Annie Sloan - Annie Sloans Room Recipes for Style and Colour: World renowned paint effects guru and colour expert Annie Sloan considers what makes a successful interior

Annie Sloans

ROOM RECIPES

FOR STYLE AND

COLOUR

Annie Sloans

ROOM RECIPES

FOR STYLE AND

COLOUR

Annie Sloan and Felix Sloan

With specially commissioned photography by Christopher Drake

Published in 2014 by CICO Books

An imprint of Ryland Peters & Small Ltd

2021 Jockeys Fields 341 E 116th St

London WC1R 4BW New York, NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text Annie Sloan and Felix Sloan 2014

Design CICO Books 2014

Photography CICO Books and RPS 2014

(Photographs on Christopher Drake)

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.

The Chalk Paint trademark is owned by Annie Sloan Interiors Ltd. and is registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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

US ISBN: 978-1-78249-154-5

UK ISBN: 978-1-78249-171-2

eISBN: 978-1-78249-619-9

Printed in China

Editor: Dawn Bates

Designer: Louise Leffler

Artworks: Annie Sloan and Felix Sloan

Commissioned photography: Christopher Drake

For further picture credits, see .

In-house editor: Carmel Edmonds

In-house designer: Fahema Khanam

Art director: Sally Powell

Production manager: Gordana Simakovic

Publishing manager: Penny Craig

Publisher: Cindy Richards

contents

Deciding how to style and decorate your home isnt easy. There are so many ways of approaching the task and so many styles to choose from. Like most people, you may worry about making a mistake or lack confidence in your choices. Our room recipes help you decide on the best style for you and give an overview of interior design and home decor. The styles we explore are all quite polarized. They are by no means definitive, but they capture quite specific looks. In reality, most homes are fusions of more than one style but even the most experienced designer will find it difficult to juggle more than two or three styles in one room.

These pieces are modern retro. The excellence of this design style was a particular revelation to me.

An inspirational journey

This is a world we know well but both Felixs and my preconceptions were jolted in writing this book. Felix was amazed to find that of all the locations photographed for the book, the most unrestrainedwhich in that sense made it feel rather modern was the 17th-century Swedish manor house with its quirky mock picture frames and freely painted panels. For me, the 1960s design of the modern retro location was a real eye-opener. Being at art school in the 1960s, I viewed mainstream design of the time as pedestrian: unchallenging and uninteresting. How wrong I was!

Swedish style: The quirky freeness of the haphazardly laid hand-painted Chinese wallpaper and the painted faux picture frame and border were an inspiration to Felix.

What is a style?

We can define a style as being a particular approach or a unified look. This look is like a palette consisting of colors, shapes, cultural and historic references, materials, attitudes, even ideologies. This palette can be drawn upon in many different ways to create a design style. When we describe a room as stylish, we are saying that all of the elements are balanced and work well together.

The more knowledgeable you are, the better. A broad knowledge is like a repertoire of ideas that you can draw upon. If, for example, you have a chair and you are not sure what to put with it, knowing the style of that chair will give you ideas. Its not about creating a rule book, but more a set of guidelines. If you are inexperienced or lack confidence, you may find that following the style guide in this book helps you. If you are an experienced decorator, you will find that you can make all sorts of style fusions work.

We both found the painterly approach to French elegance very motivating. Throughout the book, we have suggested paint swatches, such as the greens shown here, for each style.

This sitting room [above] shows a charming and somewhat edgy take on the vintage floral style, while this collection of items [below] is warehouse style in both its look and arrangement.

Show homes and hotel rooms are sometimes stunning and inspiring but they are not home.To make a house into a home, you need it to have your personal stamp. Having the things around you that say who you are gives your house individuality and personality.

Personal items might be a toy elephant from childhood, old photographs of family and friends, a postcard of a favorite painting or vacation, souvenirs, an ornament, or maybe a vintage picture you found one weekend. We often have things that we don't want to throw away because they are a part of us. Instead of storing them away, display them and use them to tell your story.

Photographs

Tell your story using photographs. There will be a variety of styles and times your photographs were takensome will be in color and others in black and white, and some may be very old sepia prints. They can be brought together by using similar frames or by painting frames the same color. For instance, using large frames all painted black gives a cohesive look to the photos. Or placing items on a colored background or putting them together in a strong-shaped frame can unite a mix of finds.