Annie Sloan - The Annie Sloan Collection: 75 step-by-step paint projects and ideas to transform your home

the Annie Sloan

collection

the Annie Sloan

collection

75 step-by-step paint projects and ideas to transform your home

Published in 2021 by CICO Books

An imprint of Ryland Peters & Small Ltd

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text Annie Sloan 2021

Design and photography CICO Books 2021

Projects in this book previously appeared in Annie Sloan Paints Everything, Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and More, and Quick and Easy Paint Transformations

The authors moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Chalk Paint is a registered trademark of Annie Sloan Interiors in the United States.

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 80065 029 9

E-ISBN: 978 1 80065 071 8

Printed in China

Photographer: Christopher Drake

Editor: Martha Gavin

Art director: Sally Powell

Production manager: Gordana Simakovic

Head of production: Patricia Harrington

Publishing manager: Penny Craig

Publisher: Cindy Richards

contents

introduction

After developing and writing about my quick and easy paint transformations, color recipes for furniture, and basically painting everything I could, here is a collection of my favorite projects! This is a celebration of thirty years since the invention of my unique range of Chalk Paint, showcasing my greatest hits of projects using this paint.

Let this book be your ultimate painted library. It is part of a greater story about interior decorating, involving fabrics, walls, and floor treatments, where paint can be used to transform your home in a natural and stylish way. I want to excite and inspire you to paint everything and anything you can get your hands on.

The projects that have been selected truly epitomize my art and interior design style, and you could even describe this book as my Best of album. My versatile Chalk Paint range, which I developed in 1990, has continued to evolve and develop with new techniques and treatments, and can be used on anything! The possibilities are endless: as well as using it on wood, the paint works on fabrics, concrete, plastics, glass, leather, marble, and metal.

Start off by working with the base. It is very important to understand the piece of furniture and its not necessary to have a plan that you follow rigidly. It is quite acceptable to change your mind, because as you paint, the furniture starts to tell you what it wants and needs. The age, texture, and color of the wood, plus the shape and style of the furniture, are all determining factors in how you will paint it. As the first coat goes on, characteristics start appearing and you will begin to have ideas that might differ a little from the original plan. Part of the fun is working with new inspiration and it is this that will make the piece unique.

Color combinations are probably the most important thing to get right. Hard contrasts, lots of colors without an anchor, too many hot colors, or too many same-toned colors are all things I try to avoid when working. If you are not confident with color, a good rule is to try using just two colors, or three at the most. This book is a huge shout-out for the power of color and how colors can be combined. If anything gets my juices going, then its how color and texture work together.

Dont underestimate the power of simple techniques to create salient and striking designs, from potato-printing on drawers to gilding and using metal leaf, or painting, tying, dyeing, and dipping fabrics. I have printed, stenciled, and reverse-stenciled on fabrics, walls, and furniture. I have also painted in a painterly, freehand way and in a controlled way. All these skills are valid.

Finally, trust your creative artistry and instincts. I have been inspired by art and artists, fashion, and design, and Ive thought inside the box and outside the box, being conventional and unconventional. I have designed lots of easy projects and a few projects that will need a little more skill. Please enjoy the collection, be inspired, and, above all, paint everything!

tools and materials

As you flick through the projects in this book, youll see that none of them calls for specialist equipment. Have a few pots of paint in your chosen colors, some brushes, and clean rags to hand and you are all set to get started.

paint

The starting point is to choose the right paint for the job. This will make painting your furniture an enjoyable experience because the paint will be responsive and you will be able to work in a practical, flexible way. There are many paints on the market, but I have designed the projects in this book with my purpose-made Chalk Paint in mind (see for information on unsuitable surfaces). It has a very matte texture and absorbs wax easily, and has been specially created to be used in a huge variety of waysfor example, as a wash, with or without texture, applied thickly, on fabric, or as a dyewhich is why it lends itself so well to painting everything.

One of the great bonuses of using this particular paint is that there is no need to prepare furniture first by priming or rubbing down, which means you can start painting easily and quickly while you have the urge. The paint, despite being water-based, even mixes easily with the solvent-based wax too, so you can color the final finish to get the exact color you want. As a general guide, you will need 1-quart (1-liter) cans of paint for large projects and small project pots for painting and decorating smaller areas. For the most part, you only need to apply one coat of Chalk Paint, but where two coats are necessary, apply the first one with a big brush.

One of the most exciting and interesting ways to use the paint is on fabric. I used to do this many years ago, but have recently rediscovered this technique. One method is to use it as a dye by washing fabric in heavily diluted paint and the effect is wonderfulI have rewashed one dyed linen sheet several times now and the color has remained the same. The other method is to paint and then wax upholstered chairs with my paint, which creates a stunning effect.