My workshop with Amy Howard

Hey everyone!  I'm taking a quick break from prep for The Design House (Oct, 4, 5 & 6) to share a few photos from my awesome workshop with Amy Howard.

Suzy and I met Amy and spent time with her paint line a while back at an interior decorating trade show, but this was three days in a small group learning her philosophy and product line, and practicing her painting techniques.

All I can say is that after 20 years of doing this, I was wowed all over again.  I wanted to share some photos from the workshop and let you know a little more we we're carrying the line in The Old Lucketts Store right now!

Here was our crew for the weekend!  So great to meet so many like-minded people and share with so many other creative shop owners!

Here is the workshop room.  The huge tables were stocked with everything we needed for our projects.  It reminded me a little of the Project Runway work room.

Our little workstations.  We had a cute little apron and all our supplies waiting for us : )

Here's a closeup of some of the product line & Amy's Color Card.

The One Step paint leaves a chalky matte finish.  Amy Howard spent 20 years perfecting her formula, which is used exclusively on her design and furniture line.  I love the price point - it's about $30 a quart instead of $40 per quart like other brands I've used.

Another favorite was the mirror antiquing solution, which we used with stencils for a unique look.  She carries a solution you use with sheet metal to turn it in to antique zinc - yum.  There is also a gilding kit, pigment powders, and fabulous Toscana paint.  The Toscana has an 8 step process (the complete opposite of the One Step formula) to leave the piece looking as though it was painted a hundred years ago in Italy! 

 

Here I am workin' it!  : )

Of all the paints I've used over the past 20 years on furniture the One Step is by far my fave!  The coverage is superior and the finish is smooth and chalky.  And it sticks like glue...others can scratch off easily or must be sealed with a wax.  The One Step adheres itself to any surface and will not scratch.  The One Step is considered a green paint - it contains no methanol and no VOC's.

The finish dries with a beautiful chalky appearance that is smooth to touch.   A glass of ice water will not leave a ring if left on a piece painted with One Step.  Waxing is optional if you would like to darken the tone of the paint and it will give the piece an even smoother feel.

 Look at this yummy rainbow!

I also love the colors.  The are spot on!  They are saturated and rich in tone while maintaining a fresh lightness...and that's hard to do!  We currently carry a subset of the complete line of colors.  I selected my favorites and the ones that I thought would be most useful to our Lucketts customers.  My personal favorites from the ones that we carry are the luxe grey and French blue.  They are light and fresh. But when used with the wax, take on a rich old world feel.

I just ordered three new colors that should arrive the first week of October.  They're warmer colors for the fall - Charm School (red),  Kembel (mocha), & Windsor (green).  (I posted the color cards at the bottom of the post)

What we have in the store right now:  

One Step Paint ($28/qt.) - I've selected my favorite colors from the line, but I'm open to what you all would like to see in the shop.  We have the spray enamel (12oz. $18), the original wax (15oz. $28), and dark wax (3oz. $12).   I've ordered the full line of products (antique mirror, gilding, antique zinc and toscana) which should be in sometime the first week of October. 

Coming Soon:  After the holidays, I'm planning on really fleshing out how the painting workshops would work at the store.  We want them to be an experience where you can forget everything else for a few hours and have fun playing and learning.  I want to start offering workshops at The Old Lucketts Store in 2014!

 

PS - Feel free to email me at luckettstore@gmail.com (Attn: Amy W. in the subject line) with any decorating or paint questions.  Attach pictures if you can, they're always helpful.