Happy Accidents

Don't you love when you have a plan and it doesn't go your way?  Of course not! 

This past weekend I was determined to finish my Christmas decorating and get all of my boxes put away.  I only had a few things left to finish, but in classic Mary-style one of those things was to paint a window frame for my mantel.  I needed some height behind my decorations and of course I had some window frames laying around waiting for a project.

I found the perfect one in my pile.  It was already missing two panes of glass, so I decided to remove the rest of the glass.  After carefully scraping off the old glaze from the panes, I quickly discovered that the glass wouldn't move.  Not a bit.  Initially I had just planned on breaking the glass, but then decided to "do things right".  Well, see how that worked out for me.  I ended up putting the window over the trash can and breaking the glass out anyway.

OK, so problems are over.  Nope.  I had planned on priming it with an ivory spray paint and then using a chalk paint for the top coat.  I'd finish with a little antiquing glaze and some sanding, so it didn't look too new.  Well, that first coat of spray paint revealed that the bare wood had been treated with some sort of oil paint or stain in the past.  My spray paint was beading up and not absorbing evenly.  UGH!  

I was trying to figure out how to solve this problem.  Should I just continue coating it with spray paint? Should I sand it?  Should I just try the chalk paint?  While my brain was mulling this over, the paint was drying.  As it dried, it started to create this perfect antiqued finish....paint in some places, streaky in others.  It looks like a finish that took me multiple steps to achieve or just an old window frame with chippy paint.  The exact look I wanted.

Of course the lesson I should take away is to look for the silver lining, even if that doesn't follow the plan in my head.   I can't guarantee I will always be happy when things go awry,  but I need to remember to look for the happy accident.