Paint Shop in West Michigan
Continue reading “Beautiful White Wash Finish using Dark and White Wax on Painted Dresser”
A while back I asked for opinions on color combinations for this piece and I’m thrilled with all the votes that came rolling in.
We offered different color combos to choose from ~ you voted and we painted it.
The transformation began with two thin coats of Frenchic Furniture Paint’s beautiful Lady Grey, a rich, deep gray. The spray gun saved a lot of time on this mammoth piece but it still took hours. I can’t imagine hand painted the inside, outside and top of this all by hand.
After the Lady Gray, Cath sprayed Frenchic’s Posh Nelly, a beautiful light taupe
Oh my gosh! I just noticed how much the base of this armoire dwarfs the little cabinet it’s sitting on!
Shizzle Tip ~ With Frenchic Furniture Paint, you can wet distress your piece simply using a damp rag! I love distressing furniture this way. No Mess! No Dust! No damaging the wood!
We worked on this piece as time allowed, finessing it as we went along. Yes, we needed ladders and step stools to reach the top! Height missed our side of the family, and I was wishing my friend Karen was here to help on several occasions ~ lol.
I love how easy it is to wet distress Frenchic!
Ready to see the finished piece? Read on…
It’s one of those things where you distress a little bit, step back, look it over, do a little more ~ repeat…
Cathy found the perfect wire baskets for it then mounted a clothing rod above. Did you notice the contrast in colors? Love how the Lady Grey pops against the combo on the outside!
Once we had achieved the look we wanted through distressing, we simply waxed it using the best dark wax ever –Frenchic’s Rustic Wax! This dark wax pulls more a black than brown which is so rich and I can honestly say this stuff is idiot proof. It won’t streak, leave blotches, marks… You don’t have to cut it with mineral spirits or mix it with clear, it simply glides on as easily as if you were applying the Clear Wax. I just can’t say enough about this stuff!
I shot a video of myself dark waxing this piece. It’s dorky, mind you, as I’m still recovering from surgery, but you’ll be able to tell how easy this stuff is to work with. To watch the video, visit out ShizzleLLC Facebook Page and scroll down until you see the video. It should show up in your left-hand column, at least that’s where it is on mine.
We also feathered in some White Wax giving our piece even more depth and dimension. I love how the different layers of paint and wax pops all the fabulous details of this cabinet.
It took a couple good friends and a large trailer to move it from our workshop to our space at Not So Shabby.
The bottom half offers a ton of storage too.
We stored shipping blankets on one half and large, Costco-sized packages of paper towel and toilet paper on the other side.
See the two little drawers on either side? Those are super cool too.
I already miss having this piece in our workshop!
She’s now in our space at Not So Shabby awaiting her new venture. Will she be filled with linens in a beautiful spa bathroom, provide amble storage for a guest room or be the focal point on a large living room wall? The other option of course is to remove the clothing rod and shelf altogether and use it for an entertainment center.
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This project’s Recipe Card
Frenchic Furniture Paint’s – Lady Grey
Frenchic Furniture Paint’s – Posh Nelly
Frenchic Furniture Paint’s – Rustic Wax
Frenchic Furniture Paint’s – White Wax
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For availability on these pieces email us here.
The best way to stay current on what we’re doing now is to LIKE our ShizzleLLC Facebook Page. As a single mom, I just can’t find time to write weekly blog posts anymore.
There’s much more too. Follow us on our ShizzleLLC Facebook Page for daily updates, especially if you’re looking for furniture as a lot of it is flying out the door before we can photograph it and get it to Not So Shabby. It’s super important though, after liking our ShizzleLLC Facebook page, to click the down arrow and choose your notifications so you’ll actually see our new posts ~ otherwise, Facebook doesn’t send them to you. When I want to follow someone’s Facebook Page, I choose “See First” and then choose “
Confused about which paints are good, which are junk, what’s safe, what’s not, what works, what doesn’t? Then look no further because Cathy have already done the homework for you. We’ve spent the past six months experimenting with all then paints on the market and are ready to share our favorites!
If you think that sounds fun, wait until you see all the different finishes we now have! White Wax, Bronze Mica Powder, Matte Varnish, Gloss Clear Coats, Black Wax, Liquid Wax, Stains, Satin Finishes and of course all the other awesome paint colors and finishes by American Paint Company.
I shared one of our new paint lines a couple of days ago and will announce the 2nd one tomorrow.
Here’s a couple of the pieces I’ve started.
I’ll finish them during the paint demos so you can see how all the paints and finishes work together.
Hope to see ya soon!
