A Twist on our Colour of the Month: Baby Bluesfest!

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the arrival of their son!

To welcome the heir apparent, instead of our usual "Colour of the Month" deal, we are celebrating by offering up best pricing on a new blue every week.

First up:  

Louis Blue

NOW just $45!

Order online and pay just $10 flat rate shipping no matter how much you buy!

While there is much debate about King Louis of France ever having been crowned in England, we love this colour and it is one of the most popular in the Annie Sloan pallet of Chalk Paint™  decorative paints.

Whether put to use to achieve that fresh and breezy look in any area of your home or to enhance the decor in your little boy's room, this lovely pastel blue is always a hit.

Annie Sloan describes this colour as "a pretty pastel blue that works particularly well when waxed with a dark brown."

Image: The Paint Shoppe

Here is a little 'Louis Blue' inspiration to spark your creativity:

Louis Blue on a delicately shaped French side table with a little dark wax in places and rubbed back a little to reveal the wood underneath.

Image: AnnieSloan.com

Pompadour
Add 3 parts of Old White to 1 part of Louis Blue to make a graceful grey blue that makes me think of the beautiful and refined favourite of Louis XV so Annie Sloan called it POMPADOUR

Image: AnnieSloan.com

Sophia
Add 8 parts of Old White to 1 part of Louis Blue makes a very soft grey Swedish blue that Annie Sloan has called SOPHIA after King Gustav's daughter.

Image: AnnieSloan.com

Stone Bentley Creations

Reloved Rubbish: Louis Blue with Old White Striping

Image: Pinterest  End table with Stained Top

Apple Box Boutique Inc.: French Provincial Dresser with Gold Gilding

Summer Wind Interiors

Louis Blue looks fabulous mixed with other colours and used to create contrast as well!

Apple Box Boutique Inc.: Olive accented with Louis Blue

Louis Blue mixed with Paris Grey makes a lovely Gustavian grey

Image: Pinterest  Cabinet in Napoleonic, Drawers from top: Louis Blue, Duck Egg, Provence, Greek Blue, and Aubusson Blue

HAPPY BABY BLUESFEST!

♥, 
Apple Box Boutique

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Reimagined Monday: Camping In Style ...& Colour!

Well, as they say, better late than never!  We're still moving a tad slow around here thanks to that hideous spring flu, but wanted to post this makeover as a little pick-me-up on a chilly, wet and windy day.

Contrary to what it seems (at least here in Alberta), summer is right around the bend, and now is the time to start those projects to make it another fantastic, colourful season.

That is just what Angela Boone Leachman did to jazz up her vintage trailer using Chalk Paint™ by Annie Sloan in Emperor's Silk, Provence, Graphite, Pure White, and Arles.

Can you spot all the different colours and shades?

Suffice it to say that we LOVE her reimagination!

Don't forget to enter our monthly contest for your chance to win!  
Here's the info:

Reimagined Monday Draw

We would like to highlight more customer projects!  Send us your before/during/after pictures and tell us about your creative process using Chalk Paint™ or Milk Paint and you'll be entered into our monthly Reimagined Monday draw.

Each month we will give away a different item like paint, brushes, books, supplies, gift certificates and more. You don't have to be featured to be eligible... the month you enter is the month you will be included in the draw. 

Send your name, pictures and story to:

info@appleboxboutique.com and win!

♥, 
Apple Box Boutique

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We'd LOVE it if you shared our blog:

Reimagined Monday: Bee Print Side Table

Hello and welcome to Reimagined Monday, a day that we love to share Annie Sloan Chalk Paint projects that inspire us.  We also feel it is important that not all of those projects be fantastical creations or reimaginings of antiques so rare they seem otherworldly.

While those are always breath-taking, so can bee the quiet little project... something that starts out looking quite common but bee-comes a bee-eautiful little statement about the simple things in life bee-ing a happy surpriszzzzze. (Sorry, just couldn't help it!) 

With a little something special from The Graphics Fairy, Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage put together this lovely Bee Print Side Table -- proof positive that a $5 thrift store purchase can bee-come extraordinary. (Last cheesy bee reference for today... promise *lol).

Here is Gina's Annie Sloan paint project... so cute! 

