How you can simply transform old pieces of furniture

Do you remember the Annie Sloan workshop I attended last month? I said then that I would try to find out more about these products and what can be done with them. In the meantime I discovered that Annie Sloan paints are much more present in Romania than I thought. They can be found in Brasov, Târgu Mureș, Satu Mare and Miercurea Ciuc, not only in Bucharest. And workshops like the one I attended are held in all these places, where you can learn, among other things, how to change the look of old furniture and give it a new lease of life.

We spoke to Melinda, who brought in the paints, about her experience transforming old furniture Annie Sloan in Romania. When I asked her which transformation is closest to her heart, she told me about the first piece, on which she used a template as she had seen Annie Sloan do, a few weeks before, at a workshop in Austria.

"The piece of furniture was made in 1967 - it's written on the back. It's neither special nor beautiful, but I found it in the shed and thought it deserved a chance." This is how Melinda begins her story of transformation. She brought the cupboard from the stable and started by preparing it. The old, cracked paint was peeled off with a țicling (a tool very similar to a squeegee) and then the cabinet was sanded all over, but not too hard. As we all know, Annie Sloan's transformations are charming precisely because of the imperfections, bumps and overlapping layers of paint.

Applied 2 coats of paint Chalk Paint, color French Linen outside and Provence on the inside, then fixed everything with Clear Wax - transparent wax used as a top coat, but also for some special effects.

"The first time that's all I did. I said I would leave it like that, but I didn't like it, it was too gray, too boring. And then I had the idea to apply a stencil with the technique seen in Austria. The idea is to put 2 colors side by side in the tray and dip the roll in both at once.

That way when you apply the paint over the stencil it comes out really nice. At first I put 2 patterns on the doors, but I didn't like how it looked.

Then I started putting the patterns on top of each other. This time the result was to my liking."

The colours used for the pattern were Provence and Old Ochre. At the end everything was waxed again with transparent wax, and a very thin layer of dark wax was applied over the stencil - Dark Wax - to give it depth.

A brush was used for painting Annie Sloan Pure Bristle small number 8 and the special small wax brush for waxing. The stencil Melinda used for her cupboard is called Petrushka, the color is applied over it with a roller.

I asked her how long this work took. She told me that she needed 2 days, but only because she was indecisive, she didn't have the plan well established from the beginning. If she hadn't let a day go by before deciding to apply the stencil, everything would have been ready in 4-5 hours, because the paint dries quickly, in 30-40 minutes it is dry.

"In the end it was a good experience, very useful. I learned - and it's been true several times since then - that pieces of furniture have their own character, I would even say soul, and you can't just paint them anyway, not just any color will do. As we transform them we have to let them lead us, that's the only way to get what we want."

In her small shop-workshop in Ciceu, Melinda "plays" with colors, with wax, letting the pieces of furniture choose how their new life will be. She transforms the furniture of those who "have the courage" to leave it in her hands and shares her experiences through blog. Sometimes they go beyond cyberspace into the real world. One experience in this space was the transformation of a school in Odorhei with the help of some very committed parents. Everyone - children, parents and teachers - enjoyed the new look that the desks and desks got with Annie Sloan paints.

It is clear that a community is gathering around these paints for which refinishing of furniture or redecorating your home is more than a side job. This is about passion, inspiration, about ... emotions.