My mother, like many of you I’m sure, is a furniture collector. She sees the beauty in pieces that she either bought for herself many years ago or that have been given to her from loved ones. While not every piece is necessarily in her favorite finish and color she feels the sentimental tie and can even remember the worth of the furniture. Most of the pieces were once quite expensive and therefore, she will never get rid of them. Sound familiar?
Before and after of a once orange toned pine armoire that was painted in a two tone distress technique to give a sense of French Country elegance. A custom graphite wax was applied over Old White and French Linen Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan to achieve this look.
Recently, Yeager Design and Interiors acquired a new product line that was a little outside of our norm, but literally rocked our entire world. After attending an intensive workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana, we were armed and ready to sell Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan. A lifelong resident of Oxford, England, Annie Sloan developed Chalk Paint 25 years ago. She developed 32 colors of paint that are free of toxins known as Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, are all natural and can also be used nearly everywhere. They have opened up an infinite number of possibilities in the world of design and paint.
In addition to her paints, Annie’s line includes decorative waxes, specialized pure bristle brushes, matte floor lacquer, candles, and diffusers. The uses for these products are quite limitless. Outdoor furniture, exteriors of buildings, decks and even garage and front doors are just a sample of the many uses outside of your home. Interior uses can range from glass to furniture, fabrics, metal, flooring, walls, kitchen cabinetry, and basically anything in or around your home.
Even though the paint is named Chalk Paint, it is not actually made of chalk, but rather named for its “beautiful velvety, matte finish.” When we realized the possibilities that Chalk Paint opened up for design, we could not contain our excitement. No longer were we limited by standard finishes. Not only could our clients change the look of pieces from our showroom, but more importantly, we could now give them the tools to customize and update their own existing furniture.
This elegant console was refreshed with Paris Grey Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan and topped off with a thick coating of dark wax to become a beautiful work of reclaimed wood art. The intricate moldings and carvings in the legs and feet of the table ended up being a favorite design feature.
While Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan is a widely used and well known product, as a designer, I have had to break down a few barriers of the stigma that some people have about painting furniture. While clients are very willing to paint accessories, they are quite nervous to jump in feet first and paint their once expensive furniture. For example, we will again reference my mother. After returning from the training in New Orleans, I immediately came to my mother’s home and began suggesting all of the different pieces of furniture we could transform … the wooden guest bedroom set adorned in stenciled pastel flowers that she inherited from her mother-in-law, the corner china hutches she purchased over twenty years ago that are now a little out of style in their current finish, and an antique bar cart that sits in her great room. She quickly replied that she couldn’t possibly paint the bar cart, even though she was not wild about the finish. Apparently, my grandmother had bought the cart as a set with other pieces and it was even signed by the artist. My first response was, “Mother, unless you plan on having the original artist over for drinks, I don’t think he will care.”
The choice to Chalk Paint your older, out-of-style finished furniture is simple. Choose to paint and customize your beloved pieces so that you can not only keep your sentimental ties, but can also create a custom finish that elevates and revitalizes them. We recently held our first Chalk Paint Workshop for a group of excited women. Some were brand new to the products and some were very familiar. After getting to learn techniques on how to achieve finishes such as staining with paint, two-color distressing, dry brushing, metallic waxing, how to create your own dark wax, and smooth finishing, the group was alive with chatter about the pieces of furniture in their homes that they could not wait to transform.
This electric fireplace console was toned down from the original distressed finish to accommodate a less primitive look for their elegant sitting room. By using Old Ochre Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan and distressing only to the level of the owner’s comfort, then topping the piece off with a clear wax coat, a much cleaner and transitional look was achieved.
To show them examples of pieces we have done, we referenced mirrors, a console with great form, and our most prized transformation, a once orange-toned pine armoire. Let’s focus on the armoire’s process to show just how easy it was. First we simple took a clean rag and wiped the wood down; no sanding or priming was necessary. We then applied two coats of the very popular Old White to the outside frame of the cabinet. The doors, drawers, and inside of the cabinet were coated with French Linen that would give the piece a dramatic definition between the two colors. We then took a 150-grit sandpaper and lightly distressed the areas that would take a lot of wear over the years. An even coat of clear wax was then applied to not only seal the paint, but also deepen the finishes. We created our own custom “dark wax” for the last step. Since Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan only makes one color of dark wax, and it is brown, we mixed the darkest gray paint color, called Graphite, and the clear wax to achieve our customized “Old World” wax.
The Annie Sloan brushes were instrumental in achieving the finished product shown in the pictures. The large wax brush was used to “stab” the wax into the grooves and to brush it all over the paint to heighten the finished details. The competed piece now gives a warm French Country feel. While giving the appearance of age and wear, it keeps the value of the original form and appears transitional.
This gorgeous dining table’s design was elevated with a thin coat of Old Ochre to soften the wood grain of its original finish. The ceramic pumpkins were also painted in various Chalk Paint colors and finished with gold and silver gilding waxes to create an elegant and rich table scheme for the upcoming holidays.
Your home is your castle, and just like any castle, you probably have some older pieces that could use an update. We fully recommend using Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan to aide you in your transformation journey. Yeager Design and Interiors holds monthly workshops to help teach the techniques. Our next workshop is November 15 at 3:00 p.m. and will only take up to 15 people per class so that we can provide as much individual attention as necessary. The class is $120 and includes all materials needed. We also offer private lessons for those who feel they may need more assistance. The web is full of people, just like you, looking to transform their pieces. Be sure to follow YDI on Facebook for updated pieces and before and after photos, as well as watching Annie Sloan’s YouTube “How To” videos to learn as much as you can! Pretty soon, you will have the itch to paint just about everything around you. As many of our spouses have said, “I’m afraid to stand still too long or I just may get chalk painted too!”
– To see more pictures of the projects featured in this article: Chalk Paint®, Chalk Paint® Workshop #1!
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