Tranquil tones for a dreamy French-inspired kitchen
This French-inspired kitchen proves there’s no décor tool that transforms a space as
quickly and effectively as paint.
For Alet Genis, ripping out and replacing her perfectly sound but tired kitchen seemed an expensive and unnecessary inconvenience. “The layout of my kitchen worked so well and the solid wood cabinets were still in excellent condition,” she explains. “All I really wanted was to give the space a facelift.”
Alet, who lives in Pretoria, considered various ways in which she could update her existing kitchen, but it was only when she attended an Annie Sloan paint technique course that inspiration really struck. “I realised that by simply painting the cupboards I could completely transform the style of my entire kitchen,” she recalls.
Little did Alet know that the vision for her new kitchen and the person who would help her realise it were ‘waiting’ in the pages of the March 2014 issue of Home magazine.
“One of the homes featured had been utterly transformed by paint technique specialist Shandor Daolio,” explains Alet. “I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate the same rustic yet elegant feel in my own kitchen.”
The project
The two met and Shandor discussed the various possibilities before taking Alet to a renovation site where she showed her the effects of various techniques.
They decided on a combination of three: Technique 1 The kitchen walls were given a colour rub. This involved applying random ‘patches’ of a thin glaze coat (a mix of oil paint and scumble glaze) over a water-based acrylic PVA. Shandor applied Annie Sloan Grecian White in a silk finish with a brush, then blended it onto the wall using a soft cloth in random irregular motions. “Circles create a circular effect and an up and down motion results in lines,” explains Shandor. “It’s a tricky process because you need to work quickly so that the glaze coat doesn’t dry before it has been rubbed in properly.” Technique 2 A standalone wall was highlighted with a marble effect to break up the other walls and add another layer of interest. Shandor applied a minimum of three tones of oil paint and scumble glaze onto the lighter PVA base coat quite thickly, then scrunched up some newspaper, unfolded it and placed it on the surface to soak up any excess paint. Using a brush, she softened the hard lines that resulted from the creases. Finally, she painted in the marble lines and cracks with a thin paintbrush. Technique 3 The cupboard doors were distressed by dragging enamel paint over a coat of primer, revealing parts of both the primer and the wood beneath. Then, in order to enhance the overall ‘aged’ feeling and create a sense of depth, an antique effect was applied to the fascia and panel borders using a scraper and a darker glaze.