Annie Sloan Project: Bee Print Side Table

 
"Graphics on furniture always have a way of taking a pretty piece to the next level. I love adding them to painted pieces to show a little more flair and my Nashville area customers seem to love them! Want to see how I did this one?

 
I started with a simple thrift store find, a side table. Only $5 at a local shop, it was in good shape and had nice lines, so it was an easy buy.

 
First I painted it all over with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence. I loveeee this aquaish, blueish, greenish color – it’s my favorite color, hands down! No sanding, no priming, Annie Sloan paint is pretty amazing stuff. I just wiped it down and gave everything 3 coats. You typically only need 2 coats, but I had a few spots peeking through, so I added one more just to be safe.

 
When the paint was dry, I took this bee graphic and printed it on my computer, layered it on top of carbon paper and taped it to hold it down. If you’ve used ASCP before, you know that it has to be waxed – I did this step BEFORE waxing.

 
I traced out the graphic with a fine tip pen, so that the outline would transfer to the table top.

 
There we go! I wanted the wings to have detail and the body to be in silhouette, so I didn’t put the body details on, but you can if you want more detail.

 
Then I took burnt umber acrylic paint and painted right on the lines of the wing with a fine tip brush, and filled in the body.

 
I watered down the paint just a touch so it would flow easier. Acrylic paint is generally pretty thick, so just a dab will do.

 
When the graphic was dry, I sanded it all over to distress it a bit. Now is when the magic happens!

 
First I did a coat of clear wax, buffed it out, then sparingly added dark wax to the areas that needed it.

 
And that was it! It took a little while longer for this project than most ASCP projects, simply because the legs are somewhat tedious to paint. I do love the results, though – and hopefully my customers will love it at my upcoming sale!"

To see more of Gina's work or to purchase the super-cute items from her online shop, visit The Shabby Creek Cottage.

♥,

Apple Box Boutique

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Reimagined Monday: Mak and Jill's "Coastal Living" Piano

Welcome to On The Apple Box. If you haven't visited before Mondays are a special day on our blog.  It's when we get to share contributor's projects using ASCP, a paint that manages to live up to its hype -- and more.

One of the (many) things that people find surprising about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) is the ability to mix colours without getting that murky or "muddy" look that can happen with some other paints.  ASCP has very little black pigment (with the exception of the colour Graphite) and can be combined to create pure, clean shades.

Old White (OW) is a staple that is gorgeous alone but is also often used to lighten or change other offerings in the wheel of Annie Sloan colours. The most recent Project Personality article shared colour cards for Provence and Emperor's Silk, where the latter was mixed with OW to take it from its original 'front door red' to a candy-coloured pink:

Imagine the possibilities!  With 29 colours to mix together in any combination or measure, the custom options are nearly endless... and oh how we love one-of-a-kind anything!

Today's Reimagined Monday is a great example of just how unique your furniture can become, thanks to two longtime friends with a love for interior design.

Mak and Jill are lovely ladies that refinish furniture and teach paint classes in sunny California, as well as provide decor and staging services.  They recently turned their talents to helping another good friend, Patti Palucha transform an average household instrument into a unique, one-of-a-kind show-stopper.

This is Patti's family piano:

Whether a Grand or an upright, there can sometimes be limited options for a piano's location.  In Patti's case, the only place it worked was near the front foyer and in her "coastal living" style home it just wasn't fitting in.  The answer?  Make it a signature piece!

Jill mixed together ASCP Provence with Old White to create a custom colour and voila...

Patti's family piano after the magic:

 

Isn't she a stunner?  It is so reminiscent of the beautiful pallet of the Georgian-Regency period (think Jane Austen)... when a piano was still a pianoforte and colour was everywhere.

This is a Grand Piano by Louis Bas of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France, 1781:

It is the earliest French grand piano known to exist.... A little Antibes Green mixed with a touch of OW and you've stepped back in time!

 

ASCP makes painting fun!  And now... I am off to the studio to enjoy myself some more.

Happy Playing!

Here is how to share your reimagined paint project at On the Apple Box:

Send us a description of how you used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get from your vision to the reimagined piece, before and after pictures, pictures of your project in progress or a couple of it in its finished state, and you may be highlighted on our blog!