Annie Sloan to visit Little French Barn

Author and creator of Chalk Paint, Annie will be making a rare visit to a handful of stockists of her paint, fabrics, home fragrances and books.

It is thanks to Annie that thousands of vintage fans have learnt how to ‘upcycle’ furniture - turning unwanted junk into beautiful, bespoke pieces for the home.

Annie’s paints are not just sold anywhere. She hand picks independent shops then personally trains the owners to run accredited Annie Sloan Workshops.

Annie Sloan says: “I believe in supporting local businesses and as such we only supply Chalk Paint through our carefully selected network of independent shops.

“I enjoy inspiring people to be creative and adventurous with my paint and I believe that the stockists we have chosen in Northern Ireland are the right people to spread the message throughout the region.”

Annie has lived and worked in Oxford for the last 25 years. Her husband David runs the business with her and they have three sons.

Annie, who developed her famous unique paints in 1990 after she started to paint furniture.

She has now written over 20 books on traditional paints, colours and techniques which have led to total sales of well over 2 million books worldwide, printed in eleven languages.

“I found painting furniture fun,” she said. “However I found that the paints that I was using either would dry too quickly or did not have the colours that I wanted.

“With chalk pain everyone can take a brush and just paint. You don’t even have to be art trained.

“I was talking to a man in Holland and told him about my predicament and then he made me a batch of first chalk paint and I was hooked.”

Most of the Northern Ireland stockists run workshops which are informative, social and fun events running from a couple of hours to a full day and range in price from £25 to £65 including refreshments.

Annie has also published a number of books including ‘Annie Sloan’s Room Recipes for Style and Colour’ which will be launched in November 2014, ‘Colour Recipes for Painted Furniture and More’ (2013), ‘Quick and Easy Paint Transformations’ (2010) and ‘Creating the French Look’ (2008).

The latest from Oxfordfolio is the ‘Annie Sloan Work Book’ (2012). Annie Sloan products, which now incorporate fabrics and interior accessories including a range of Home Fragrances (launched in 2014).