Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chalk It Up to Ambition

Today, I am going to step out in ambition and write my first tutorial!!!! :)
Over the last week I have tackled alot of things in our new house that I have been wanting to work on, one of which was our refridgerator.  There was nothing really wrong with it to start with, but its old, probably new when the house was built in 1992, and someone decided cover the lovely almond color with black as tastes and style changed, and it wasnt that great of a job.

Here is a pic of my fridge before. Yeah, that sort of chaos is how I roll.

So, I started looking for fun ideas to redo it, and since chalkboard is really "in" right now, I thought "Why not paint my ENTIRE fridge with chalkboard paint so the kids can just lose their minds coloring all over it??" :)
Hubby hated the idea, so naturally, I decided thats what I was doing. HA!  I searched the internet and asked around, and finally found a tutorial that I thought was detailed enough that I wouldnt screw it up, and set off on my adventure. Well, needless to say Im not linking the tutorial...because though detailed and well documented with pictures, it left out several key points...and they are doozies...SO, I am writing my own. :)

Supplies you will need:
fine grit sandpaper
DROP CLOTH (please for the love of all that is holy)
magnetic primer *I will tell you more about this later on -- but HAVE them SHAKE it in the paint shaker!!!
disposable paint rolling tray (trust me)
XYLENE!!! (to CLEAN up if you do decide to use magnetic primer)
dense foam roller and small roller tray (sold as a set at Lowes) and a extra pack of roller heads
small angled brush
painters tape
damp rag

Thats it. You are ready to begin! Pull out your fridge so you can easily reach all areas you want to paint. Lay out your drop cloth to cover at LEAST 2 ft. from the fridge!!! :) Now, use your fine grit sandpaper and gently sand the glossy sheen off of the area you are going to paint. I painted the whole fridge, but you could easily only do 1 side, or a section. Here is what mine looked like after I sanded.


Notice I didnt have a drop cloth. :( I had no idea what I was getting into.  There will be quite a bit of dust...if you are sensitive to those types of things, please wear a mask...Next, wipe down the entire area with a damp rag to remove all sanding dust. I was NOT thinking straight, and used one of my favorite kitchen washcloths...(sigh) DONT do that...this is why...


After you have wiped the area down and it is dry, tape off the area to be painted.  Our fridge has a weird silver framing, so I taped all of that off, and be SURE to tape off the rubber seal on the sides of the doors so they dont end up with paint on them, or worse, painted shut...lol. :) To do this, I opened the door and placed the tape on the outer edge of the seal, and then folded the tape around to the outside of the door. 

after I taped off the framing and doors


close up of how I taped off the seal -- most newer doors wont have the stainless frame, so be sure you cover the whole seal if you plan on painting that area of the door as well!!!

So, now you have sanded, and taped off -- you are ready to start painting!!! Or are you??? :)

I want to take a minute to talk about my newest arch enemy.  If the devil himself decided to invent a paint, it would be called magnetic primer.  It is the most wreched stuff on the PLANET...and a HUGE mess... so just be aware of that going in...The tutorial that I used used it, so I did...thinking that my fridge would no longer hold magnets if I didnt. But now that I have done it, and used a bit of the primer on another project just to test it, I dont THINK its totally necessary -- I am under the impression that it was used simply because the chalkboard paint suggested you could use it...NONE of the other tutorials I looked at since had used it...so if you want to avoid a major mess, skip it. (my thought process is if you skip it, that the fridge probably only has 1 to 2 coats of spray finish from the factory, you sand 1 off -- then paint 3 coats -- thats 4 coats of paint a magnet has to adhere through --- if you USE it, you still have 3 coats the magnet has to go through...so I really think its unnecessary)
Now, if you DO decide you ARE going to use it...there are several things I will mention.
1)buy the clean up supplies and wear GLOVES!!! I did NOT...I had not a clue how messy the process was going to be, and ended up being completely BLACK from fingertips to elbows for 2 days -- and getting it off of my sink was a nightmare...my poor dish soap bottle is still wearing a magnetic coat ;)
2) magnetic primer is HEAVY, and seperates like a MUTHA...have them shake it for you in the paint shaker at the store and use it RIGHT AWAY...and still stir the can in between coats...I ended up with a heavy, thick, nasty goo at the bottom of my can when I was all done...I thought I had done something wrong.
3) its super gritty. if you want your chalkboard to have a smoother, more uniform finish, skip it.

I DO NOT have any pictures of me actually working on this project from here on out...because I made the mistake of underestimating my enemy and didnt wear gloves, so I didnt want to risk ruining my camera...or touching anything for that matter. :)  I can tell you that the primer should be a consistant, matte, dark grey color.  Wearing gloves, use the disposable tray, and a dense foam roller to do 3, thin, even coats of the primer over the area you are working on. Use the angle brush to do edges and corners that are not reachable with the roller. Allow 30 min. of drying time between each coat -- and dont forget to be SURE to STIR the primer between coats as well!!!

