A few favorite before and afters! Boston hours change

Note: Store hour changes for Boston only~

BOSTON STORE HOURS 

FRI SAT SUN 11-4

857-250-2516

Effective February 22, 2013

MALDEN STORE HOURS

Remaining the same 

TUES WED THURS 11-5

FRI 11-2

SAT 11-3

781-324-0701

BEFORE AND AFTERS!

Hands down, this chair is my favorite makeover project!

I loved how it came out so much I painted another one and took them

home with me for my dining room.  

The before chair is a tired faux leather chair with great bones.

Read how I used Chalk Paint® to recreate the chair here.

Another fav was this glamorous coffee table!

From rags to riches! 

Read more here.

I hated selling this pretty music cabinet.

These are the  pieces I fall in love with!!!

Dings dents and crooked hardware aside...

 A thing of beauty is the end result!

More about creating an antique French look for the music cabinet transformation here.

I've seen a lot of these at auction and I scoop em up!

Knowing full well that 1970s gold and cream paint job will soon be history.

Voila! A dramatic change and it turned out gorgeous!

I don't think I have blogged about this one yet as I just did it

and it sold quickly.  So the information on this how to is essentially

a Graphite Chalk Paint base with a dry brushing of Pearl Plaster by

Artisan Enhancements, then Clear and Dark waxes. 

It came out stunning!

Meanwhile back at the Malden store during the week, 

Justin and I can explore more creative techniques as well as do the necessary but mundane things

like getting orders placed for inventory and moving furniture and displays around.

Pretty soon the  Maison Decor Dream Team will be full time!

Colin comes home every weekend now, but its just not enough!!

After he graduates college in May he will be a permanent fixture.

This Saturday he will get out our furniture deliveries before the snow flies.

Another storm is predicted and it may force cancellation of my Sunday 2/24/13

workshop, which will be a first. All attendees will be 

getting an email the night  before as to the class status.     

          Kingsley will be IN THE HOUSE next week as well!

I will be babysitting my little granddog while son #2 Brandon

hits NYC with his GF Mimi.

Then I will be off for 5 days to Colorado on a creative retreat

with Robyn Story of Robyn Story Designs! A few other Annie Sloan galpals

are invited as well to Robyn's home where we plan to spend the majority of

our time in pajamas doing some painting, talking, drinking, and chilling out.

This Annie Sloan retail business is quite an undertaking and 

all of us need some R&R.                                                                                                                                     

                 

Read more »

Looking for Chalk Paint® and more?

 When you walk in the shop at Maison Decor Malden 

there is no mistake about it~

we sell Annie Sloan's famous bestest paint in the world~!

Chalk Paint®!

 It is now a REGISTERED TRADEMARKED paint~!

We are the ONLY paint that can be called Chalk Paint!!

Pretty darn cool~Annie worked awfully long and hard for the last twenty years

with this marvelous paint she invented~and now that it has found popularity

the wanna be pretenders are comin' out of the woodwork!!

So I am PROUD of Annie Sloan! And PROUD to sell her paint,

as she so fondly calls THE BEST PAINT IN THE WORLD

We sell it in Boston too at 524 Harrison Ave!

 Anyway~so when you walk through our Malden shop door you will 

always find different set ups due to the fact that 

we sell everything that isn't nailed down basically....

but at the moment I have a big sideboard that holds a

 ton of samples done in all kinds of colors and finishes.  

Many shoppers find this helpful to look through to find the

 finish they hope to recreate for their own projects.  

We have all the colors straight out of the can painted on 

wood samples so you don't have to just pick a color from 

a color chart.  If you want to go a little further you can select 

from samples that show things that have been antiqued and glazed and crackled too.

 Now that Annie Sloan has got the official registered trademark 

under her belt she has given us a new logo too. 

 Look for the circle with ANNIE SLOAN STOCKIST on it~

it comes in different colors, but the design is the same. 

 She thoughtfully made it available in different colors to

 fit different shop's decors.  I used some of Artisan Enhancements

 transfer gel to put in on this vintage frame~

 The other stuff in the shop is the latest projects we have using Annie's paint, 

like this fabric and cane backed french chair. I still haven't finished it, 

but it is at the point where it is ready for waxing and maybe something else. 

 The pretty dresser sold and will be headed out of the shop next 

Tuesday making space for new vintage pieces to display.

 While you might run across some home decor items in the Malden shop,

 we are mostly the go to place to see projects of all kinds, 

like painted chandeliers, painted furniture of course,

 and tons of things to inspire the DIYer who is looking for help, 

ideas and answers before they begin their own projects.

 One of the newer things we have added to this shop is the 

Artisan Enhancement line which works nicely with our beloved Chalk Paint®.  

