Those of you following us on Instagram have probably seen our Summer holiday to Greece + Italy. We are traveling to Portugal (next week) before finally heading home to Montclair. We are capturing as much as we can through the lens of our iPhoneX while soaking it all up in person…to provide inspiration for our paint projects, design projects, and our renewed lifestyle.
The Amalfi Coast is everything everyone says it is: lush and magical! One of my personal favorite sights on these trips is the painted doors abroad. Sharing a few we’ve seen so far:
The one on the top, right captured my heart and I thought what a perfect finish for a front door! Weathered and beautiful, layered and dimensional, and far from boring. Here’s how to achieve this at home:
FOR A FRONT DOOR (paint on a sunny day!):
Wipe the door clean and start painting! Use a Medium Natural Bristle Brush (load your paint on the tips of the brush, and brush the paint on with the grain) and apply 1 coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite (a charcoal black.) Allow the paint to dry fully 24 hours. This will give it cure time to bond to the substrate. Rinse your brush with warm water and lie flat to dry so you can use it on the next coat!
Apply 2 coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Giverny (a beautiful Monet-inspired blue.) Allow 1 hour dry time between coats then another full 24 hours to cure. While cure-time is not usually necessary, I am providing this instruction to give you the best possible outcome for your project. If you want to power through, go for it! Rinse your brush with warm water and lie flat to dry so you can use it on the next coat!
Apply 1 coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Napoleonic Blue (a gorgeous deep cobalt.) Rinse your brush with warm water and lie flat to dry so you can use it on your next project! Allow 1 hour dry time and then start sanding off the finish. I use Annie Sloan Sanding Sponges and begin with the Medium Grit then go to Fine Grit to “finesse” the finish. The trick to distressing with sandpaper is to first sand off the high points (where the paint would have worn away naturally) and then move gradually to the other surfaces. Since you layered three colors on top of each other, the point of the distressing is to remove the darker Napoleonic Blue top coat to show the bright Giverny middle layer and in some places sand down to the Graphite as well. Once you’re happy with the level of weathering, lightly wipe off the sanding dust and you’re all done!
Optional: Annie Sloan paint does not require sealing on outdoor surfaces however if you want more of a “finish” and not so much of a matte look, you can give the door two quick coats of Annie Sloan Lacquer which is UV proof and exterior grade. For this we use a Synthetic Brush for best results. **if this finish is being used on furniture (rather than a door) you can also choose to seal it with clear wax OR be a rebel and skip the first coat of Graphite and seal the piece in Black Wax to create a similar look. Have fun and play! CIAO!
#anniesloan #chalkpaint #easypaintprojects #europetour #howtopainwithchalkpaint #painteddoor #tutorial
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