annie sloan

Very recently, I stumbled upon a few blogs chatting away about this Annie Sloan chalk paint that is told to be a miracle. Frankly, I'm not a great painter of furniture, even though I love the look, because I lack the patience for sanding and priming pieces. Mr. Hawthorne on the other hand rocks it. For the most part I decide what color I want a piece and wait impatiently for him to actually paint it. Which might be why we have several dressers in our garage as I type. But, this Annie Sloan paint declares no priming, no sanding, no preparing. A girls' paint, if you will. One just needs to grab a brush and paint to one's little heart's content.

After some searching, I discovered I could buy Annie Sloan's paint at a very cute shop a few towns away. Haley's Cottage is not only an adorable store with lots of fun home decor, but the staff is quite friendly and very helpful.

I rushed home, already with a project in mind, to test this paint out for myself. I've been wanting to paint this bench from my porch for ages. I drug my feet because who wants to sand all those nooks and crannies? Not me. However, as Annie Sloan promises, I didn't have to do anything but paint. And, that is just what I did. I love how the paint covered right away. I only did one coat because I liked the look so much and feared a second coat might mess up my genius. You have to wax after you paint, and if you want that more distressed and/or French Country look, the dark wax is then applied as well. I did both because that was exactly the look I wanted.

I painted and finished this baby in barely an afternoon. It really took no time at all and I couldn't be more please. There is some balking around the interwebs about this paint being costly which was my least favorite part about Annie Sloan. With that said, a can of this paint could literally last a gal forever. I barely made a dent in my can and I'm already scheming about what else I want painted red.

Before

During

After

Close Up