 The Easy Crackle is my latest fav~and I have been 

cracking it up around here!! This is a sample board showing how the 

Easy Crackle reveals the under color of Old Ochre after

 it has been covered in Paris Grey.  I finished it off with 

Clear and Dark soft waxes by Annie Sloan to create an antiqued look. 

 The doors to this music cabinet were given the Easy Crackle treatment.

 They also got a dash of Pearl Plaster for that luminescent pearlized look.

You will get plenty of choices to pick from if you are looking 

to add a little extra character to your painted furniture. 

 Come look at our specialty samples to help you decide. 

That way you don't have to guess what it will look like! 

You can actually handle pieces of decorative wood moldings

 in all kinds of colors and specialty finishes like gilding waxes, 

pastes and the Artisan Enhancement line.

How about doing your closet doors with some Easy Crackle and Chalk Paint®?

I thought the basic white latex painted door would be a good foil for adding Easy Crackle

and then a layer of Duck Egg blue paint....look at the crackly finish!

It adds character to wherever you add it~

I have some clients who are doing  over a set of builder basic hollow core

closet doors in their bedroom right now.  The plan is to make them look like aged

antique paneled doors.  They will be doing Graphite base 

with Paris Grey and Easy Crackle just like my Music Cabinet doors.  

So stop by our shop~its more like a furniture art studio!

This Sunday I will be having an Advanced Techniques class in washes and glazes

with ten ladies~we SOLD OUT in record time....that tells me you guys are looking

to do more with what you have~and its just so easy to do 

with all of these great products and a little know how!

Our next Advance Techniques class will be using the Artisan Enhancements line.

I'll be headed out to Colorado at the end of the month for some one on one

with one of the founders of the company for some hands on learning~more on that later!!

And to wrap it up if you have an extra minute head over to my son Justin's blog,

The Brush and Pail~

he wrote about his dear old mom today. 

*blush*

For workshop information and registration go here

Read more »

Fifty Shades of Grey~your way

 Grey is the base color of the decade~

its the darling neutral right now and it is the most popular color requested 

at Maison Decor for custom painted furniture jobs.  

You can pop open a can of Annie Sloan's Paris Grey 

and get a nice grey color, 

or you can explore your options by color mixing.

 Another decorating trend is metallics in furniture~

and by using these exciting accents you can totally change

 the look or add a subtle hint that makes your piece much 

more special.  At the shop I have been playing around with gilding waxes, 

gilders paste and now pearl plaster.  These 3 things in my tool box

 have made painting more sophisticated and a lot more fun!  

 The idea of color mixing isn't new, but with Annie Sloan's paint line,

 these Chalk Paint colors suddenly open the door to

any shade you need or want~hence Fifty Shades of Grey! 

 Even after mixing colors to get the grey you want, 

you can use decorative paint techniques to enhance

 the base coat by color washing or dry brushing another shade of grey on top.

 The end result can be stunning!

 So don't stop learning all the ins and outs of painting furniture~

 Your piece can be as lovely as you make it~

 Create two color combinations like this one using Paris Grey and Old White.

 Embellish your pieces with furniture appliques~

 Explore the sexy world of flash in a can~Pearl Plaster!

 Or just gild the details of your antique piece after its been painted grey~

 Distressed and gilded can live together~

the rustic luxe look is quite appealing!

 Experiment with Silver Gilding wax~the results can be totally amazing!

 This formerly gold candelabra is now a silvery delight 

by using grey paint and silver gilding wax.

So if your style is country or glam~Grey is you go to color.

Add metallics or distressing or both.

Create your signature style by taking a class

 with me at my Maison Decor studio.

For the Fifty Shades of Grey furniture painting class

sign up here~and get your grey on!

Read more »

Pearlized finish~a new look!

 You might have noticed how enamored I am of metallics

when used in furniture finishing~

 You have seen my projects with gilding pastes and waxes~

 I was introduced to a new product that creates a pearlized finish~

 It gives a silvery sheen to a surface and you create different looks with it.

This was my first attempt at using it~I painted this cool table with 

Coco Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan.  Then I dry brushed on quite liberally,

the pearlized product. I really love how it looks!~its hard to see from a photo,

but its quite sophisticated and you can change the look with dark wax over the 

pearl~I have been playing around with it for a few hours and wanted to share it

right here with you! So let me know what you think?

 I plan to stock it at Maison Decor~

anything that I love using 

I want to bring to you,

so you can create high end finishes on your pieces that

don't have to come out of those

high end stores or cataloques!

 Before~the Duncan table was an old fashioned but 

interesting mahogany table~two coats of Coco

and then some pearl magic gave me this fabulous result!

Pearl Plaster by Artisan Enhancements

 I now sell this magic pearl potion in both my stores and online.

Click the link above to take you there~

Use it to create a magical effect on your furniture!

Read more »