Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I have been in love with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint since the day I discovered it and have been dying to try it! I watched videos YouTube and read her website but just couldn't jump in and buy everything. So, yesterday I drove to The Studio Art School in McHenry, IL for a class. It took me 1.5 hrs to get there but it was totally worth it!

We have this old dining set from Wickes Furniture that I have always hated. At one point, it was our kitchen table. But as of today, it is splashed with paint and is even uglier! I was going to throw it away but then decided to paint it and put it in the basement where it could actually be used.  Yesterday, I brought one of the chairs with me to use in my Annie Sloan experiment.

This is the chair. Ugly right? I was skeptical about not needing to strip and/or sand the chair before painting. The varnish is really thick making the surface slick. Would the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint really adhere?

I decided to do an under color first. I was going for a distressed look so the first two layers I painted in graphite. The first layer moved around A LOT . However, the second layer really covered and gripped. I instantly liked it better!

Once the graphite paint was dry, I painted over it in provence and wiped off some of the paint in some areas.  I really liked how the black kind of showed through the blue. It gave a great effect. I'm loving the chair even more!

Once the provence was dry, I took a piece of sand paper and distressed it even more in some areas. I actually sanded these spots back down to the original yellow wood. Then, I applied sizing to the areas I knew I wanted to apply gold leaf. As the sizing was drying, I started to wax the chair. I used a combo of clear and dark wax because I knew I wanted it to look distressed with dark in the textured areas.

I left some of the wax in place so I could apply the gold leaf. So fun! I also waxed over the leaf to age it a little.

Here is my first completed chair and I LOVE it!!! I can't wait to finish the set. Each chair is going to be a different color and the table is (hopefully) going to make a great statement.

I was here from 10am-3:30pm. I bought everything I need to finish this dining set and I hope to finish it this week. I am an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint convert. I can't wait to paint more furniture and picture frames!  It really was simple to use and the fact that there isn't any stripping/sanding is amazing! I will post pics of the set when it's all done. Thank you Lucy! I had a great time and you were fantastic.