We moved house just over a year ago, and inevitably the way the furniture went in the new house didn't correspond with how we'd had it before. The new house is much more open-plan, so I wanted to tie the colours together across the living, dining and kitchen space, but not by buying lots of new furniture and accessories. So, I heard about Annie Sloan paint which can just be painted straight onto furniture and other items, without the need for sanding/priming, and had an idea. I decided to paint existing items in each of the spaces in Annie Sloan's Emile to create a colour theme tying them together. I (well, my husband if I'm honest!) painted a console table...
I painted some picture frames...
and then I had three old Ikea wooden plant pots similar to these which I also painted and placed mauve/purple heather plants in for the dining table.
The mauve theme then continues with other bits and pieces including the Laura Ashley blind in the kitchen.
The paint cost £18.95 for 1litre and was plenty for all I did and much more. You can then use wax on any painted furniture to give extra texture to the surface, but this won't be a significant additional cost at £4.95 for a small tin. So to theme in the majority of the downstairs cost us under £25 (plus the cost of two heather plants!!).