A Crib Makeover!

A wonderful co-worker bought this crib for me when I was expecting my first.  It was a not real wood, Wal-Mart one.  The crib was the one essential we were not gifted.  Anyway, this crib sure served its purpose with my son; however, he beat it up!  Little wild thing that he is.  The whole side had scraps all along from where he chewed it up. Yes, chewed it!  Some babies do that evidently! I noticed he had been chewing a bit too late and he probably ate more fake wood then he should of.  Live and learn, right?  So here is the crib.  In true Ericaness I forgot to take a picture before I disassembled the crib. I was too excited!!!

 

 I finally decided to try Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I was hesitant because pins I have seen often look way too distressed for me.  I like the distressed look, I do, but some pieces seem to be trying too hard :).   After lots of research, I decided to give it a go.  I realized the versatility and that I can distress it if I want.  I really loved the mat finish.  Also, I learned I didn't have to sand! Umm sold.  You cannot get this paint on Amazon or in most stores.  Annie Sloan likes to sell in small local shops.  You can order from them or find a shop on her site http://www.anniesloan.com/  

I walked into my local store with an idea in my head.  I was going to paint the room a light gray, have a white crib to match the furniture and have purple accents with a chandelier.  I go into the store and right away see a piece done in a light tealish color (Duck Egg Blue) up against a gray wall.  It was all over.  White was suddenly way too boring.  With the prices of Annie Sloan (around $30 for a small can of paint and another $30 for wax) I was not about to leave that store with boring white.  Annie Sloan has very few colors but the wonderful thing is that her colors are absolutely gorgeous! If you are not so good at picking out colors then you can pretty much rest assure that if you just pick one of her colors that makes you smile then your good to go. (Well there is a yellowish color that I am not too keen on but yellow and I don't always get along) Fitting it with your room or decor is another story...but your piece will look great!

I got to work sanding and then washing the crib.  I only sanded the parts of the crib that had chew marks with my new favorite little toy.  A Black and Decker Mouse Sander.  Cleaning wipes such as Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (or any kind you like) work great and are super easy.  I did not have any on hand so I used a little dish soap and water.  I used two tubs.  One to wash and one for rinsing.

I love my new toy!  Felt all powerful with my little sander ;)

 I did not buy the fancy brushes.  I am sure they are wonderful but I had spent enough!  I started painting and this stuff covers incredibly.  The paint hardly has a smell to it.  Once it was painted, I sealed it with the Annie Sloan clear wax.  Just rub it all over your piece with a tightly woven piece of cotton.  I used old burp cloths. Of course, you can buy the official stuff for waxing that Annie sells but we all have old T-shirts, underwear whatever. The wax stinks!  It is strong! If you are doing this inside make sure that your room is very well ventilated and do not do this with children running around. 

  Here is the finished project.
 

 I love, love, love this crib.  I still have to get a chandelier and the other girly touches in here but I love this space.  I told my husband I might need to make this my room :) He wasn't OK with that. 

I got the pretty lacy curtains from IKEA.  Nice and long and so beautiful.  Here they are! http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20112011/  They are cheap too!!!!!Sorry for the random curtain rant :)

What I would do different-  

I would be to be in a better ventilated area with the waxing.  Pretty sure I got a little high....but hey at least my kids weren't around!

Also I would be more thorough with the wax.  It looks like I missed a couple spots.  Not a big deal and I will go back and touch up.  The only problem is it takes a good 30 plus hours to seal once you wax. Annie says that you can use the furniture right away but the wax isn't fully ready for 30 days.  Yes days.  It seems ready after an hour. With it being a crib I would wait before putting baby girl back in.  

I might have considered making my own Chalk Paint and just matching the color but in all honesty it was not only easier to just buy Annie Sloan. I also really like to support little local shops so I am happy to once in a while pay a little more to do so. I will make Chalk Paint when I do my sons dresser so stay tuned for that experiment.

I might....might distress this a little.  I can't decide!!!!! For now I am happy and really if I do distress this and hate it then it would be easy enough to do a quick coat over it to bring it back to this.

Thanks for reading!

Erica