Annie Sloan Colourful Living E-Book

Annie Sloan

• Herausgeber: CICO Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 124

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Annie Sloan is a celebrated decorative painter and the inventor of Chalk Paint®, with over a million followers on social media. In her new book, Annie introduces 30 brand-new sustainable upcycling projects to give old furniture a second life. The pieces in this book range from decorative items such as a bed coronet and a decoupaged bureau to large-scale undertakings including revamping a tall French armoire with a blend of Chalk Paint hues and using paint effects for a faux malachite desk. The projects are grouped by simplicity and the length of time required to complete each one, from an afternoon to a weekend. The techniques used range from painting to gilding, dyeing fabric, stamping, printing and stencilling and each one is clearly explained in easy-to-follow step-by-step photography. As well as her love for colour and paint, Annie has a passion for sustainability and reuse, and the book includes a chapter that explains the concept of upcycling and why it matters. Every project in the book transforms an unloved second-hand item into something beautiful and unique, and Annie provides expert advice on sourcing the original pieces at flea markets and online.

Leseprobe

Colourful Living

Colourful Living

30 CREATIVE UPCYCLING PAINT PROJECTS FOR YOUR HOME

First published in 2025 by CICO Books

An imprint of

Ryland Peters & Small 20–21 Jockey’s Fields London WC1R 4BW and1452 Davis Bugg Road Warrenton, NC 27589

www.rylandpeters.com

email: [email protected]

Text copyright © 2025 Annie Sloan

Design copyright © 2025 Ryland Peters & Small

For photography credits and copyright information, see page 175.

Editor: Sophie Devlin

Art Director: Sally Powell Designer: Geoff Borin

Production Manager: Gordana Simakovic

Senior Commissioning Editor: Annabel Morgan

Creative Director: Leslie Harrington

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

UK ISBN: 978-1-80065-415-0

US ISBN: 978-1-80065-418-1

E-ISBN: 978-1-80065-440-2

The author’s 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, recording, or otherwise, without prior consent of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CIP data has been applied for.

Printed and bound in China.

The authorised representative in the EEA is Authorised Rep Compliance Ltd., Ground Floor, 71 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, D02 P593, Ireland www.arccompliance.com

Contents

Foreword

Sourcing Vintage Furniture

Tools and Materials

Living With Colour

The Projects

Half Day Projects

Patterned Wooden Bowls

Brass Candlesticks

Textured Vase

Murano Glassware

Rust Effect Lampshade

Painted Flower Frame

Painted Frames

Raffia Placemats

Dyed Fabric Chair

Decorative Plates

Reverse Stencilled Chest

Full Day Projects

Geometric Sideboard

Blended Tall Armoire

Distressed Country Kitchen Cabinet

Dragging Technique on a Door

Palette Knife Colour Layering

Potato Printed Bedside Table

Frottaged and Marbled Wardrobe

Tetra Pak® Stencilled Trunk

Laminate Cabinet

Swedish Posy Decoupage Bureau

Weekend Projects

Gilded French Sofa

Diamond Chequerboard Floor

Dutch Folk Art Shoe Lasts

Bed Coronet

Faux Malachite Desk

Decorative Bird Tiles

Tudor Style Window Border

Trompe-l'oeil Cabinet

Charleston Inspired Headboard

Paper Cut-Out Filing Cabinet

Templates

Resources

Index

Picture Credits

Acknowledgments

Foreword

This book is my 27th about paint, pattern, colour and design. It contains 30 brand-new projects, some of which can be completed in just half a day and others over a full day or a whole weekend. They cover many of the techniques I’ve loved over the years. Whether you favour a rustic farmhouse look, retro 1960s flair or classic English country-house style, I wrote this book for you, especially if you are decorating your home on a budget.

My interest in upcycling began at a young age. When I was a child my father took me to furniture auctions and he would let me bid on small boxes of what were called ‘sundries’: assorted buttons, broken jewellery, thimbles and so on. I learned that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.

Then, throughout college, I clothed myself and decorated my bedroom using items from jumble sales. These were events that happened weekly in church and village halls all over the country. I rummaged through mounds of old clothes, the contents of granny’s attic, kitchen paraphernalia and household odds and ends, all on sale for extremely low prices to raise money for local causes. And so when I began setting up my first home, it was natural to search secondhand shops for furniture. The pieces were not only affordable, but often sturdily made and, above all, unique.

