Annie Sloan Paint, Fabrics, Wax, Brushes and Books at La Vie en Rose

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Clear Wax, Dark Wax and Brushes 

As you all know I am now stocking Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in La Vie en Rose.   I'm also painting vintage and new furniture with this range of paint and selling them in shop.  So, I thought I'd show you all the other Annie Sloan products that I'm now carrying aswell. 

Dresser full of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!  I painted this dresser in Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue and finished it in a layer of Annie Sloan Clear Wax

The paint comes in a beautiful range of colours, muted, faded and chalky!  This is standard range of colours available.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Colour Chart

Annie has written over 20 books which have sold over 2 MILLION copies!!!    We have 'Creating the French Look' and 'Easy Paint Transformations' in stock.    They both show detailed painting projects and painting techniques.

When I went over for the stockist training course I fell in love with Annie Sloan's fabrics so now I'm stocking them as well!!!  They go SO well with the paint - I particularly love the Faded Roses!!!

More Annie Sloan Fabrics!

This is my counter in the shop.  My husband Niall made it for me - I ADORE it!!  The counter top was made from reclaimed scaffolding planks!  Niall scraped the cement off, power hosed them, then scrubbed and sanded them down!  We then applied a very watery wash of Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint and water and  painted the top to get a limewashed finish and then finished with a layer of clear wax.  The sides of the counter were made from inexpensive tongue & groove pine boards and painted in a mix of Louis Blue and Paris Grey.  So I got my lovely rustic, chunky counter hand made for a few pound!! Thanks Niall!!!! xxxx

So now I've asked Niall to make me a kitchen island exactly like this - I just love this look (and th price!!!).  I've already picked out the stools for island - these metal beauties!!!!  So that's the next home project - can't wait!!!!

 

 When planning the new shop I knew I wanted to stock some small accessories and gifts.   So customers can always pick up little items - you know sometimes how you just want to buy something!!!  So I've got a LOT of candles, soaps and scented linen bags and hearts - things like that.    I thought that these little ceramic hearts were cute and actually bought a few as I thought they'd make great Christmas Tree decorations!!  Anyway, a mother and daughter (aged about 5 or 6) were in the shop today.  They started browsing and then the little girl walked up to the mother carefully holding the Angel heart and said "Mum can we get this for Granny, cos you know how much she loves God!".  Wasn't that SO sweet!!!!!!  The innocence!!!!

Sharon
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Annie Sloan Chalk Paint comes to La Vie en Rose in Cork

I am very proud to announce that I am stocking Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at La Vie en Rose - my Home and Garden Boutique!  I first came across this paint about a year ago on Amercian blogs where people were raving about this amazing paint that was easy to use and gave a beautiful chalky finish.   For those of you not familiar with this paint it is a water based paint, containing water, chalk and colour pigments so non toxic and eco friendly!!  It's easy to apply and you do not have to prime or sand before application.  It gives a wonderfully chalky finish and if you are painting furniture you can apply Annie Sloan wax over the paint to protect the finish. 

I couldn't wait to get my hands on a tin and experiment.   Then I decided to open the shop and applied to be a stockist.   The shop came together quite quickly as it happened and I just became an official stockist two weeks before it opened.   The next available stockist training course happened to be last week (just one week after opening!!!) so I packed my bags and headed over to Oxford to meet ANNIE SLOAN!!!!!

As you can imagine I was very excited to meet the great Annie Sloan.  I already loved her paint and I couldn't wait to find out more.  I flew into Heathrow the night before and just went to my hotel slept and got up early the next morning and made my way to the Annie Sloan shop on Cowley Road, Oxford where we were meeting up.  The shop is in a very Bohemian part of Oxford as I passed antique and vintage shops on my way there in the cab.   I arrived at the shop and met the other stockists who were also there for the course.  They were all lovely and soon we were talking shop, there were a few stockists from Ireland which was lovely.   Then Annie arrived and we all walked up the road to the studio where the training workshop took place.  

