Chalk Paint™ Colour Combos
Some ideas for combining colours to create a textured finish on wood using Chalk Paint™
We talk about a paint box in the descriptions of colours in our online shop. We are referring to a stable of core colours from which you can work on pretty much any project and which are useful to have in your paint store. Of course the three Primary Colours would need to be there. The closest in Annie’s palette are English Yellow, Emperor’s Silk and Napoleonic Blue. They are the ones that allow you to mix pretty much any colour you want to. However if you prefer a more a la carte route then here is a guide supplementing these strong Primaries for something a little more gentle.
For a muted palette perhaps choose some or more of the following: Old White, Burgundy, Arles, Aubusson Blue, Duck Egg Blue, Chicago Grey, Scandinavian Pink and Chateau Grey (it is great for shading)
For a more vibrant palette: Pure, Antibes Green, Emperor’s Silk, Provence, French Linen, Greek Blue, English Yellow and Emile might be good choices
Want to go wild? Annie wrote a brilliant book, sadly no longer in print, called “Colour Schemes That Really Work” It’s a great source of ideas when it comes to planning a colour scheme. It could be for one piece of furniture or a whole room plan. Either way you can see how they combine and what effect they have on each other. Here is an example for a truly vibrant combo full of love and life. Annie called it Mambo Carnival. Make Rodwell your principal colour and then let the others follow on proportionally diminishing in their application.. Amsterdam Green, Lightened Rodwell or Emile, Emperor’s Silk, Amsterdam Green, Tilton and Barcelona Orange (perhaps with a dash of Burgundy) I f you chase down a copy second hand you will see that this is just one of several schemes to achieve this vibrant look.
Leslie Stoker aka Colourways is a stockist of Annie Sloan Paint in America. She has designed a whole reference guide to combining Annie’s palette in beautiful easy to grasp ways like these examples below. Many of these are on Pinterest if you have a quick search. She lets you know the colours she used to achieve each technique.
Annie Sloan is an endless source of ways to combine her colours gloriously. These are two sketched plans for work you can find on Pinterest they show how Duck Egg Blue and Burgundy can be paired up with the colours orbiting them and a suggestion of the ratio they could be used. Try an exercise like this yourself on sketch paper.
Some pairs that suit each other are Burgundy and Tilton, Duck Egg Blue and Emile, Provence and Aubusson, Louis Blue and Antoinette as we have shown here. By the way - remember you can add Old White to any of these colours to create your very own palette of lighter colours. They mix together beautifully and still maintain their vibrancy. Experiment to make the perfect colour for your project.
English Yellow, Emperor’s Silk, Antibes Green and Barcelona Orange are strong colours that look terrific when Dark Wax is worked into textured layers to create a mellow aged look. If you are unsure of this technique, we cover this on our workshop Introduction to Chalk Paint
Let’s chat Neutrals! Annie defines a neutral as a colour that acts as a base colour allowing others to shine. That is why she includes Graphite and Aubusson in this category. They all support their neighbours not challenging them to be the protagonist in the room.
On this line up we have Aubusson,Country Grey, Graphite, Paris Grey, Versailles, Chicago Grey, French Linen and finally Paloma. You can add your own to this list too. We have not included the whites as they are so obviously neutral - but they are important too.!
Don’t forget, all these swatches are just representations of their true colour. We have included them as a little guide. For a real understanding you should refer to a real colour chart. At a small charge we can post one to you, along with further info about Annie’s paints and products. Annie’s Ready Reckoner is a rough calculator of quantities you need for a job
Keen to get going with your painting projects then pop over to the on line shop to make your order. You can select if you want your order sending or prefer to pick up in store.
We do hope that all this info helps!
x Jane