Restyled Vintage tries Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I am SO excited to have finally tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for myself after hearing about it and seeing amazing transformations online, for what seems like ever!

  My friend Catherine of Paisley Vintage kindly shared some details with me that enabled me to be included in a lineup of bloggers here in Australia to have a chance to be given some of this amazing paint to try, courtesy of Annie Sloan Unfolded.  

You need to check out Catherine's blog...she makes amazing ottomans out of coffee tables and she finds the BEST things on the side of the road, and she totally cracks me up at what she manages to fit in her car ;)  She also has a facebook page here.

I decided upon Old White and Antibes Green.  

I was like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for them to arrive...it was excrutiating!

My package of paint, wax and a brush turned up in the middle of some very stormy weather last Thursday afternoon as my Mum and I were painting my kitchen cabinets (a BIG job, nowhere near finished yet!)  Of course I HAD to get some chalk paint on something, so I attacked this chair with the Antibes Green.

The vibrancy of the colour is amazing, the texture and coverage are amazing.  The speed at which it dries (even on a wet and stormy night in Autumn) is amazing.  The ease at which this distresses is amazing.  The wax is so easy and beautiful to apply and the finished piece has the most beautiful smooth feel the instant the wax is applied (even before buffing).

I did two coats of paint on this chair.

This chair has an upholstered seat and back centre column and I am off to Spotlight in the morning to (hopefully!) find the perfect fabric to set off the green.  I've just got an email to say they have 20-60% off all fabrics tomorrow...I'd call that good timing ;)

I also painted this little shelf today...I picked it up yesterday on a day trip down to Forster.

It might be hard to tell but this is only little, maybe about 500mm high.  I painted it with two coats of Old White, distressed then waxed it.  My daughter has claimed it as hers and quickly staged it for the 'after' shot ;)

Today I also painted a tea trolley in Old White (still need to distress and wax it), and painted this little desk in Old White and Antibes Green.  It is looking pretty cute and will hopefully be finished soon...I have an assignment and First Aid Course getting in my way this week though!

My original vision for this involved me putting an oilcloth top on it but when the one I wanted was out of stock I changed my plans...it is now getting an aged planked top.  I think it will make a great set with the green chair above :)

My BIG project for the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is this corner hutch which I am putting in my kitchen.

I'm planning on playing around with the Old White and Antibes Green to make a lighter green.  It will have some Old White on it too.

I'll be back with details when I get it underway!

So, in summary, my first experience with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint has been very positive.  The only thing I didn't love was that the brush smells a bit like a wet animal, but that would be only because it is made of natural bristle and the actual brush is wonderful for applying the paint.  I'll be buying more to use to apply wax with (so far I've just used a cloth which works fine, but for the grooves on the back of the bookcase, or for an ornate carved detailed piece I wanted to age, such as this sideboard I did last year, you really need a brush to work the wax in well).

You can now buy Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Australia and New Zealand, you can find a stockist close to you here.  

Happy Painting!