Painting a French Metal Basket with Chalk Paint

Today, I wanted to share a little project of mine "in process";

transitioning from Summer into Fall.

And since this is a French-y iron basket I will say, "En cours".

See, you get your French "phrase" for the day, 

and a little view of what I'm up to.

I bought this basket back in 2004, and used it on my Dining Room table at the old house, probably until around 2011. As you can see in this photo, it was matte black iron finish, and since it was Christmas it was holding faux poinsettias. BIG pink poinsettias. After I wore it out on the Dining Room table, I had it on our hearth, but I tired of the "black", which didn't really show all the pretty scroll-y iron work. So it went in the storage room.

When we moved, again it went on the top shelf in the storage room. I would look at it, and think, "it's such a pretty piece, but it needs to be lightened up". The reason I hadn't done anything about that was because it was packed with moss, and a floral designer had created it for me. I didn't want to take it apart to paint, because I knew it would be a booger bear to repair...I was right. It was a mess, because the moss was old and hardened and pretty much crumbled into a million pieces when I took it out.

But I knew if I didn't jump into the project, it would stay black,

 and that meant staying on the top shelf of the storage shelves.

So I did the best I could, and "en cours" made a huge mess.

Let's see that would be..."un énorme gâchis". 

I used a small trim paint brush and did two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It's just a mix of Coco, Old White, and Paris Gray. I keep my everchanging leftover "custom color" paint in a Tupperware bowl with lid. I wanted this more taupe than gray; now it shows up so much better than the black.

Yes, those are White Sunflowers,

and I have been on a quest for them for 3 years.

Finally found some.

I'm going to be using this on my Dining Room table

 this early part of Fall,

so that's what I'm working on today.

I have an un énorme gâchis to clean up,

There are cats running through moss, faux and dried flowers, sticky labels,

and all sorts of debris that comes from flower arranging.

but I love it.

I'm still tweaking this mess,

just wanted to check in and share my project for the day,

"mon projet pour la journée".

Have a good start to the weekend,

I'm hoping to get a bit more "Fall" done before I clean it all up.

Joining in Here:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Create Dream Inspire at Lehman Lane

Share Your Style at Common Ground

Your Turn to Shine at Anderson and Grant

Inspiration Gallery at Craftberry Bush

Shabby Art Boutique

xoxo,