Nicole Transforms A Crib With Caromal Paints

Received a lovely email from Nicole this week -

Hi Patty,
Don’t know if you remember me and my table from over a year ago…but I thought I’d share another project that I did with Caromal Colours!  I always appreciate the many pictures and posts on your blog from enless projects.  They inspire me!  So, like before, feel free to use my photo’s/blog.  I wasn’t very good at getting photos of the process, so these are as good as it gets.  Hope you had a Merry Christmas!!
~nicole brown

To follow her story and see her transform this

to this

and this

head here,  the link to Nicole’s blog entry,

Thank you, Nicole, for sharing -  it turned out fabulous!!!

My Sis and Designer Friend Paid A Visit!

My sister is visiting from China this week…   she’s been living there for almost seven years…    Her and her hub work for GM – they’ve become so valuable there that the company keeps re-assigning them.

She doesn’t come home but a couple times a year – this visit was a last minute surprise,  perfect timing to see family/friends over the holidays.  Yesterday, she and her best friend Tamara Joseph,  an Interior Designer for Gorman’s Furniture at Lakeside, dropped by the store to say hello.

My sis brought me a special Christmas present,  a Beckoning Cat (his arm waves back and forth, palm up).  Such cats are believed to promote prosperity, their beckoning paws inviting passers-by to come in and do business

How cool is that?     Lucky we weren’t sloshing paint, my sis’s pretty cream fur sweater would have been toast

Thanks for the surprise visit!

Great Brush Cleaner… The Masters

My faux friend Suz turned me on to this brush cleaner -

Like a big shoe polish disc – at first it didn’t seem practical but I tried it and was sold -

This one container lasted several YEARS – I left the top off, and simply smashed my dirty brush heads against the top to soap up, then rinsed them off.   Cleaned the brushes great, with no extra soapy residue to rinse out.

Two thumbs up!

(add on)  I forgot to mention where I got it!  I found it at Michael’s, in the artist paint section.  I know they still have them because recently I purchased a new one for the store.

Using Metallics With Caromal Colours – What A Great Combo…

Like this?

Start with a clean, dry and wax free surface.  Grab a textured roller and whiz on a coat of Texture Basecoat, in this case Peppercorn

Let it dry, then brush on a coat of Metallic paint Antique Bronze (available for purchase in my store)

You don’t need a heavy coat,  I like to almost dry brush it.  The metallic goes right over the textured basecoat – typically when we layer the paints we use Chipping Creme as a barrier coat in between (it prevents the top color from bonding to the under color) – but I’ve found the metallic paints, soon after their dry, sand off the textured layer nicely…

Letting it dry….

then sand to reveal your textural base

it will power up like this, but that is normal

Sanded…

Now we need the magical Caromal Colours Toner

Brush it on

You can brush out a full door

close-up

Wipe off with a dry rag

The Toner brings it all together…

A topcoat drying (Min-Wax Wipe-On Poly Satin)

I love this finish combination – it delivers weight and depth, and at the same time is a pretty finish  (the metallic does that). The best part is the ease of application.   The Caromal Textured Basecoat is beyond versatile.  It will go over nearly any surface, and it’s thick body lets you create killer finishes.  Of course, apply it thinner if you like, it’s all up to you.

Isn’t it interesting?   This finish, combo’ing the textured basecoat, metallic topper, and toner to finish, has been drawing ALOT of attention in my showroom.    There are so many choices – Antique Bronze, Warm Silver, Silver…   and the Textured Basecoat Chocolate is another lovely option  as the basecoat.

It will also be a finish we show in a new Metallics and Gilding workshop coming in 2012.   Look for our workshop schedule to be posted this week!

LET CAROMAL COLOURS ROCK YOUR world!

 SHOP.FABFINISHER.COM   for all of your Caromal needs  – including perfect 8 ounce samplers of the Textured Basecoats AND Metallic Paints – a great way to experiment with color combinations!