Chalk Paint comes in many hues, from soft neutrals to vibrant shades - see pages 34-35.

Different colours can be layered to add depth, as in this project on pages 100-103.

Having studied fine art at university, I began to combine my love of paint, art and interiors. I became interested in painted furniture of all kinds, from the work of modern artists such as the Bloomsbury group at Charleston in East Sussex to the rustic folk art and fine antiques found in simple homes and grand houses all over Europe and North America. I particularly loved Swedish painted interiors with all their wonderful colours and techniques. All these influences can be seen in my work to this day.

I painted my first piece of furniture, an old wooden chest, in 1977 or thereabouts. Inspired by an early American piece, I created a similar design using artists’ acrylics in many colours. However, the paint wasn’t quite right for the look I wanted. Many years later, after much research and experimentation, in 1990 I created my own range of Chalk Paint for use on painted furniture (see pages 20–21). My colours are easy to mix together, just like an artist’s colour box, so that you can create your own custom blends.

Since then, I’ve painted a huge amount of furniture and the vast majority of it has been old. I’ve experimented with many methods and techniques and tried out lots of colour combinations. I developed many techniques to work with the paint and began teaching these in workshops to students and Chalk Paint stockists all around the world. I love guiding people to mix their own colours and make them pop. Although I came from a fine art background, as a painter and teacher it was important to me that Chalk Paint should be easy to use. Everyone has the potential to be creative, even if they think they were not good at art at school.

Uniqueness is a rare quality in today’s mass-produced world and that’s part of the joy of upcycling. You can completely transform anything: wood, laminate, metal, pottery, stone, ceramics, fabric and even good-quality plastic. In the antiques trade, wooden furniture is often called ‘browns’. However, by using paint you can take unremarkable pieces and turn them into colourful and individual items for your home. I hope over the years I’ve encouraged people to use a lot more colour in their homes and live a more colourful life.

For many of us, painting is also a form of therapy and mindfulness, providing a much-needed escape from our busy daily lives. That’s certainly an important part of why I love painting. Being creative is enormously rewarding: the hunt, the planning, the awful moment when you’re not sure and then the great moment when it all comes together. The reward of seeing a piece of painted furniture work in your room and how it brings everything to life is so worthwhile. If you are new to upcycling, there is a whole journey ahead of you.

But possibly the most compelling argument for upcycling is that it is simply a very good thing to do for our planet, reducing waste and saving precious resources. Please, please read my chapter on Why Buy Vintage? (pages 12–13) – I want this vital message to get out to as many people as possible.

In short, upcycling is economical, fun, creative, sustainable and good for the soul. What’s more, it is the essence of colourful living.

Re-look, rethink, repurpose – and paint everything!

Sourcing Vintage Furniture

Enjoy the thrill of the hunt! Whether you're arriving at an antiques market first thing in the morning, rummaging in a local junk shop or shopping secondhand on your computer, it's the joy of finding exactly the right piece to transform that keeps you coming back for more.

This ornate mirror in imitation Louis XV style could be painted or gilded to give it a new lease of life.

Why Buy Vintage?

Saving furniture from landfill is the rallying cry for this book!

The amount of furniture going to waste is truly staggering. At the time of writing, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 12 million tons of furniture are thrown away in the US every single year and the vast majority ends up in landfills. In Europe, the figure is 10 million metric tonnes according to the European Environmental Bureau. Even in Australia, 48,000 tonnes of furniture are discarded at the kerbside per year in the greater Sydney area alone, the equivalent of 800,000 sofas, 1.65 million dining tables, 3.4 million coffee tables and 6.85 million chairs.

Just like fast fashion, in recent years there has been an increase in the production of fast furniture – inexpensive items that may only last for a few years. Synthetic resins, polyurethane foam, chemical dyes, flame-retardant compounds, plastic wraps and other materials make them difficult to recycle, leaving consumers no other option other than to throw them away. These same materials often don’t biodegrade or break down quickly when thrown in landfill. They will take decades to decompose, and in the process also leak harmful microplastics and forever chemicals into the surrounding environment.

