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Janet Piller, of Des Moines, IA was searching for a way to create a Shabby Chic item of furniture, and she had been reading a blog that was explaining how she could do it without having to go through the stripping and priming process, which can really be a mess. She saw in the blog how this process allowed you to just paint the item, and you are done.
This was in August of 2011, and it made sense if she could just find the product that made that possible. She then made contact with Annie Sloan, the inventor of Chalk Paint in Oxford, England. At that time there was no one in Iowa that carried the brand, so Janet became the first Iowa based representative as Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Des Moines.
Soon Janet had a website up and running, which was set to sell the products online, and she opened a booth at the Des Moines Armadillo Antique Mall. All of this was followed by a blog and a Facebook page.
Today Janet’s store is a robust, well-known local store run by Janet and her husband Dan, and Mary Lou Killebrew. The store is beautifully appointed with examples of the finished product on various pieces of furniture, decorative ideas, and samples. It is a good place to just stop by, get some ideas, and have a good cup of coffee.
Annie Sloan is an artist and a designer who lives in Oxford, England and her chalk paint product has been developed over the past two decades in order to offer to consumers an easier way to give that antique, yet clean look to furniture, walls, floors, nooks, and just about anything that can be painted.
The Chalk paint technique has become very popular because of the look of the finished product, and the ease of use, where sanding, refinishing and all of that stuff that you have to normally do before refinishing, is gone now.
The catch-phrase is “ease of use” where the stripping isn’t necessary at all, and not only does that save a lot of time, it just about eliminates all of the mess, the fumes, and having to clean up all of the places where you didn’t intend all of the stripping mixture to land.
There are a whole host of surfaces where the chalk paint works exceptionally well. Surfaces such as wood, lacquered surfaces, plastic. walls, floors, metal, cupboards, and all kinds of furniture, both indoor and outdoor.
See Also : All About Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Tucson
The paint cleans up very nicely, by just using warm, running water. The chalk paint also dries very quickly, allowing for the application of an extra coat, or more coats as the need calls for on your project.
It is recommended that after your project is painted and it has sufficiently dried, that you apply one or two coats of softened wax.
Janet has now completely stocked the store in Des Moines with all of the paint supplies that you will need for your projects, including brushes, knobs, the different shades and colors of the paints, and even syringes that help to keep the paint can rim clean. You just syringe out the quantity of paint that you will need to use for your project, and place it in a small bowl, and your brush never touches the rim of the paint can. Why didn’t we think of that years ago?
There are also several workbooks that are available at the store and that can be ordered online, to help you along with ideas and techniques on your projects. Titles such as “Quick and Easy Paint Transformations”, “Creating the French Look,” “Annie Sloan Workbook,” and Color Recipes for Painted Furniture” are among the helpful and straightforward publications.
You can also pick up fabric from the Annie Sloan European Fabric Collection, a superb breath of fresh air in case you are going to recover a chair or you want to be more ambitious with a couch.
The Annie Sloan Chalk paint line is available only through the Annie Sloan handpicked network of independent paint shops. Each store, or stockist as they are called are chosen for their own particular and individual style, and there are no two shops that are the same anywhere in the world. One of them is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Des Moines Ia, and rightly so, as Janet saw a need for the local population, and has been very will received.
There are now stockists all around the world, and even though there are differences in the shops, they all have a passion for the Annie Sloan brand and the ideas that come with that passion. All of the Annie Sloan stockists are trained in the Annie Sloan method of the application of the products on various types of furniture and surfaces. They go through a very rigorous process of being selected, as well as undergoing training on a continuous basis as the company grows and becomes more well-known throughout the world.
The Annie Sloan brand carries all that a person needs to transform any type of furniture, wall, doorway, porch, room or home to a more refined, older look. It would be unfair to call it “antiquing” as the finished product actually looks more like the brand new item might have looked when it was new in 1862, for example.
that is where Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Des Moines IA comes in. The effects of the process can really bring out the essence of what the piece originally was, by bringing out the grain in the wood, giving it a very clear and fresh vintage look, yet giving a very modern and smooth finish.
If you prefer you can give the pieces a more distressed look, but it is up to you. The beginning to end process is very easy for anyone to learn, and have beautiful, well-done pieces in a fraction of the time it would have taken if stripping, sanding, priming and the classical repainting process would have had to have been done.
You will be amazed at the variety of projects that you will be able to do, that had seemed impossible before. Stop in to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Des Moines IA, and talk to Janet, and she and her staff will walk you through and help you get started.
