The name Annie Sloan is a new and exciting one on the region’s design scene. The UK-based interiors expert has launched her range of Chalk Paints – not to mention brushes, waxes, stencils and other decorating treasures – in the region this year, with three stockists in Dubai (The Majlis Gallery, Falaknaz – The Warehouse and Artistique Novelties) so far.
But the story of these versatile paints – which can be used to create a range of techniques and have gained huge favour with homeowners looking to add a personal touch to their properties – goes back to 1990, when the brand was just starting out in Oxford, England.
Having graduated with a degree in fine arts in the mid-70s, Sloan decided to use her skills within the interiors industry, taking on jobs such as creating wall murals in people's homes. By 1987, she had consolidated her knowledge into a book, The Complete Book of Decorative Paint Techniques, which enjoyed huge success and is still considered one of the go-to texts on the subject.
While the book gave her readers the techniques they wanted, Sloan was frustrated by the lack of decent paints available to them on the market.
“I had been making all sorts of paints from eggs, glue, milk,” she says. “You have to think about a farmer in the middle of Spain or Italy – what would they do? They couldn’t go and buy some from a DIY store; they would find what they could and make something. I found that really fascinating.”
Sloan’s artistic approach to mixing colour was also very different from the standard manufacturing techniques.
“When I was a student, you didn’t buy 50 colours. You bought what you could afford and you mixed what you needed,” she explains. “Commercial paints are normally mixed in a non-artistic way – if a manufacturer wants to make a red into a darker red, they’ll just add black. Artists just don’t do it like that.”
She began to look into the possibility of creating her own paint range, and in 1990, Chalk Paints was born.
“I can’t quite believe that it’s been 25 years,” Sloan says. “It’s amazing. It’s gone through so much. I’ve learnt so much and done so much with it.
“There’s been years of working with it, going through lots of different styles and just learning about it and learning how to do it; not just how to use the paint but how to promote it. And waiting for this ‘make do and mend’ craze. Now everybody’s doing it.”
It hasn’t always been an easy journey. Styles and tastes change on a regular basis in the home interiors game. At one point, Sloan’s factory even went bust. But the brand has always held on, and today her products are stocked in 1,300 independent stores around the world, including the new Dubai additions.
It has been a growing interest in decorative DIY and the upcycling trend, in particular, that has given Chalk Paints a real boost over the past five years.
"Around 2010, things started to get really good," says Sloan. "We got a distributor in Ireland, we got a distributor in America, our distributor in the Netherlands got very busy. And then we got some great publicity on one of Kirstie Allsopp's programmes here in the UK, and then in Country Living magazine and The Daily Mail. One was in November, the next in December and then in January, and it all just suddenly blew up. It was amazing."
Now Sloan is keen to show people how much more there is to her paints than the ability to do a bit of "shabby chic" distressing. As a result – and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Chalk Paints – she has just brought out a practical new book, Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint Workbook, in which design enthusiasts around the world can record their ideas and inspiration.
“It’s both interactive and instructive,” she says. “I’ve tried to make it very practical. I have sketchbooks that I put ideas in, and that’s what the workbook is meant to be – it’s something you walk around with.”
Paint, sketch, stick, collect, reflect – this practical workbook is designed to let users do it all. They can be inspired by Sloan’s personal decorative hints and tips, which are divided into six themed chapters that cover styles from “French elegance” to “warehouse”, then fill the dedicated blank pages with notes and ideas so they can use what they’ve learnt to transform their own homes. There are even pockets so they can collect fabric samples, paint charts and magazine clippings to help create their dream look.
Sloan says: “I hope that this workbook will be useful for home decorators in developing their own colourful thoughts and design inspirations, and that it will become a treasured record of their own creativity.”
One of the goals of the book is to get people experimenting with mixing their own colours from Sloan’s relatively narrow range of paints, as well as getting to grips with sketching.
“I’ve included some simple drawings so people can see that simple is fine,” she says. “People think they can’t draw, but they can.”
This sums up the ethos behind the Annie Sloan brand and its founder herself – inspiring people to get creative in their homes is the heart that drives the business and what has made it so successful.
“It’s not just about the upcycling thing; it’s not just about saving money,” Sloan insists. “One of the nicest things is people writing to me and saying how happy they are that they have found my paint and have been able to be creative. It’s about people enjoying themselves.”
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scores:
England: 290 & 346
Sri Lanka: 336 & 243
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Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Company%C2%A0profile
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 4 (Gundogan 8' (P), Bernardo Silva 19', Jesus 72', 75')
Fulham 0
Red cards: Tim Ream (Fulham)
Man of the Match: Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)
My Country: A Syrian Memoir
Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMax%20Inferno%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PC%2C%20Mac%2C%20Nintendo%20Switch%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
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MATCH INFO
Hoffenheim v Liverpool
Uefa Champions League play-off, first leg
Location: Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Kick-off: Tuesday, 10.45pm (UAE)
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Sanchez's club career
2005-2006: Cobreloa
2006-2011 Udinese
2006-2007 Colo-Colo (on loan)
2007-2008 River Plate (on loan)
2011-2014 Barcelona
2014–Present Arsenal
HAJJAN
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The five pillars of Islam
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
