Thursday 25 October 2012

Thrift, Annie and me - but not you


This begins with a complaint; a complaint about you, my lovely readers. Lots of you knew that I liked painted furniture. That I disliked knotty pine. That I preferred neutral colours to orange fake wood. And that I was a sloppy, hasty, impatient corner-cutting, bodging type of DIY-er. 

Didn't you? Come on, you know you did. 



Perhaps you'd forgotten my orange knotty pine and laminate bedroom furniture that I bought along with the cottage, because it fitted the tricky space, and could easily be painted. Perhaps you'd not been reminded, as I tended to keep my weary repetition "I must give all this ginger stuff a lick of paint! A Spring project... oh no, a summer project....oh drat, an autumn project...." to myself, and sometimes, The Gardener, who has a long To-Do list of his own?

The motivation to apply that lick of paint had evaded me for a year.



So tell me -  why did no one amongst you tell me about Annie Sloan Chalk Paints? The no-priming, no-sanding, slap-it-on-quick paint, perfect for those, who like me, tend to skimp on preparation and expect wondrous transformation in half an hour?

Anyway, despite your secretiveness, I noticed it myself in several American blogs, and enquired of all-knowing You Tube as to whether or not this was just a tantalising dream.

But no; such a miraculous paint existed, seemed very popular in the States, where heavy old brown pieces of furniture with unfamiliar names like 'hutch', 'buffet' and 'chiffonier' were turned into pretty and more contemporary items in the wave of a paintbrush. And best of all, the paint was available in a new shop half an hour's drive away from where I live.

So The Gardener and I charged off to investigate, bearing with us a scrap of bedroom curtain fabric to match colours with, found exactly what we wanted, and a few days later I made a start. 

Result:



From bright orange to Country Grey, in no time at all.


I wanted a dead flat finish, rather than a distressed look, and so far, have found that easy to achieve with the paint. But the soft wax applied later on is harder to succeed in getting on evenly, and dries so quickly that I struggle to avoid blotchiness. Those of you who have used ASCP (as the US bloggers tend to call it) - any advice?



The other miraculous thing is that The Gardener has come over all enthused too, and promises to paint with me. My cup paint pot runneth over.....

I'll post pictures when it's all done - and the bed will be properly made too.

18 comments:

Lucille said...

I Spy a familiar title on your bedside table! I've just caught on to this paint too via Knitsofacto I think. Am eying up furniture, including the very table I type on.

mountainear said...

I've a sudden urge to go out and buy something horrid and gingery just so I can use some of that wonderful paint. What a transformation.

Val said...

Well that paint is news to me too...and thank you for testing it for me ...that is my dresser and nightstand isn't it ?...nope it can't be mine yours have all their knobs intact and attached ...no darn collie chomping them with it's own uniquely distressed effect..actually what with the cats indiscriminate stropping and the dog chewing and the children experimenting with scissors my whole house is distressed (and not in a good way...ahhhhhh)

Love the paint effect by the way ...I shall copy ..but probably miss out on the wax stage and start with wood filler and sandpaper.

Anonymous said...

If only I had some pine furnture in need of painting .......

Anonymous said...

You and 'Rattling On' are getting jiggy with the ASCP. I have an ancient piece of furniture that has been banished to the garage because of the colour of the varnish, so I might just investigate this magic elixir. Does it pong much?

rachel said...

No pong, Toffeeapple - a faint smell for as long as the paint is wet, but as it's all dry within the hour, it's hardly a problem. The wax smells rather like furniture polish, so you can have a virtuous good-housewife feeling thrown in for free!

judy in ky said...

This is the first I have heard of Annie Sloan Paint; all my fellow bloggers in the USA are way ahead of me, and so are you! It sounds perfect and it looks great.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

This sounds like the answer to my prayers ... a slap-on quick-drying paint .
Quickly get in touch with Annie Sloan and ask for a commision on sales in Europe from today !!

dinahmow said...

No time to chat...off to Google's Emporium to find local stockist. Need some ASCP.

the veg artist said...

Look brilliant - you'll have lots to blog about now!

flwrjane said...

Look at you going all DIY on us.

Very crafty. I have seen the paint displays and read the blogs but now that it's entered our circle I'm interested.

Carry on MacDuff.

xo Jane

The Weaver of Grass said...

I love this - doing something like this makes it so much more an individual piece of furniture rather than that boring old pine. Shall consider it myself as I have several pieces which would greatly benefit from the treatment.

Duyvken said...

Oh that paint sounds wonderful! I am off to investigate. I have many old (but not old enough to be interesting) things that could use a little refreshing.
A

annie hoff said...

I'm sending you a big fat kiss..! The paint looks exactly what I'm looking for, and what's more I've found a stockist a mere ninety miles drive from here, on the east coast - excellent!

annie hoff said...

Ps..I was so excited about the paint, I forgot to say how nice your chest of drawers looked!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the information Rachel, it sounds as if I could live with that then.

BilboWaggins said...

This is ~exactly~ what I need to refurbish a small chest acquired recently from the local auction house ... which has 18 small drawers and I really wasn't looking forward to all the preparation!

Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning this paint, I don't read desigy/decorating blogs and would probably never have learnt about it.

jabblog said...

Sounds just the job. I'm waiting for the paint that thinks itself onto surfaces. I could do the whole house then.

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