A Little French Inspiration from Maison Decor

For quite a while now I have been thoroughly addicted to Amy Chalmers blog Maison Decor. Amy is a local Boston designer who had not too long ago opened a shop in Malden MA. I had been trying to get over to this shop for months but it’s been a busy summer and tough to squeeze in a visit even though it’s almost just in my backyard.

Finally several weeks ago, after months of perusing her blog admiring all of the fantastic French inspired furnishings in her shop I took a few moments of my vacation, coerced my one of my best pals who is from Atlanta and happened to be in town for a visit to head to Malden to check it out.

Me & my pal on our visit to Maison Decor included a really fun chat with
the incomparable Betsy Speert
Photo borrowed from Maison Decor

Ok, let me just start with the shop is quite a bit smaller than it appears on Amy’s blog but it is filled with such goodness you don’t even notice it’s really quite a small space. Really such lovely things!

Such a beautiful space at
50 Summer Street
Malden MA
Photo borrowed from Maison Decor

Amy is (self-professed) obsessed with Annie Sloan chalk paint and after reading & hearing a ton about this unique finish I have been super curious. And with my recently re-done bedroom (see here for my “if at 1st you don’t succeed” bedroom) having neutral walls I've been very conscious of my need to pull pops of color into the room.

So when I kept seeing the Annie Sloan chalk paint my wheels started churning on how I could use it on some little fun something. And then, I happened to see this piece in a lovely little home decor store in Lancaster PA while I was on vacation this summer:

Beautiful inspiration piece from Bed & Bath Affair
in Lancaster PA. If you are ever in Lancaster
this shop is pure loveliness!

And I loved loved loved the color. It was just what I was looking to bring that “pop of color” into by master bedroom. But, the cabinet was a bit beyond my budget. Hmmm….

Then I considered my current bedside table that I had purchased along with 2 other matching pieces at Goodwill in Atlanta probably 15 years ago for way cheap. I thought it was kind of cool and liked the lines of it. I’ve enjoy edit for all of these years since but it now has definitely reached the “seen better days” category.

Good storage, right size, just a sad finish kept
this piece from being perfect.

So….. great inspiration piece +my desire to try the chalk paint + a very tired bedside cabinet = a new project I just had to work on!

Now that I had a plan I was so excited to get started.

My dining room seemed just as good a place as any to lay
out my Dollar Store plastic tablecloth (ie drop cloth) and
go to work

Amy told me that basically no prep was needed just a clean dry surface and brush the chalk paint on it. Guess what, she was so RIGHT! The paint went right on.

One coat down.....

Two coats later I was rubbing on the wax to seal the paint and give it that nice finished look.

Waxing on...

Then just reattaching the original hardware; I contemplated replacing the hardware but I was operating on a "see as you go" policy…why spend the $ until you are sure what you have on hand isn’t going to work. And guess what, I actually like what I had.

Finished product...just pending my decision on whether
or not to add the white edge accent

The only question now is do I add some white edge highlighting to the doors & top? It sure would make the blue pop buuuuttt it kind of looks nice as is with the lines of the piece speaking for themselves. What do you think…to detail or not to detail, that is the question…