Annie Sloan Rampage

I found a local antique mall that sells this Annie Sloan chalk paint that I've heard so much about---it's very popular on the decorator blogs.  Its major selling point is that it covers practically anything with no sanding or priming beforehand.  I've had a few projects that I wanted to do, and a little cash burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to dive in.

The first thing I did was to paint the kitchen island.  I was just tired of all the white and wanted to update it a little.  Our cabinets are basically laminated particle board, and the laminate starts to peel off the drawers and doors after 20 years.  Ugh.  So, we peeled it off in about 5 minutes, and painted the whole thing Versailles green.  Now we have that "coordinating" not matching look going on in the kitchen!

The other project(s) is my bedroom furniture which belonged to my parents when they first got married.  Mom got it in the divorce, and I got it when I got married.  My mom and dad furnished their whole house with this traditional Ethan Allen line, which I've always disliked, though I have been grateful that I didn't have to spend thousands of dollars on furniture that no one sees but us.  (And now the Internets!)  

Mom painted the china cabinet ("hutch" in my native parlance) white almost immediately after the divorce.  It made my dad and my brother furious because "you don't paint good wood"!  But you do if you can't stand it!  I can't stand it either.

That's not to say that I didn't feel incredibly guilty when I first started painting, because the inside is really beautiful, but the finish, which is pretty scratched and marred after all these years, is a really thick paste that essentially prevents you from seeing the grain of the wood.  I would have been happy refinishing it, but I don't have the energy or knowhow for that.    In any case, someone else can refinish it in another 20 years----or when I give it to a child who gets married.  ;-)

I like it sooooo much better now!  It's slightly distressed, and painted Old White.  We polished the brass hardware, but I may still look for something to replace it with.   

We don't want to be all matchy-matchy anymore, so I'm painting dh's stuff Greek Blue.

Distressing this stuff is so easy, because you don't even need to use sandpaper---you just use a damp rag, and there is no dust!

The color on the previous picture is different from the ones below, and I don't think either one is the same as the sample on the Annie Sloan site!  

This bad boy is all that remains to be done---that, and getting rid of the clutter.  Tell me that your master bedroom gets a little cluttered because no one goes in there during the day!  I'm never in my room after getting dressed in the morning, so the buildup doesn't bother me as much as it would if spent my entire days in my bed.

 But now, I love the new look when I am in my room!  Just please, please, don't tell my dad or my brother that I painted them!

Have you painted anything that you shouldn't have?  Or that you hated and now you love it?