See this little red toolbox? It has a new paint job.
Before I painted it, it had a light brown stain. I don’t have a “before” picture, but use your imagination. It was just a typical handmade tool box before I rescued it.
I didn’t paint it for a few months because I couldn’t decide on a color. But after seeing another blogger’s red tool box, I knew what color it would be.
Luckily, my sister-in-law wanted to paint a chest in her guest room red. We both wanted to try painting with chalk paint. I have some chalk paint that I won in a giveaway from Linda at Coastal Charm, but I didn’t have any red.
I had read how Sherry at No Minimalist Here had made her own chalk paint. And recently I read Becca’s DIY Chalk Paint Tutorial on From Gardners 2 Bergers blog.
Both of their formulas involved using Plaster of Paris.
So I pretty much followed Sherry’s and Becca’s directions and mixed 1/2 cup of Plaster of Paris with 1/2 cup hot water. Then I added 1 1/2 cups of flat latex paint. The shade I started with was Silk Lining by Valspar.
Here’s the tool box after one coat of our homemade chalk paint. The paint had a very chalky look to it and was lighter in color than we wanted. So if you decide to create some of your own chalk paint, take into consideration that the Plaster of Paris is going to lighten your paint. So to darken it we added some Red Clay craft paint. That wasn’t the color we wanted either, so we added a lot of red semi-gloss paint that Jean already had.
Now we had a beautiful, custom color!
After applying Annie Sloan clear and dark waxes, I ModPodged a little graphic I found onto my box.
I put some strawberry plants into my box to use it as a centerpiece in a tablescape which I’ll share soon.
I love my little red tool box!
I’m joining:
Gina’s Craft Party@Random Thoughts from an Incoherent Mind
Kim’s Wow Us Wednesday@Southern Savvy Style
Heather and Vanessa’s Inspiration Friday@At the Picket Fence
Ricki JIll Treleaven says
March 15, 2012 at 7:23 amI love this project. Red is my favorite color, and the graphic with the strawberry plants are so cute together!
Linking from Random Thoughts 😀
xo,
Ricki Jill
Carlene @ Oganized Clutter says
March 14, 2012 at 6:13 pmI am going to try homemade chalkpaint with grout soon. I hope I can get my color to turn out. It looks like your projects turned out in the end!
Dee says
March 14, 2012 at 4:56 pmBeautiful! I love the color of the toolbox – the tip on how you did it and the sweet graphic.
Dee
Shirley says
March 14, 2012 at 4:14 pmJane, te ha quedado fabulosa la caja con ese color rojo tiza, va muy bien con la mata de fresa, hará un buen contraste con el verde.
Shirley says
March 14, 2012 at 4:12 pmJane, te ha quedado muy bien la caja con ese color, y va de maravilla con la mata de fresas, buen contraste con el verde. Saludos
Liz @ Infuse With Liz says
March 14, 2012 at 8:15 amAwesome job!
I’ve never tried the chalk paint but it does look interesting!
The strawberry plant looks perfect in there!
Audrey says
March 14, 2012 at 7:41 amLove, love, love your RED toolbox, Jane!
Pat@Back Porch Musings says
March 14, 2012 at 7:00 amIt looks wonderful, Jane! I love the custom color and the decoupage.
Shirley@Housepitality Designs says
March 14, 2012 at 6:54 amJane, I so admired that box on your previous post…it looks so great on your table with that beautiful runner…
Anne says
March 14, 2012 at 6:54 amI love your custom colour!!! Thanks for your tips, they will be really helpful for my next paint project 🙂
xox
Gina says
March 14, 2012 at 6:31 amI love this, Jane! The color is wonderful! The graphic was the perfect finishing touch and who wouldn’t love the sweet strawberry plants? Thanks for sharing this at my party!
debbie says
March 14, 2012 at 6:24 amI love it Jane. I could kick myself in the teeth. A few weeks ago I saw a cool old rusty red tool box at Goodwill. Had it in my cart and I thought Mike won’t use this. MIKE, what about me, the cute things I could have done with it.
Dolly Sarrio says
March 14, 2012 at 4:09 amI sure love what you did with the box!!!! The color is very pretty and anything strawberry I love, my favorite fruit and worked in strawberry field over twenty years….I hope I can find a box and copy you I do like it!
Dolly
michelle says
March 13, 2012 at 11:42 pmIt looks great. I love the idea of putting strawberry plants in it.
Kelly @ Eclectically Vintage says
March 13, 2012 at 11:31 pmLove it with the little strawberry plants! I need to mix up some of that paint – it’s fab!
Kelly
Pam @ diy Design Fanatic says
March 13, 2012 at 10:30 pmIt’s really pretty! I love that shade of red!
Sweet Bee Cottage says
March 13, 2012 at 9:27 pmLove that red! What a gorgeous color! They both turned out fabulous. I’ve been toying with this homemade chalk paint idea for a while, but I haven’t done it yet. You’ve given me some great inspiration.
Carol says
March 13, 2012 at 10:26 pmLove your red tool box! I have an old planter that looks like a tool box that was just given to me. I think it’s going to be red! Thanks for sharing!
Rondell says
March 13, 2012 at 9:19 pmI love it too, such a neat color, I’ve tried the homemade chalkpaint but just with Cottage White. I have to try a color to it now after seeing how great yours turned out! Love the idea of strawberries planted in it!