Annie Sloan chalk paint

I saw an amazing house on Pininterest a few nights ago that I now can't find. It was called Lilypad Cottage. I don't know how people come up with such brilliant ideas.

www.thelilypadcottage.com/house-tour
this might be it [sigh.....]

It's beautiful - and very 'Me'. I mostly stick to duck-egg and cream, although I have plums, heather and a little pink in the sitting room amongst the cream and pale beige. I'm a bit more cluttered than that house though.

Lovely. I do like that style and I love clapperboard houses especially one I saw in a film called, Something's Gotta Give. The interior is definitely a style I love and copy added with other ideas.

I think people find a huge selection of,ideas by looking through house magazines, interior design books and now there are so many sites on line to browse through then it's a case of putting together whatever your personal taste is.

When we had a loft conversion done we ended up with a wall of wood panelling in the bedroom [it was quicker than having it plastered] so I'm quite chuffed that I can now paint it in a light colour and it'sfashionable [my ex painted everything in yacht varnish so you can imagine how yellow the pine became ]. I think a lot of these houses are getting a bit too bland. I love duck egg and my curtains are going to be a Laura Ashey duck egg striped pattern. Have gone for Egyptian Cotton paint [as recommended on mumsnet].

I have used Egyptian Cotton for years Tegan . I have that (matt emulsion) on the walls and radiator and a built in bookcase in the same colour using satinwood. Hope you are pleased with the result.

I agree some of these houses are a bit bland left as they are but adding extras can transform them with a bit of life.

When we moved here, the dining area (which is now added to the kitchen) had a wooden ceiling. It is now duck-egg blue, I love it. Actually it is a bit darker than that, but I call it that because then people know what I mean. I had it mixed for me. Unfortunately I also had two large spare tins mixed, and we had a freezing cold winter a few years ago and I lost my entire paint store - even having a heater on in the garage all winter failed to save them. So my kitchen is getting scruffier every year. I need to go through the whole process of getting a colour mixed up again. I shall probably have to take a drawer front or something in.

Reminds me of when I worked for the housing department and someone turned up with a door as they were fed up of waiting for someone to come to their house to fix it. It has only just dawned on me that they had to take the door off it's hinges to fix it and therefore could have fixed the fault themselves .

Yes - they probably just needed a new hinge!

I have been told that chalk paint is emulsion with plaster of Paris added to it. I do not know of a source of plaster of P here where I am in France but maybe someone with the bug and a spot of spare emulsion could have a bit of experiment with it - I will get some P of P when in UK next to have a go - it would greatly expand the choice of colours available to be able to mix your own and the tone would be right if you used the same paint as the rest of the room.
I am thinking of doing my dresser in Farrow and Ball eggshell - mainly because it will not need polishing after painting and I can buy it at about the same price as UK in a local town.

Is this article any help? inmyownstyle.com/2012/08/testing-1-2-3-versions-of-chalk-paint.html

And here is another one - salvagedinspirations.com/best-homemade-chalk-paint-recipes/

Calcium carbonate available on Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZL1XUK/salvageinspir-21

Thank you for the links Elegran I am now keen to try chalk paint and would enjoy experimenting making my own.

I lived,in the Var Bez and was forever in Castorama where I bought all my Liberon products plus many tubes of tints to mix my own colours.

I can buy plaster of,Paris in B & Q so I wonder if, as B & Q and Casto are now amalgamated and sell many similar products, it may be possible for you to find it in Casto. I'm sure you know the translation being plâtre de moulage..

I think I will have a go at that too. Now, what can I paint?

Go for it Bez. As I mentioned before, we did Ducal dark pine dresser and lots of other bits in Farrow and Ball. It looks great and only needs dusting now. Recently saw a similar painted dresser in JLewis for £2K so feel very happy. It is worth buying the primer from F and B too as it improves final finish. Happy painting!

I've just paid a fortune for an Annie Sloan paintbrush and a waxing brush, as I was using loads of wax and couldn't find a way of putting it on esily with a paintbrush or rag. Will be interesting to see what they're like. Have also bought some of her Lacquer as I want to paint a floor and I also think that the lacquer will be better on doorknobs etc. I used a roller [for the first time] on a wall yesterday [not Annie Sloan stuff just everday decorating]. Why oh why have I never used one before? It was so easy and I used a fraction of the paint.

Better late than never!

Re wax - I use paper towel. It's easier to feel what you are doing.

The roller with an extension handle will make painting your floor easier too Tegan

I'd just finished painting a pelmet and it was ready to put back up when I scraped it; I rubbed it down to repaint it but the eggshell paint just peeled and continued to peel. I've put undercoat on thinking it would seal it in some way but it just continues to peel. I don't know what to do other than take it right back to the bare wood [but it's 5 feet long?]. Don't know what to do. I think it's because I used quick dry eggshell and, from past experience quick dry paint tends to peel very easily. .

....I should have used primer shouldn't I? [light bulb moment]

Yes!

There is an excellent primer that you can/could buy, it's called melamine primer but it covers absolutely anything, even plastic. In one house we had a very shiny but getting scruffy wardrobe, it even covered that, and then I was able to paint it with acrylic gloss, which made it look like wood. It wasn't cheap though. I hope they still make it, I must have a look. I even used it to prime and paint all those cheap plastic runner curtain rails in the kids' bedrooms.

bumped up for roses ...

Thank you Tegan I have read all the posts with great interest, it really makes me want to have a go!I have never used a roller either[for anything.] Do you use a brush for the edges , tops of walls etc first and then the roller on the vast expanse of wall? Is there a particular way to use the roller? We usually get a reasonable finish using brushes [as long as we use matt paint] but the roller would be much quicker I'm sure.I too have some pine bedroom furniture that is crying out to be painted, but would have to do some arm twisting on DH as he likes it how it is.Still, there are small bookcases etc.

The whole mood of my bedroom has been lifted by using the Annie Sloane paint on the old yellow knotty pine that was there. I'm really pleased that I bought the Annie Sloane brushes even though they were expensive. I've never used a roller on walls before, but it was annoying to put a last coat of paint on the main wall only to find there was an unpainted stripe on it when it dried . Best to go on utube for tips on rollering. It was annoying that the paint tray was so difficult to clean between coats but a friend said to put tin foil in the paint container in the tray which can then be thrown away. Because the layer of paint is so much thinner when you roller it rather than brush it on, it dries much quicker; I wish I'd decorated the room when it was a bit cooler. I've never rollered doors etc before but thought I'd have a go as a decorator I used used to roller them. Mind you, when it comes to decorating a whole room again I'm going to pay a decorator; I think that, by the time I've paid full price for the paint plus buying new rollers, brushes, sandpaper, brush cleaner etc I didn't save much money. I found painting the edges really tiring as kneeling down hurts my knees and reaching up hurts my arms! Try your DH with a bookcase or two [just the sides] and you might win him round .

Yes, I do whip round all the edges and corners first with a narrowish brush. The foil idea in the paint tray is an excellent one, but I don't like using a tray at all, I tip the paint into a larger can with a top that can accommodate my roller.

I painted a room once for a friend and she gave me £25 and bought all the paint. That was fine by me, she was broke and a friend and it wasn't a very large room and she left lovely meals for me to heat up. However, unless you have very cheap painters in your area don't give up yet, as she was quoted £150 for the same small room!