Annie Sloan: How To Add Drama To Old Furniture

Annie Sloan presents dramatic new paint tones to add depth to your DIY and furniture projects. With a range of new Chalk Paint shades, you’ll be spoiled for choice to create bold, memorable furniture and makeovers to spruce up your home.

First up for your delight and delectation is this divine bed in Chalk Paint in Athenian Black. You may recognise the Venetian Plaster Effect wall behind…or you may just be completely distracted by the drama of this rich, opaque noir. Athenian Black looks especially cool on any “fussy” furniture; old fashioned 80s rococo details abound on second hand furniture and can be very off-putting if you’re not going for a French look in your home. However, you can subvert the fussiness wonderfully and create a rather sexy silhouetted shape using Athenian Black on these pieces – as you can see in this beautiful baroque style bed.

Further proof of this argument below: this desk by Paint Me Twice was a shiny dark wood, dated piece, but it looks absolutely chic and elegant in Athenian Black. It’s a flat-coat-of-Chalk Paint®-and-you’re-done kind of colour; intense and commanding enough to add interest to a room, but in an understated way that’s very easy to work with. It’ll make other colours in the room sing – just like the pinks Paint Me Twice has paired it with here.

Lastly, something for those of us who just can’t resist picking up a Detail Brush Set! This bench is by Ildiko of Restored4u and she used Chalk Paint® in Oxford Navy as the base. The floral design – inspired by Ildiko’s Hungarian heritage – sets off the velvety depths of Oxford Navy beautifully and can be replicated at home with a little patience, some stencil help, or perhaps by modifying the design so the brushes dictate the shape. Folk designs are by their nature very simplistic and fun to do!