My Little Dream Home: My Little Dream... Chalk paint discovery!

Its seems like I was massively late and behind the rest of the world on this one... but what a triumphant discovery chalk paint is!!

Rummaging through my mums attic I found my childhood bedside cabinet, which in a earlier life had been painted bright purple with shiny silver drawers to match my glittery curtains and silver radiator as a child! I went to work the next day and one of my friends suggested Chalk Paint! (Ill show you the finished article in a mixture of my chalk paint projects blog!)

So i googled... chalk paint...

What amazing, weird and wonderful things people have managed to achieve! Up-cycling old furniture and pre-loved items into homely, new treasures! I was immediately excited!!

I found my nearest stockist of Annie Sloan paint right here in Sevenoaks at Dovetails Vintage a gorgeous little shop which sells trinkets and up cycled furniture! They also do workshops on how to use chalk paint! You can find your nearest stockist (European and Ireland) here

Initially the paint seems quite expensive!! but i honestly cant tell you what value it is! Its easy to use! (your toddler could slop it on with you and not get it wrong!) and so far Ive only used one coat and then got over with a few touch ups where needed! Ive got half a tin left of my Annie Sloan and so far Ive achieved from that tin... 3 bedside cabinets and a lamp table and a chest of drawers!!

The key is to buy the wax! Wax is yes an additional cost! You'll get a tin and the wax for under £30 (but wont get much change!) The coat of wax when you've finished stops the paint from chipping when you smash it, bash it and crash it (like i am always doing!) I've gone for the clear wax but there are variations? when you initially put the clear wax on, it does make the paint appear darker but it will not stay like that!

But, don't run off to the shops just yet! There are other brands of chalk paint!

I've used Rusto-leum which i found in both B&Q and Homebase! (Although a small tester pot is £5!) there is a great variety of bright colours!

Assortment of colours from Autentico

My favourite paint so far has to be Autentico! I discovered this in a gorgeous little shop called mylittlevintageattic in Sevenoaks. I got a tester pot to try it out in Winter Sky (gorgeous dark duck egg blue colour!) It was just under £4 for the tester. This paint seems to glide on, and the selection of colours is amazing so much more choice than with Annie! So I'm a big fan! and funnily enough mylittlevintageattic isn't a relative of mylittledreamhome! :)