April 29, 2012--Outdoor Painting with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (tm)

As I sit down to write this, the birds are chirping, the temperature is perfect, with a nice breeze rustling the leaves.  I wish I could heave this desk top computer to the sidewalk and write while sitting on the bench in front of the shop.  Yes, I know, there are those little contraptions called “laptops” or “notebooks;” I even have one, but it has been giving me a little grief and has portability issues now.  Not to mention that it’s missing about 3 or 4 keys on the keyboard—a reminder of an overzealous swordsman who once roamed our house and a panicked old dog, trying to find purchase as he climbed into the back seat of the family roadster during our last vacation.  My laptop has seen a lot of stuff—but it’s traveling days are over.

Back to the beautiful weather—nice change of pace . . . Paige is actually enjoying the weather.  My back porch beckons regularly now.  The gardens are filling-in so nicely and looking especially nice with a layer of mulch.  (Isn’t it amazing what mulch can do for a yard?)  I am resisting the urge to add more plants and continue to work diligently to provide the plants we added to the side yard with a good start in life.  Although, I did pick-up a few Pineapple Sage to replace the ones we had last year.  They have the most amazing blooms and I place them on the edge of our shade garden, where they receive enough sun to produce their amazing fuchsia blooms.  They look quite stunning against the backdrop of the shade loving plants.

We’re planning to paint our new Adirondack chairs, which I purchased as a Christmas gift for Darren, this weekend.  Last December, I was struggling to think of a good gift for Darren—after all, what more could he want?  Then I remembered the 24 years-old Adirondack chairs Darren had made for us.  One was in pieces in our backyard, with the other closely on its heels.  

The old chairs in their former glory--yes, that is a piece lying underneath the one on the right!  And, since writing this article, Darren has repaired both. 

My mind started churning and with some help from Matt Dixon, I was able to track down the gentleman who sells them at the Downtown Market. He and his wife were kind enough to dig them out of their garage for me.  They are very sturdy and comfy, but I want to paint them (surprise).

Darren was industrious and slapped a coat of oil based primer on the chairs before I was able to tell him my plans.  (You can also see the recently repaired chairs in the background--Darren plans to use them for another 24 years--minimum!)

I've been telling everyone that the Annie Sloan Chalk PaintTM can be used on outdoor items, having seen pictures and listened to testimonials, but I want a first-hand experience I can reference.

I was going to let Darren do the painting, but I’ve decided I will do it.  That way I can achieve a vintage look for our brand new chairs.  Darren could do it, but I realized—after trying to explain to him how I wanted them to look—that I should do.  He’s got a lot of stuff to do around the house (his self-imposed “honey do” list) and this is really my “thing,” so I’ll tackle it.  I’m going to paint a layer of Provence (a bright blue—somewhere between azure and cyan on the color wheel), topped with a layer of French Linen (just like it sounds—it is the color of unbleached linen).  

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (tm) in Provence and French Linen

The real beauty of this project is that I’ll paint them in the morning and we will be sitting in them in the afternoon.  Darren has plans to grill some oysters and, I don’t know why, but I think they’ll taste better while sitting in these chairs!

When I transfer this post to my blog, I’ll add some “after” pictures, so please visit for “the rest of the story.”

(As it turns out, my editor asked me to do a follow-up story, so I'll post the "after" pictures with the next article!)