Shades of Gray

As many of you know, I have been moving slowly toward neutrals and away from the red in my house.  That was so small task considering the amount of red I had.

My friend Caroline has been doing the same thing in her house. You might remember seeing her home here.  So when she offered to sell me her hand-painted red box that she was no longer using I said, "Sure!"  At the time my house was still red, but I knew I could paint this darling box, if I ever changed my color scheme.

When I bought the box from Caroline, she said, "You're probably going to do something cute to it, and I'm going to want it back."  I smiled thinking it was a lovely compliment, but I was not planning on getting rid of that red at that time, because my whole house was red.  Fast forward a year and a half, and with lots of sewing and painting, I now no longer have a red house. 

So I got out my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Paris Gray, and started painting.  I had a fleur de lis stamp that I used with white paint.  It was a sloppy mess, but I figured I wanted it to look rustic any way.

Then I waxed and sanded the piece. See how the red is showing through?  

Here it is on table. Caroline was at my house recently and I showed her the box.  She said, "I want it back!!"  I LOVE you Caroline, but it's not for sale!!  BTW, I can't wait to show you the lamp you sold me, hee, hee, I painted it too!!

Here's a list of the parties that I visit on a regular basis.  I might have shared this link at any number of these.