1:00 p.m. Free Paint Demo SOLD OUT
4:00 p.m Free Paint Demo, sign up OVER
12:00 p.m. Free Paint Demo, sign up OVER
2:00 p.m. Free Paint Demo, sign up OVER
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March 31 – April 2nd, 2015 ~ Go junkin’ with us at Round Top Texas
May 29 – 31 ~ Furniture Painting Weekend Retreat – Waukesha, WI
Stay tuned for times & all the fabulous details…
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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
Cathy and I always look forward to seeing the transformations that come out of our furniture painting workshops and September was no exception. While I missed most of the before pictures, I caught most in the process. Some pieces that were brought in were larger than the limit so those had to be finished at home. I’ll post photos of those pieces if they’re forwarded to me with permission to post as soon as I get them.
Please note, sofa tables are too large for a five hour workshop. Most students end up having to purchase more paint when they do these and typically run out of time to complete it during class. Our hope is always that we can walk you through each of the steps including waxing and buffing. We are here to answer your questions. Please call or email us with any questions you may have.
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Everybody has a “THING” for something ~ purses, shoes, jewelry… I have a thing for funky eclectic necklaces (if anyone knows some cool places to shop, let me know), old barns, creative re-purposed treasures and brushes ~ I have a thing for brushes!
I’m as laid back, easy going and casual as can be but when it comes to brushes, I’m downright picky. I’ve tried so many different brushes that are supposed to be “all that”, but didn’t meet my standards either because of the handle, bristles, size, design or quality. Brushes are one of the things I’m fussy about. That being said, I thought I would share the latest brushes added to our collection.
We are absolutely thrilled to be the first Distributor in the U.S. to offer Vintiquities Finest Quality Paint Brushes and Round Wax Brushes. Wholesale opportunities are also available for retailers; contact me here with your name and location for more information. Painting and waxing just got a whole lot easier!
Cathy and I are very blessed because we have opportunities to try and review all sorts of products. We’ve tried and not cared for numerous paints, paint supplies and brushes, but when we tried the brushes from Vintiquities, we fell in head over heals in love.
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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Other Favorites ~ Angled Paint Brushes will still always be a staple around here. They’re a great all around brush and are still my favorite for cutting in.
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This wax buffing brush has been our favorite tool for years. It takes a lot of the elbow grease out of buffing. I still need to hold onto the drill with both hands but the drill does all the hard work for me. It buffs the wax out to an amazing sheen and I’m able to get a much harder finish than I do when I just buff with a rag.
Do you have to have a buffing brush to buff your projects? No, but it sure is a nice tool to have. I don’t know what I’d do without mine.
“I’ve heard rumors that the drill brush can spin off the drill when you stop. I’d like to purchase one but I wanted to double check with you before I order one.”
My sister had that problem when she first used our drill brush with her drill (we were sharing one because we couldn’t keep them in stock). She asked me how to keep it from coming off. I’m like “huh? What are you talking about? It works fine.” She grabbed her drill to show me. She ran it for a while then released the trigger and the brush spun off. “You see!”
I gave her THE look like she had flown over the cuckoo’s nest thinking she had her drill in reverse. I put the brush in my drill and buffed away with no problems. Now I was really cracking up and she was getting mad but we did eventually figure it out.
The drill brush and the drill bit are two separate pieces that thread together. It’s actually a brilliant design. We’ve been using ours for three years now and it’s as nice as it was the day we bought it. What figured out that her drill was set on THE very fastest combinations of settings possible. The sudden release of the trigger stopped the bit in its tracks. If you’re drill has its top switch on the normal setting (#1), your drill brush should work perfectly. Does that make sense? So when you’re buffing, the threads are as tight against each other as they can be (righty/tighty). Pull the trigger all the way, just make sure you don’t have your drill set on its super turbo setting and it will be your new best friend. 🙂
You can usually adjust your drill in two locations, the torque on the chuck as well as a switch on the top which really amps up the power. On mine, there is a simple switch on the top of the drill that you slide up or down to choose #1 or #2.
The threads will occasionally loosen a bit when I stop using it but it’s no biggy; I just twirl it to tighten the threads and adjust my drill down a little bit. When you start buffing, it automatically tightens up anyway. If you want to buff the quick and easy way and get the nicest finish ever or if you’d like to try it out for yourself, stop into our Shizzle Shop at 2018 Chicago Drive, Jenison, MI 49428 or order one online at: www.shizzle-design.com/store.
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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.
a hui hou ~ Shelly
Hello Gang! It’s Sunday and that means it’s time for me to share some more amazing transformations performed by of the guys and gals who have attended our Paint Your Own Furniture Workshops.
I swear I have the most talented students EVER! They come in doubting themselves and walk out true superstars! Most come in having never painted with chalk/clay paints but they walk out of here having totally blown me away!
a hui hou ~ Shelly
We’ve had so many emails and messages asking for another Shizzle Style Two Color Furniture Paint Class before the end of the year, so we broke down and added one more before the end of the year.
This class will be taught in our new Shizzle Design Paint Studio located at 2018 Chicago Drive, Jenison, MI 49428.
