{Old} French, Meet {New} French

My Granny had amazing style and taste. You never would have guessed she grew up poor on a farm in the middle of Oklahoma during the Great Depression when you met her. Her house was full of French Provincial decor, which I really never took notice of until I started decorating my own home. I suddenly realized why I loved the French style so much; it reminds me of her.

While my Granny did have impeccable taste, her French style is what I call Old French, or 1970's inspired French. She had the yellows and olive greens with lots of gold and dark stained furniture. While I know some of those colors are making a come back, it's not exactly my style.

I was blessed enough to inherit a few pieces of furniture from Granny, and I was so excited to inherit her dining room set. Since I'm trying to stick with lighter tones and more of the Gustavian style, I thought the chairs needed a little updating.

I chose to paint the chairs with ASCP (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint) Old White. I distressed them and finished them off with clear wax. I found this great French print upholstery fabric for 50% off at Hancock's Fabric. Two and a half yards covered all 6 chairs, plus I have enough to make a couple of throw pillows, too!

For now, I decided to keep the table stained as is. I really like the contrast of the painted chairs and the dark table.

I ran out of time before the holidays to finish painting all 6 chairs. (There are two arm chairs that I keep in other parts of the house.)

So, before Thanksgiving I just recovered the seat cushions of the last two chairs and left them with their original stain.

 

I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to paint these last two chairs. What do you think - paint or not paint?

Barnwood Wall {A Tutorial}

Do you ever take notice of the wall underneath a bar area in a house? From now on, I bet you will. Can you guess what color the wall under our bar was? If you said, Antique White, you're spot on.

Instead of just painting the wall, I wanted to add some texture there, so I decided to create a barn wood wall. I had seen something similar at a shop in Downtown McKinney underneath a register stand. I thought we'd try it out under the bar to see how it looked with the new wainscoting.

Here is how we created this great looking wall for FREE!

We took an old fence Jason found in the dumpster at work. (You know you have a good man when he is willing to dumpster dive for you! Love that man!) Most people will leave old fence on the side of the road for bulk pick up, so drive around your neighborhood to see if you can find these jewels! If not, always look on Craigslist. Many times people will post it for Free or for extremely cheap to have you come haul it away. If all else fails, you can always purchase fence pickets at your local hardware store. 

First Step:

Remove base boards carefully (you'll want to reuse them if possible) and measure. We measured from just under the bar to the floor to find out how tall to make each board and started cutting using a chop saw. 

Second Step:

After all cuts were made, I took a spray bottle and filled it with diluted bleach. I sprayed each board and set them outside to dry. It only took about 20 minutes from them to dry. This step helps to kill any mold spores hanging onto your wood.

Third Step:

Paint the boards any color combo your heart desires! I had about 6 different colors of blue paint samples from testing out wall colors, so I used those. I didn't keep count of how many of each color I was making, because I didn't want there to be a pattern. I wanted it to be a random mix. I also took a cream (Antique White if you will...) and a taupe to pull in the Antique White from the other walls in the room. Also, I left a few planks as they were. I wanted some natural barn wood color in the mix as well.

Fourth Step:

Once the paint was dry, I took my orbital sander and began sanding. I didn't worry about how much paint came off each one. I just sanded over each board about 4 passes, and moved on to the next one. I wanted it to look a bit rustic, but I also did this to smooth out the boards. I have a toddler learning to walk, so he is always pulling up on the walls. I didn't want any splinters!

Fifth Step:

Using a nail gun, attach the boards to your wall and reattach your base over the boards. You'll probably need to touch up your base boards at this point.

Now sit back and enjoy looking at your unique and custom wall! It's a great way to add color and texture to an area below a bar or half-wall. Get creative! You could even do this around your tub. The possibilities are endless!