Paint Shop in West Michigan
Several weeks ago we were asked us to take part in an IKEA hack.
We joined several other bloggers in this pursuit. Each of us were given an IKEA dresser, hardware of our choice from Hickory Hardware and a gift card to Menards for other supplies. The top three will be awarded with a hardware room makeover for any room project. How cool is that! Continue reading “IKEA Hack – Rast 3 Drawer Chest to Rustic Red Kitchen Island Cart”
I’m also feeling for and lifting up everyone who’s struggling with their health or has lost someone near and dear to them. May you all be surrounded with God’s amazing Grace this season.
I’ll never forget the sparkle in my dad’s eyes when he’d open one of my handmade cards. It meant so much to him that his little girl took the time to create something from the heart. He told me time and time again how they were far better than any other gift that could be purchased in a store.
Apparently that planted a seed
because my entire life,
I’ve treasured hand crafted items
From a very young age, my brother, sister and I were inspired to make something out of nothing.
This is my sister Cathy some time back in the 70’s. While every other kid on the block was building a snowman, Cathy came up with this! Seriously, she was way ahead of the game!
The neatest thing about creating your own gifts is the flexibility to customize it. Any space, personality or style can be built into the design. Here are some of my own creations for inspiration.
An easy and functional gift you can make is a a simple coat rack. I love to give these as house warming gifts and wedding presents. Creating things with hooks is an obsession that started years ago with addition of one simple hook.
My family prefers hooks over hangers. Apparently we’re just far too lazy, I mean busy ;), to open the closet door and put our coats onto hangers. Since our entry closet wasn’t used for it’s intended purpose, I turned that into a pantry which was a much better use of space for our 100 year old Craftsman style home ~ but what about all those coats?
Well hooks of course! I wanted something that matched the character of our 100 year old home and stumbled upon the perfect hooks at Hobby Lobby. This was probably twelve years ago, but the hooks are still one of my favorite things in our house.
Don’t have an open staircase? No worries, use an entry wall. All you need is a piece of wood and some hooks and you’re on your way to a cool and function drop zone.
I painted, dry-brushed & distressed this piece of wood, Shizzle Style, using chalk/clay paints.
Awesome!!
Just hunt through your garage & find something you can use as a base!
For a more rustic look, use a piece of barn wood. It needs to be strong but not too thick and long enough to fit your space.
Once you find a piece, measure out the right size for your entryway, bathroom… then lop it off with a miter saw. WhAAAAAt? You’ve never used a miter saw? but but but, they’re so much fun to use!!
If you’re not comfortable using a saw, then by all means, go to Home Depot and choose a piece from their leftover bin. They’ll even cut it to length for you. See, you’re all set, now you just need your hooks. These are cool because all you need to do is screw them in.
My sister Cathy and I are fortunate in that we paint furniture for a living. That means we end up with off all sorts of leftover hardware. We also end up with leftover pieces of furniture. Everything is up for grabs at Shizzle Design!
Take this small headboard for instance. To me, it looked like the perfect focal point for someone’s mudroom so I started playing around with ideas.
I painted this piece with one of my Signature Finishes, then glazed it to perfection using our new Vintiquties Brushes.
The way I save pictures has evolved so much over the years. My boxes upon boxes of photos have been replaced with sharing them online. I no longer have to spend hours meticulously putting together one scrapbook because I can bust out a much more professional, long lasting & high quality picture books quickly and easily by downloading my pictures to Shutterfly.
It’s still fun though to create cool picture displays for our home. I made this photo display with a piece of reclaimed barn wood, some thrift store picture frames, belts and miscellaneous drawer pulls.
Nothing’s off limits at Shizzle Design. A few years ago, I scored a large, solid wood door which came out of an old hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I loved the vintage Fire Escape that was on it, we just cleaned it up and added one of my favorite hooks to create a unique architectural piece.
![painted-furntire-makeovers3[1]](https://i0.wp.com/shizzle-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/painted-furntire-makeovers31_thumb.png?resize=366%2C177 "painted-furntire-makeovers3[1]")
These are my all time favorite paint supplies both for my own workshop and also as gifts. Give me a call at 616-438-2644 if you have any questions while shopping our Online Shizzle Shop. If an item shows "out of stock" please, check with me because new product arrives several times a week and I don't always get the inventory updated right away. Thanks so much for shopping Shizzle!! Shelly Andrade ~ Owner / Furniture Painter
Email us at: shizzledesign@gmail.com for more info.
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Shizzle Tip: Many people just put a tiny little bit of paint on their bristles and then wipe part of it back off on the side of the can. What difference does that make? A BIG difference. It quadruples the amount of time it should take to cover your project and there ends up being a bunch of stop and start points.
By doing this, you’re not able to spread the paint in nice long strokes and the paint ends up being overworked in an effort to smooth it out which might actually pull the paint back off or you end up with a super thin layer that really doesn’t serve much of a purpose.
Moreover, applying a thin first coat usually sets someone up for failure when they go back to distress because they distress all the way through both colors which pretty much defeats the purpose of layering two colors in the first place. You don’t have to layer more than one color but if you do, I’m guessing you’re doing it so you can see both colors.
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How a brush fits in my hand is a huge thing for me personally because it affects the pain in my joints. These brushes fit the bill. They are so comfortable! I am soft handed when I paint but when I wax, I really scrub hard the perfect fit of these brushes along with the dense bristles are awesome!
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If you’re just need some brushes for yourself, we have them in stock online here as well as all our West Michigan Locations here. Email us at shizzledesign@gmail.com if you would like the opportunity to retail Vintiquities Brushes in your shop.
We also stock several other shops in the greater Grand Rapid’s area, to find out where, click LOCATIONS. Not from Michigan? No worries, we ship paint and paint supplies worldwide through our Online Shizzle Shop.
For more Chalk & Clay Painted Furniture ideas, tips, tutorials & inspiration, visit our Portfolio by clicking on the button at the top of this page.