Annie Sloan is an amazing woman.  Annie's Chalk paint is now famous and sold all over the world and she has written over 20 books on traditional paints, colours and techniques and sold over 2 million copies!!   It was an honour to meet her as not only is she a creative, inspiring woman she is also a lovely person, down to earth and very funny.  We learned a lot and laughed a lot during the workshop.

 Annie ran the workshop herself ably assisted by Jane and Charlotte both part of the Annie Sloan team in Oxford.

me and Annie Sloan

During the workshop we learned all about the paint and various techniques - I was in my element!  

Annie Sloan giving the workshop

 Jane

The workshop was fantastic and I'm already looking forward to the next one!  Thank you Annie, Jane and Charlotte!!  Afterwards, I walked back down to the shop to  check out how the paint was displayed and get some tips!

Annie Sloan Shop in Oxford

There were some amazing pieces in the shop . . .

a lovely corner unit . . .

chest of drawers painted in red, white and blue . . .

gorgeous chandeliers and mirrors . . . 

A very inspiring day!  Tired but happy I headed back home to Cork full of ideas!!  So now we have Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Waxes, Brushes and Books for sale at La Vie en Rose.  I've also been busy painting furniture with the paint which is also for sale - in store now!!!

Paint for Shop

We have a winner . . .

Blue Grey

Thank you all for leaving your comments!   I think most of you liked the Blue Grey the most which is what I hoped you'd all say because I LOVE this colour.  So phew!  that's the paint taken care of!  I have so many decisions to make at the moment - all very pleasant ones I have to admit - that it's easy to overthink every little thing!  So it's been great to get all of your opinions, thank you.

Also, regarding the bags, most people suggested stamping the bags - I LOVE this idea!  My husband suggested this too!  As you all said they will be unique and it  gives the right vintage vibe, so I'm going to go with this too! 

Now, do I go with plain brown Kraft paper bags with a dark brown/black ink or a cream bag with a blue grey ink???????  Decisions, decisions!!!

Sharon
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More Shop News

Hello everyone!  

First of all I would like to thank everyone for all your wonderful comments and emails about my new shop.  It is SO nice to have such great support and good wishes starting my new venture.   So a BIG thank you and I want you all to know how much your kind support is truly appreciated. 

I have been crazy busy since my last post, but I'm loving it!  It is so exciting seeing everything come together.   I'm expecting deliveries of stock  the end of this week with more coming next week.  The shop has been painted but I still have to decide on the trim colour for the outside - the perfect shade of grey-ey, blue-ey, green-ey is eluding me thus far!  Some of the Farrow & Ball colours looked so perfect on the colour chart inside but the minute they went up outside they turned completely different hues!

On the positive side, my new phone line has been connected and Broadband set up in the shop - yay!!   I also engaged a lovely woman who is designing the new website and has finalised the logo.   The graphic designer is working on signage and stationary, so it's getting there.  My visa machine is on the way, insurance bought, small warehouse found - as you can see, I have been very busy!

Actually, finalising the logo was quite tricky.  I must have looked at hundreds of images and fonts over the last two weeks before deciding on the final layout.  I LOVE it, can't wait to show you everything, but want to wait until things are a bit more 'finished'.

I've also been looking at paper carrier bags for the shop.  The plain ones are a bit blah, the ones you can get custom made with your own design are very expensive!  What's a girl to do??  Any ideas for bags??  If you do, please let me know!

Also, need opinions on the outside trim colour.  As you know the shop will have a French, faded, vintage/Brocante kind of vibe so which of the following colours do you think work best???

A:   Blue Grey

B:  Green Blue

 C:  Dark Grey

 D:  Light Taupe Grey/Dark Taupe Grey

 or 

 E:  None of the above!!

 Can't wait to hear what you think!  

Thank you,

Sharon

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