Good intentions

Honest my new keep up my blog intentions have not fallen by the wayside, its just that yesterday my lappy decided it didnt fancy connecting to the internet no matter what I wanted or tried, so it was off to my wonderful SIL for the day to get fixed.

Meanwhile I nipped off down to Sandwich to buy and try some of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I have been reading great reviews on all around the net. I was rather taken by the fact that it seemed this wonderpaint needed no priming (yes that is right) no sanding down, or pre-painting before being used to transfer old furniture. Furthermore,its also reputed to stick to anything, deemed to dry in 20 mins and was perfect for shabby chic!

Now I am beginning to be quite taken with the romantic look and have a vision in my head of how I would like my new home to look (when we finally put this one on the market and move into a bungalow. It involves giving a new lease of life to my 1980's dark solid wood dinning room suite. 6 chairs all in what could be dark teak or dark oak but with turns on all the spindles and back slats! One of the reasons I had never done anything with it before was the thought of having to sand down all those twists on 6 legs, a cross bar, and two uprights on the back plus a number of rather awkward shaped slats on the backs. So I was really really hoping the paint would live up to its name.

So far I have painted half the chair, giving it two coats. Its not easy stuff to work with as it drys out really quickly and thickens up in the can just as fast. Not only that its a bit deceptive in that it looks like it has loads of brushstrokes and the dark wood shows through. Its not until it dries completely thoat it looks flat and white. It is touch dry in 10 mins (working indoors in centrally heated room) but doesnt look flat until a good couple of hours later.

I am really pleased with the look so far though. It still needs to be waxed to cure the paint but the shop did not have any in until their next delivery some time next week. So hopefully brilliant chair photos to follow!