Dining with Queen Anne (Before & After)

My client, Colleen, called me looking for a little Annie Sloan Chalk Paint help.  She had some beautiful Queen Anne dining chairs, but she felt they were a little too dark for her taste now.  She wanted to add some grey to her dining room while keeping her current dark cherry dining table.

Queen Anne Chair (Before)

Colleen decided to paint the wainscoting in her beautiful dining room Bunny Gray by Benjamin Moore and it is stunning:

Bunny Gray Walls

The molding really pops and makes such a statement, especially against the black and white wall paper.  She really loved the deep red and gold fabric on her chairs and I thought it would go pefectly with a new paint job.  The color in this photo makes it look lighter and more magenta but it is a rich red:

Seat Fabric

We selected Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey for the chairs.  Paris Grey is a wonderful color because it is neutral but classy.  Here’s how they were looking when I was working on them in my kitchen:

Chairs in progress

Doesn’t the grey show off the lovely curves and details of the chairs?  I had all eight dining chairs in my studio (kitchen) and worked on small areas at a time.  After thoroughly washing down the furniture and coating in clear shellac I applied two coats of Paris Grey.  I did two coats of ASCP clear wax to seal the chairs and then applied dark wax mixed with clear wax and mineral spirits.  I worked slowly in sections wiping away as I went:

Dark Wax

The dark wax changed the color of the grey and gave the chairs a bit of an aged patina.  The dark wax works so well with the dark wood dining table and the hutch.

I dropped off Colleen’s chairs on Saturday and she loved them!  She said, “Walking down the stairs today, I was SO HAPPY seeing my chairs!”  It is so magical for me to work on pieces for clients and have their vision transformed into reality.  I guess you guys probably want to see how they came out, huh?  Well, here’s how Queen Anne’s looking now:

Queen Anne Chair (After)