Once you have finished with the primer, and disposed of the nasty tray and roller head (you're welcome), and cleaned your angled brush, allow the primer to sit overnight to dry and cure.  It did not say that you had to in the directions on the can, but it definately worked out to let it sit. 

When you are ready to chalkboard (or if you are bypassing the primer), get a fresh roller head, and shake the paint.  When you open it, it will look NAVY BLUE. :) It dries black...no worries :) I thought it was just me that thought it looked blue till my 2 year old daughter came in and said "pretty blue, Mom!" hahahaha!!!
You are going to want to do 3 thin coats of the chalkboard paint, being sure to use the angled brush to get edges and corners that the roller cant reach.  It goes on easy, and fairly smooth, just be sure to not leave hard "edges" by pressing your roller too hard. Clean up is super easy too...soap and water cleans the tray, hands,brush and roller well. :)  Allow to dry for a few hours and then remove the tape!!! You now can scribble notes and let the kids go to town coloring on your NEW chalkboard creation!!! :)  ENJOY!

my NEW finished chalkboard!!! (after this project, WINE should be on that list ;)


Monday, August 22, 2011

Growing Pains

  I always loved that show. :)  There is nothing like a little Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold!  Im not really sure what quite spurred that thought...other than I feel like thats what our whole family and our little business has been going through recently. My son Nate is 7, and started 2nd grade...he is growning like a weed and always complaining about leg pain. My husband is away at school right now, and I am adjusting to dealing with bills and all the busy day to day stuff that we have not had to deal with before now -- all on my own...my daughter broke her arm this week...fun times.  After moving here and being so glad to be close to my Mom again after nearly 5 years of being halfway around the world from her, and to be able to work on our business as a team for once...she decided to move to work on her marriage (thats a whole nother story) so here I am working to improve, revamp and now pretty much run it all by myself.  That my friends, is Growing Pains...pain in the butt and pain in the neck...LOL!!!
  But, its moving right along!  I decided to upgrade our space at the antique mall...from a tiny booth to one nearly double the size.  I took a full day and cleaned, painted, moved, and set up our new space...and it looks AMAZING.  Im so happy that people can actually walk in and look around in there versus just peeking in. There is plenty of space to separate boutique items and little girlie things from our vintage stuff...and they blend quite nicely.  It makes me really excited about the later half of this year and what the Holiday season will bring for us. 
  Change is tough, and yes, sometimes it hurts.  But, I guess the point of it all is when its all said and done, it makes the end result that much sweeter.  Things will get easier...my son will grow, my husband will be home (and I should just be thankful that he is away for school and not deployed again), and my mom will get her act together before she is 70...HAHAHAHA!!!  You dont know what you are capable of until you are pushed out to that limit...and you dont fall. :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

You Gotta Start Somewhere...

Hallo, and Welcome to my blog, Vendel's Heritage! My name is Sarah Kirsch...and if you wanna know more about me, read my profile ----> over there.
A few years ago, my mother decided to follow her love of the antique world and start an business...as she was digging around for names, I offered the name Vendel's.  Knowing that was the name of her BELOVED Grandfather, a sanitation worker in in Pennsylvania, who brought my mom and aunt treasures home that he had found along his route. She could not resist, and so Vendel's was born. Boasting the heritage of a man who LOVED unendingly, gave wholeheartedly, and was taken too soon. (He was run over by his best friend in the garbage truck they were working in when my mom was 10 years old). He loved his granddaughters, and always found the treasure amongst the trash that was just thrown out weekly to the curb.  I think now, having named it that, we have both really found a love of "trash" of our own, and its something that we want to continue to be able to pass on...
Newly back from living in Germany, I am still experiencing some culture shock being thrown back into lower Alabama and the way that people in the U.S. live. How did we all get so busy??  What could possibly be so important all day everyday??  I certainly dont know, nor do I really see the draw to Wal Mart, and mass market items anymore. We didnt have 24 hour stores for nearly 5 years and did just fine without it. The only thing that has kept me sane is my sweet hubby, my kids, (yeah, imagine that...) and yard sales, garage sales, estates, and flea markets. :) I CANNOT get enough!!! Lucky for me, my mom did open a booth at a local antique mall here in Dothan, Old South Antique Mall, so now we have this amazing outlet and have added an Etsy as well.  (if I can figure out how to add a link or mini etsy on here, I will totally do that) I am hoping to at least be able to write on here at least once a week, and including pics of our booth, craft tutorials, posts about travel and the amazing places Ive been, photography, special finds, and lots of fun bits of random information...we would love for you to take some of our heritage with you after you read. :) Just fair warning though...I am a HUGE nerd...and it does show on occasion. :D