfectly! It is hanging from a vintage piece of a locking mechanism. Hubba hubba - I grin every time I see this wall. -- Beth