Upcycle Furniture With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I've wanted to try Annie Sloan chalk paint for ages. If you haven't heard about this miracle paint here's a brief description from their website. 

1. Chalk Paint® is the BEST paint for painting furniture by a long way 

2. No need to prime or prepare 

3. Extremely low VOC so it is good for the environment 

4. You can use it on any surface, indoors and out (the outside of our shop was painted in it -- perfect!) 

5. You can use the paint by diluting it with water to make a wash to show the wood grain 

6. The colours are mixed intelligently and the website shows how you can adapt your colours for your use 

7. It's a girls' paint, but boys can use it too 

8. It's flexible so you can be creative and change your mind 

9. It allows your walls to breathe so it is perfect for cottage walls 

10. You can use it as an impasto (thickly) - leave the lid off to thicken 

11. We've been making it since 1990 so it's tried and tested 

The deciding point for me had to be No.2. No need to prime or prepare? Hmmm I was a little sceptical about that statement but with so many people raving about this product I was willing to put my doubts aside. For those of you who have ever painted furniture you'll know how much time goes into preparing and priming! It's a lot of effort to say the least! 

I already had a project in mind. This 6 drawer chest of drawers which I'd picked up recently from a second hand shop. Although I quite liked the wood stain it was scratched and the colour didn't really go with the grey and purple tones in our bedroom.

Before

After carefully removing the handles I set to work using a soft brush. The paint goes on thickly but a little really goes a long way. Handy considering the £18 price tag for a 1 litre tin. As recommended by the stockist we watered down the second coat before applying, which makes it a lot smoother to apply. 

There are lots of finishes you can go for. Shabby chic, two tone, rustic, crackle effect, etc but in all honesty I prefer a smooth block colour finish to my furniture. After allowing the paint to dry I rubbed in some clear wax. This protects the paintwork and adds a slight sheen to the overall finish - Note - the paintwork was touch dry in around 30 minutes but I waited until the following day before rubbing clear wax into the drawers.

Annie Sloan - Paloma - Clear wax

I love these original handles

My overall thoughts?

I have to say, I'm really pleased with the effect and although the paint was expensive I've still got well over 3/4 left in the tin! Not bad considering there are endless uses with this paint. With that in mind I decided to give a cheap terracotta plastic pot a coat.

However, if you are looking for the exact colour in the tin I would recommend giving your furniture a quick once over with a primer or some white-ish paint.  It goes without saying that the colour underneath is bound to change the overall shade you end up with.  If the shade isn't quite right don't worry, you can easily mix it with any other Annie Sloan paint to achieve the right shade.

Would I use this paint again?
Most definitely! I love how versatile this paint is. You can water it down, mix it and literally paint any surface with it.  It dries so quickly without any stickiness and hardly smells compared to other paints.  The only problem I have with this paint is deciding which colour to get next!

Have you tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paint? Have you got a project in mind you're about to work on? I'd love to see what you're working on.  You can tweet a photo of your project to me at @agirliknow