Renovations with Annie Sloan Wall & Furniture Paint – Review

One name that springs to mind when people say chalk paint or furniture upcycling is Annie Sloan, and with good reason.

One of the world’s most respected paint and colour experts, Annie Sloan brings decades of knowledge – and plenty of style – to her hugely popular line of decorative paint, Chalk Paint®. And with books, brushes, stencils, and fabrics, her inspirations are transforming more and more homes every day.

Chalk Paint® is a decorative paint developed by Annie Sloan 25 years ago. It very rarely requires any preparation, such as sanding or priming, and can be used indoors or outside, on just about any surface. It can revitalise old furniture, walls, ceilings and floors with ease. It’s easy, fun and makes amazing results accessible to everyone.

Knowing full well that shabby chic is totally my go to style I was delighted to be working with Annie Sloan paints to redecorate our lifeless dining room.  I wanted something classic and calm with a pop of colour and something neutral that I can add accessories to without having to change the whole colour scheme time and time again.

Grey and yellow is so popular right now with many of the design gurus calling it the colours of the year.  Looking through the paint chart I opted for wall paint in Old White and Paris Grey, the tins are 2.5 ltrs and we managed to get the whole of the dining room AND living room from one tin of each!  Seriously this paint goes on like a dream and the old adage of you get what you pay for really does ring true here!   We needed two coats of the Paris Grey as the walls sucked in the colour but with a second coat it covered even the toughest of areas and is wipe clean too – a huge selling point in a family of little ones!

The wall paint is available in 16 colours and is ideal for walls and ceilings, gives a luxurious matte finish and very slight sheen.

Our dining room was a bit of a dumping ground, being the only access to the living room means it was always the place for me to work and be in the middle of everything.  The busier I got though we knew this needed to change and I needed a dedicated room to work in, the conservatory has now become my office/work place.  Most of the shelving in the dining room was taken up with fabrics and paperworks so all of that was able to be removed and rehoused leaving us with plenty of space which I hope to fill with dinner sets and decorative pieces.

With the house being rented we have to deal with what we have and that being the dado rail around the living room, dining room and main hallway.  I love it….hubby doesn’t!   This is where I knew the two colours would work perfectly, Paris Grey on the bottom and Old England on the top.  Me and mum set out on Saturday morning to make a start and by tea time we were finished and able to sit down to dinner at the table – yes these products really do make things that easy!

One of my loves in life is renovating or recycling old furniture into something beautiful, I have made over countless dressers and drawers etc and always had to sand them down before working, prime them and then start with the first coats of paint.  This is a time consuming and tedious task if you are impatient like me! lol   Thankfully with the Annie Sloan chalk paints there is no need for sanding or priming, they were made so that you can get straight to the fun task of painting and using in the same day!

Our dining table was a light wood extendable one that we got through free-cycle and it never matched the chairs, this never bothered me as we love mix and match pieces and more often than not I end up painting everything anyway!

Gradually one by one the chairs were damaged and we recently replaced them with these fabric seat ones that I found on Facebook Marketplace for a real bargain.  The lady mentioned that they were sun damaged and the padding would need replacing so we snapped them up and recovered with Annie Sloan Emmeline in Yellow fabric, the large old roses on a linen weave will wear well and the fabric is thick and durable so will withstand daily usage!

The table itself was painted with Chalk Paint in French Linen and went on like a dream!  I painted it with a roller while mum painted the underneath with a brush and we were done in no time, the first coat dried within 30 minutes and a second coat applied straight away!  I have sent off for a giant doily stencil which I will will be placing in the middle of the table and using to add yellow detailing.  The Annie Sloan clear wax will then be applied which means all spills can be wiped away with ease!   I will update with more images when the doily arrives!

The table was decorated with these fabulous plates from Asda (£2.50 each), how amazing are they and almost too good to use but I am now of the opinion that nothing is to be kept for best – now is the perfect time to use things so get those glasses and that dinner set you have been saving for best out of the cupboard and get using!  Lifes too short!

The glasses, straws and charger tray are from Sainsburys.

I am now on the look out for some bright yellow accent pieces for the dining room and think the table will look amazing with a huge bowl of fresh flowers!  The table is going to look amazing once the stencil has been used and I love that I can wipe down both the table and walls so no worry of sticky fingers around tea time either!

XOXO

Debbie

This is a collaborative post with Annie Sloan