Annie Sloan Chalk Paint- My Turn To Jump On The Bandwagon

I know by now that all of you have heard of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I first heard about it from Miss Mustard Seed a while back. I had been dying to try it ever since I read her post. Then many other blogs started writing about it as well. I just knew I had to try it but I didn't want to order online. I wanted to see the colors in person, but I didn't have a retailer in my area....or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered a store in my area that sold Annie Sloan Chalk Paint while I was at Scott's Antique Market in Atlanta. Color Me French is Georgia's only stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. They are located in Twist On Main in Senoia, Georgia. They offer workshops where you can learn about all the beautiful things you can create with this paint.

So the first thing I needed to do was decide what I was going to paint. I decided I would paint the little nook in our kitchen. As you can see, it is not very attractive. The formica table top totally clashed with our granite and the pew that was repurposed into bench seating was not that attractive. However, the boys love eating here because they feel like they are eating at McDonald's. This is not quite the look I wanted in the kitchen.

Please ignore the dog food bag in the background.

 

Now that I decided on what to paint, I hopped in my car and headed to Twist on Main. The ladies where very helpful and knowledgeable when answering my questions about the application of the paint. There were also different pieces painted throughout the store that I used as a reference when deciding which colors to purchase. I absolutely loved all the color choices and had a difficult time deciding what colors to go with. I finally decided to use Cream as my table top and Duck Egg Blue for the benches. Then I used the dark wax to glaze the benches.

I started painting the table top first. On the first coat, I used a brush to apply the paint and I had visible brush marks. I knew I would have to do another coat and I wanted an even coverage. The second coat gave me 100% coverage and I was satisfied. I did sand lightly after the second coat dried before applying clear wax to the table top.

 

For the benches, I did use a brush and had to apply two coats. I knew I would be distressing the benches so I didn't mind brush strokes this time. Let me just tell you how easy it was to distress the benches using this paint. It is a dream!!! I remember all of the times I had to use tons of elbow grease and/or an electric sander to create a distressed look. This paint is an answer to my prayers. All I had to do was lightly sand where I wanted to wood to show through, and in no time at all I had a finished project. After I sanded the benches, I clear wax to them before applying the dark wax. The ladies recommended doing this step so it would be easier to apply the dark wax. If I had skipped this step, the paint would have soaked up the dark wax making it harder to work with.

 

 

 

 

 

I have already started another project using this paint and have three more on the to do list. If you have not tried chalk paint yet (and I am sure most of you have), you should try it. And if you are in the Senoia area go check out Color Me French in Twist On Main! They will take good care of you.

Also, check out the video from the blog, Perfectly Imperfect. She gives you some really great tips about how to apply the wax.

Thanks for stopping by!
Our Southern Nest