By Elizabeth Yeager Cross
WV Design Team
During the past two years, Yeager Design & Interiors has been bringing you information about Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan, our go-to for furniture and decor paint. In that time, we’ve held dozens of workshops to teach others how to use this miracle paint, painted and restored hundreds of pieces of our own, and even helped a few entrepreneurs start their own painting business.
Why do we obsess about this product? Simply put, it’s amazing. We’ve written to you with before-and-afters on kitchen tables, vanities, mirrors, buffets and more, but recently we’ve found the time to do some of our pieces and have fallen in love with Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan all over again.
Today we’d like to feature some of our latest transformations and remind you just how easy it is to use before you start your spring cleaning and throw out any furniture pieces that could be considered diamonds in the rough.
This tall piece looks like something straight out of France after a few coats of cool gray and black tones
If you’ve read any of our latest articles, you’ll know my little family moved into a new home. For the first time since our two children were born, we finally have a guest room again. While this was exciting, I also didn’t want to go breaking the bank buying all new bedroom furniture for the space either.
Coincidentally, while out on a job one day, my husband stumbled upon an extremely beaten up headboard, dresser, chest and mismatched nightstands at a second-hand store. Having seen the miracles I’ve performed on damaged furniture many times before, he immediately sent me pictures of it all.
My first thought was “Jackpot,” of course. On the day we went to pick it all up, I also stumbled across a sad little storage cabinet in need of some major tender love and care. I offered the owner $200 for all six pieces and was overjoyed when she accepted.
Over the next few days, I tackled each of the pieces and began my newest Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan project.
I started by cleaning each of the pieces with warm water and vinegar. I then chose Paris Grey paint to cover all of the bedroom furniture.
Because of their extensive scratches, missing pieces of molding and even chunks of wood gouged from their tops, I did a double coat. I was confident even though they weren’t in great condition, the paint would help cover the imperfections and even aid me in making them look more vintage and distressed than damaged and dumpster-worthy.
Gilding wax highlights the acanthus leaves and fluted columns and the out of date hardware fades in to the drawer front on this refurbished piece
Boy, was I right. After letting the coats of paint dry completely, I applied an even coat of Annie’s clear wax, followed immediately by her black wax. The black wax was my key to bringing them all back to life and personalizing the look for my home. Pushing the wax into the ornate carvings, moldings and corners created shadows and depth, which made them all look so much more interesting.
My last steps were to distress them with sand in strategic areas and follow up with my favorite step, gilding wax in gold. Since I didn’t replace the hardware on the pieces and had painted over it, I used the gilding wax to make them stand out against the gray tones. I also used it to highlight key areas of the molding and edges to make them shine and add elegance.
I can’t tell you how pleased I was after completion. I texted everyone I know my before-and-after pictures to show how proud I was of the difference the Chalk Paint had made and how much money I’d saved.
In the end, I used the chest and nightstands in the guest room and ended up bringing the headboard and buffet to our showroom as examples for our workshops. The number of complements we’ve gotten on the bedroom set has been staggering.
So what did I do with the sad little cabinet in need of love? Well, I was going to paint it and use it in our kids’ playroom, but, after I got to work on it and transformed it into a beauty, I had to bring it to the workshop instead.
Aubusson Blue and a healthy coat of Black Wax gives this piece a midnight sky feel, and the gold hardware and gilding wax pops against the dark background
I finished the cabinet in Aubusson Blue, followed by a generous coat of clear wax and black wax all over in an even coat to darken the first blue coat. As we all know, I can’t leave gilding wax, or gold for that matter, out of any equation, so I went back and highlighted small areas for a touch of glamour.
I also ordered new gold T-bar handles on Amazon to inexpensively replace the broken original rusty knobs. I think this is my favorite piece to date I’ve transformed with Chalk Paint. The lack of sanding, priming or prep work is, honestly, heaven sent when you’re doing these projects. It’s just so easy.
Lastly on my list of recent projects, we installed a new cabinetry display in our showroom to help create storage in our workspace and showcase our line of custom cabinetry for kitchen and bath remodels. I wanted it to be functional and show-stopping at the same time, so a lot of elements were considered when selecting the final design.
We painted over our signature green showroom wall with basic white wall paint, then installed a ship-lap look with 2-inch-by10-inch boards. After installation, I chose to paint the wall in Annie’s French Linen. This set a warm taupe/gray background for the Knotty Alder with cappuccino-stain storage cabinets and Divinity (ivory) bases.
After one coat of French Linen Chalk Paint, this new shiplap-inspired wall looks fresh and modern. It complements the new Cappucino and Divinity-painted cabinetry beautifully and shows how great mixing wood tones can look
To give our clients inspiration, we configured it in a way that could easily transition from a home office or even a fireplace-surrounding setup and TV entertainment wall. To give our flat-screen TV an anchor of sorts, we painted an old floating mantle shelf in Old White, which was the perfect connection paint for the base cabinets below.
Yeager Design and Interiors is proud to carry Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan because, while there are many imitations, there is only one true Chalk Paint. Over and over our feelings for the paints, waxes and brushes have been affirmed by our projects, our clients’ transformations and the community Chalk Paint creates.
Stop by our showroom to learn all about it and begin your own journey by signing up for upcoming workshops. Start your journey by breathing new life into old pieces and creating diamonds out of the rough.
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