Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! I have been reading about it in all the pins, blogs and magazines for several months now, and last week I visited the Annie Sloan website to find a local dealer. I found one in Mendota! LIE! JOKE! We don’t even have a store of any kind in Mendota! However, there is someone who carries Annie Sloan nearby–in Johnson City, Tennessee. It’s called “The Sparrow’s Nest.”

Mendota, Virginia is about 45 miles from Knob Creek Road in Johnson City, Tennessee where the Sparrow’s Nest is located….just long enough to be considered an event!

We didn’t have any problem finding it.   It’s located in an historic old house that was used in the days of the Underground Railroad! If you visit the Sparrow’s Nest, ask to be shown the trap door that was used so many years ago. Shivers!

I went in and quickly picked out the color of paint I wanted. It is a gray blue called “Duck Egg.” I’ll show it to you a bit further down on this post.

However, there were so many treasures at the Sparrow’s Next. Here’s a few…

And this…

Lorrie Malcolm, the person who sold me the paint, is also an artist.   She both works and sells her things at the Sparrow’s Nest and mentioned that there were several locally made pieces in the shop.    She was working on a “felting” project which will result in a Thanksgiving turkey.  Here’s a picture of what she has completed so far….

Here’s another whimsical piece that Lorrie made.  It’s a really good likeness of “the man in the moon!” If I could afford this, I’d take it home. It was reasonably priced, but I’m on a tight budget right now!

And this…for me…this was an inspiration piece…an old frame, a bit of burlap and a stencil and I could make this.  Or I could just go back to the Sparrow’s Nest and buy this one!

And doesn’t everyone need a pair of these? I’ve got my eye on them. Ha!

Now..back to why I ended up at the Sparrow’s Nest. I brought the Annie Sloan chalk paint home.

As soon as I got home with the paint, I went upstairs into the loft area of our house and came down the stairs grunting carrying an end table.  Mike looked at me as if I had a third eye and asked, “What are you doing?”  I’ve kept him a little in the dark about this project, so I just replied, “Nothing.” He said, “Oh no…not again!”

Here’s the table before I started painting it.  Boring.

This paint is so pretty…

My friend, Sue Gardner, is staying with me for a few weeks, and she helped me. Here she is…painting away!

And here I am with phase I of this project done!   By the way…can you tell I’ve lost a few pounds? I’m on it baby!

The good thing about this paint is that there is no prep work. I dusted the end table off and started adding paint. Tomorrow morning we’ll add a second coat, and Friday we’ll probably add the wax. Hopefully, this will be beside the  bed in just a few days looking all fancy.

Another wonderful thing from today…our beautiful Clinch Mountain. I could not live where this mountain was not at my back. It’s getting fancy, too, all bright and beautiful for fall…

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.