So, this is a huge and growing problem that we really don’t have the space for on our busy planet. It also represents a huge waste of resources – despite the issues with fast furniture, many of the items thrown away are good, solid, well-made pieces that could easily be given a new home. These are the pieces we should be reusing. Instead of always buying new, try to buy secondhand and find ways to repurpose what you have. Remember that anything made of wood, metal, stone, fabric, plastic, laminate and more can be painted to give it a new lease of life.

So, the question is, what’s better? A piece built to last that you can sell on or gift when you no longer need it, or a piece that falls apart after five years and is made of materials that are harmful to the environment? For me, the answer is obvious: instead of buying new fast furniture, buy old furniture and paint it.

Architectural salvage can yield a variety of reclaimed items such as these shutters.

These pairs of carved doors for sale at a French market date from the 17th or 18th centuries - perhaps they once belonged to a grand chateau.

Old chests of drawers/dressers at an antique market in Avignon, Provence.

A selection of mirrors and frames from different periods.

Where to Shop

First look in your own house for old furniture to upcycle. It may be something you use every day, or a forgotten piece from your shed or attic. Think creatively about how to repurpose things you no longer use.

Next, get familiar with your area and find all the places where secondhand furniture is sold: occasional and permanent vintage markets, charity shops/thrift stores and car-boot/garage sales. You may not find what you are looking for on the first visit, but keep trying and you never know what might turn up.

Online platforms such as Craigslist, Gumtree, Freecycle and Facebook Marketplace are all fruitful hunting grounds where you can find free or very affordable pieces near where you live.

Auction houses have a special place in my heart, although there are fewer than in the past. Attending auctions can take up a lot of time, so you may prefer to look and leave a bid for the things you want, but it does mean you might miss the thrill of the actual bidding. It’s worth noting that after every auction sale there is often unsold furniture that is going cheaply because of minor imperfections. There are also great online auction sites such as eBay, although it’s now very competitive.

Large house auctions and estate sales are my favourites because you can see a whole house being emptied, from the kitchen drawers to the master bedroom and the garden shed. They offer a great peek into people’s lives.

Spotted at a big outdoor market in the English countryside, these wooden frames could be used for art or fitted with mirror glass.

An artful display of vintage chandeliers.

What to Look For

Don’t look at the piece as it is, but at the potential. It may be an uncompromising deadly dull shade of brown, and it has horrid handles and some ugly stains, but that’s not what you should be looking at. The quality of the construction and the overall silhouette are much more important. I look for well-made, strongly built furniture with a good shape and pleasing proportions.

Most materials can be painted with Chalk Paint, even plastic. If the item you want has been upholstered with an ugly fabric, that could be painted, too. However, there are some exceptions. You can’t paint silicone – paint simply rejects it and won’t adhere to the surface – and real teak is too oily. Keep this in mind when choosing furniture to paint.

You should also consider how the age and style of the piece will work in your home. For example, I have found that many Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces from the 1920s and 1930s only really work in the style of that era because their shapes are so strong. You can embrace this with period- appropriate stencils, the right paint colours and copper or silver accents. Similarly, a low-slung mid-century modern cabinet with angled legs is never going to look as though it came from a French château, but you can highlight the features that make it special.

Other styles are more adaptable. Rectangular-shaped furniture with square feet such as the no-frills utility furniture of the 1940s might be perfect for a geometric or colour-blocked design or a simple folk-art motif, as the simplicity of the silhouette allows the paintwork to take centre stage.

Highlight carving and moulding with a lightly distressed finish - see pages 92-95.

The rust effect on this lampshade was achieved using paint - see pages 60-63.

Small objects such as wooden bowls are delightful to decorate - see pages 48-51.

Does the piece have gentle country curves? If so, consider a rustic farmhouse look, perhaps with a very aged and textured surface (see the cabinet on pages 92-95). Is it textured oak? Then don’t think of anything too smooth! It needs to be something that makes use of the texture (see the geometric sideboard on pages 84–87). Cabriole legs and some pretty moulding? Then imagine it as a French gilded piece (see the sofa with gilded moulding on pages 128–131).

When it comes to smaller objects, I love finding wooden animals – perhaps tourist souvenirs from Africa – which you can paint in any colour and add your own doodles and squiggles to make them unique. One of my best finds was a pair of large classical busts made of terracotta- coloured plastic, which I bought very cheaply in an outdoor market and then painted to look like ancient stone. They now adorn a console table at my home in France and look magnificent. They look like heavy stone until you pick them up!