Annie Sloan Tried & True

When you have a finish you know works every time, there’s no reason to reinvent the the wheel. I love to layer colors of the same color group to give my pieces depth, texture and a sense of movement. An easy technique that takes your paint from a flat one dimension color to a wow finish. A friend had admired my blue apothecary cabinet, and asked me to do something similar on her vintage sideboard.

I chose to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on this project because I love her blues. Here’s how I did it. Mixing some Graphite into Napoleonic Blue to darken it, I painted a solid first layer. Once dry, I added shades of blue mixed with Graphite in light strokes to random areas, not so much as to change the color as to visual texture. For the drawer facings I did a mix of 3 different shades of Aubusson Blue, adding the darkest in a line around the edges.  I didn’t mask with tape but used a ruler to draw lines that I then painted in. To protect, I used Annie Sloan Clear Wax to finish (no Dark Wax this time). Ready just in time for the holidays:)

I’ ve used Annie’s blues on several projects. For more layering ideas check out these posts: Back  in Blue, where the emphasis is on Greek Blue, Napoleonic Blue and Graphite, and The Louis Blue Blues. You can purchase Annie Sloan Chalk Paint from your local stockist or online at Robyn Story Designs.