Here’s just some of the amazing transformations that have come out of the other classes we’ve taught this year…
![painted-furntire-makeovers3[1]](https://i0.wp.com/shizzle-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/painted-furntire-makeovers31.png "painted-furntire-makeovers3[1]")
![Shizzle-Tips-and-Tutorials3[1]](https://i0.wp.com/shizzle-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Shizzle-Tips-and-Tutorials31.png "Shizzle-Tips-and-Tutorials3[1]")
![Funky-Finishes3[1]](https://i0.wp.com/shizzle-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Funky-Finishes31.png "Funky-Finishes3[1]")
I’d like to thank each and every one of you for all your thoughts and prayers over the past two weeks, they’ve really helped carry us through the sudden and unexpected hospitalization of our step Grandma Florence. Surrounded by the ones she loved, Florence was welcomed into the arms of Jesus early Monday morning. We were so blessed to enjoy her spunky personality one last time on Saturday when God gave her one amazing last day with us. Continue reading “Chalk & Clay Painted Furniture Makeovers ~ Fall 2013”
It never ceases to amaze me how incredible old pieces of furniture can look after one of our Shizzle Style Furniture Painting Workshops.
The morning of the workshop is always a bustle of activity and then there is the calm before the storm…
Then, almost simultaneously, everyone piles in. It’s so cool to watch student’s furniture evolve as they layer on their paint.
Many pieces have seen better days. Lisa transformed this worn Duncan Phyfe Coffee Table from this…
into THIS awesome piece! I demonstrated how to do simple dry-brushing and she knocked it out of the park!! Love it!!
Beth transformed this side table.
She first based the entire table in a darker gray and then layered over the base using a lighter gray similar to Smoke Signal. Beth did a fabulous job wet distressing which gave so much richness to all the detailed areas.
What a classy transformation!
Eve’s table had really pretty lines to begin with.
She wanted to emulate the vintage drum table I painted way back when, where I combine a smokey blue gray, a bright green and a khaki army color.
I didn’t get a finished shot of Eve’s table, but it was starting to come together in this shot. I SO wish I could have gotten a picture once she started to do her distressing and dry-brushing but I never have enough time to capture all the shots during class 🙁
Eve came with Katie who painted her end table with red. You just can’t go wrong with a great shade of red and we carry some fabulous ones! Can you believe the legs on this table are made with some find of funky faux plastic wood?
She based everything in red and then topped it off with a pale creamy ivory color with yellow undertones to resemble the finish we did on this Primitive China Cabinet.
Katie had already carried her table out to the car before I could get a finished shot, but the colors looked very similar to this.
Natalie had planned on painting and end table but as she was leaving the house, there was a change of plans. The only other piece she had to paint was this adorable petite buffet. The top was in need of repair, so she removed that and just painted the base during the workshop.
It’s not even finished yet in this shot, but I’m sure you’ll agree ~ it’s to die for!! We tried a couple different colors on this but decided the dark gray in and of itself looked very rich. It hadn’t even been distressed or waxed in this photo (urg ~ another shot I missed) wish you could have seen it once it was finished!
After two daughters get married, Julie was ready to do something for herself. She brought in a black lacquered multi-level plant stand.
She painted this a vibrant cobalt blue then went over everything with a bright white.
I’m not sure why. It may be that the base coat was applied too thin on a super slick surface. I don’t have an answer for it, but she was bummed to have spent all that time applying the blue for nothing. I think what she really wanted was a white piece with accents of blue on the round details… We sent her some with some of the blue, so she could apply them to some of those areas.
Julie’s friend Deb brought in a chair to coordinate with her heirloom desk. She base coated it in a medium blue then layered over it in a soft dusty green. She was nervous when it came to distressing and planned to only do nice, clean lines ~ but once she got started, she flourished and before we knew it, she was distressing like a pro! I wish you could feel the finish on this piece! It was so silky smooth just from the wet distressing before she even started applying the finish. She’ll be enjoying this chair for years to come! Great job Deb!!
Danielle brought in an octagon end table which immediately took on a whole new look with just a few brush strokes. Danielle painted it all over in Seattle Mist then gave the top a couple coats of Vermont Slate.
I didn’t get a finished shot of this, but will add it once they send it to me. They’re adding a little surprise to the top which I can’t wait to see!
Last, but definitely not least, is Danielle’s mom Shirley. She brought in a petite French style nightstand.
I mixed up a creamy white for her but after it dried she wanted to kick it up a notch without doing a lot of distressing.
I mixed up a little glaze for Shirley to experiment with then she finished it with clear coat. I mixed the glaze / water about 50/50 then added a few drops of dark brown and slate to tint the glaze. I just mixed it, but Shirley created an awesome masterpiece!
Holy Frappuccino Batman! Is this cool or what? I LOVE how this nightstand turned out!! Just check out the detail!
If you had fun with this, check out other Shizzle Style Workshop Transformations or join us for an upcoming paint workshop.
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