Shizzle Design

That's the talented and creative Shelly Andrade of Shizzle Design (second from right).  And with her are the three of us enjoying her class for painting, waxing and distressing techniques with Ce-Ce Caldwell paints. 

About a year ago I was online looking for non toxic paints.  I came across Shelly's story:  the one about  her doctors advice and her change to Ce-Ce Caldwell paints.  Shelly is not kidding when she says CCC paint is not toxic and has no odor!  We painted our items right in her living room.  She blanketed her furniture and set up work benches for us and yes-sirree, we did paint inside her home!  The only aroma filling the air was the pizza she ordered for lunch.

Equally she is not kidding that this was the easiest painting I've ever done.  I just could not wrap my head around it though.  When we signed up for Shelly's class she repeatedly told us not to do any sanding.  No prep work? < puzzled smirk >  How could that be?  I could not dismiss years of ingrained insistence that any top-notch painted project rests on how well one completes the prep work.  The idea that there is no need to prep when using CCC paints did not compute in my brain!  A product as easy to use as Shelly had been telling me (and non toxic to boot) would yield a professional looking finish--I'm all in!  Still at 9 PM the night before the class, I grabbed my girlfriend and our pieces of furniture and insisted we do the sanding. Until Shelly's class my friend would do anything I told her to do.  That's not the case anymore.

< heavy sigh and a wink >.

You can see that buffet in the background.  That's another story for another post.  It's beautiful isn't it?  Good bones and just needing that right re-do with Ce-Ce Caldwell paints and aging wax!  Check back on this blog for a tutorial on what happens to that buffet!

On the drive down to Shelly's place I'm still yammering about the prep work.  "Imagine NOT sanding or removing the sealer from the surface so that the chalk paint can stick"  I marveled incredulously.  My girlfriend listened intently but said:  "You know if this paint is all Shelly says it is, it will transform our lives."  I think she's right.  It's just that awesome!

 

The base of the square table above, had an original coat of dark green.  You can see that with only the first (base) application of a very light blue, almost white, coat of CeCe Caldwell paint the coverage is impressive.  The small, mahogany,  pedestal table (on the right) has a base coat of green.  Over the Kentucky Mist green is a buttery, Johnston Daffodil, yellow (see below).  One of Shelly's distressing techniques calls for many layers of color along with the wet distressing application, finalized by a coat of aging wax.  In order to speed up the drying process between coats we used a small fan or blow dryer.

After only 4 hours both our projects were done and looking...well...looking just short of breathtaking and miraculous!

 

 I'm only speculating but our decision to start using CeCe Caldwell paints and signing up for Shelly's top-notch, painting class was a stroke of pure genius.