Ever since Kirstie Allsop featured
Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint on "Kirsties Homemade Home" I've been dying to buy a pot to try it out. I was mighty relieved when I discovered a local stockist and I didn't have to pay the £12 p&p to have it delivered. So off we all went to buy me a pot of paint. Not only did I get the paint I got to browse at all the gorgeous goodies in the
shop . Drool, drool and more drool. I was a very good girl and didn't buy anything else, afterall I could make my own version of everything in the shop, right? (Ok I'm kidding myself but the prices were a bit steep for something I could turn my hand to creating.)
The chalk paint is a lazy persons way to paint furniture. No stripping, no sanding, no nothing. Just slap the paint on and voila, a gorgeous painted masterpiece. Or so I hoped.
I have so many pieces of furniture I've collected on my car boot/ freecycle/ freegle travels that the Big Man is beginning to get decidedly more grumpy. More so when he stubs his toes on them. Ha! I chose a simple little table as my first project. I picked the table up for a mere £1 at a car boot sale last summer. It's been sitting in our living room looking out of place since then.
I packed the Wee Man off to nursery school, rolled up my sleeves, opened the french doors and started painting. It was so much fun I can't tell you. It's so simple. I watched some catch up TV on the laptop as I did it. The results were very quick. After 2 hours I'd put on two coats of paint and it was pretty much dry by the time I had to collect the Wee Man from nursery.
The only issue was the top seemed pink and streaky. Bit strange since the paint was white and the rest of the painted table was white. See what I mean?
All very strange and despite three coats, the pink stayed. I quickly fired an email to the email address on Annie Sloan's website and the lady herself replied within an hour. How's that for customer service?! Apparently it's a very rare issue that happens with some old furniture, something to do with the stain that was used. She advised a coat of shellac (knotting solution) over the top and a couple more coats of chalk paint would solve the issue. Unfortunately a quick search on t'internet told me a tin of shellac would cost about £9. Obviously not going to shell out £9 for a little table top. So I did this instead.
Some leftover
Cath Kidston wallpaper (scrounged from a good friend), some
Mod Podge and I got me a shabby little table!
So what do I think of the
chalk paint? Love it. It really is so simple to use, no faffing about with stripper and sand paper required. It's low odour so there really was no need for me to freeze in the gale blowing through the open french doors. A little of the paint goes a very long way so it's economical. The results are instantaneous and looks gorgeous.
"Hello my name is Madison and I am a
chalk paint addict!"
