Photographs Francois Oberholster l Styling Marian van Wyk
In 2019, I attended an Annie Sloan workshop in France with a group of readers.Shortly after I returned, my husband Allister and I moved into a new home and Idecided to pretty up the sliding-door entrance to our braai room with a mosaic-lookpaint technique. The built-in braai also needed attention - and paint was the solution.
You will need (in addition to patience!)
SHOPPING LIST
• masking tape
• chalk paint in 5 shades
• Duram Showfloor paint in Clear
TOOLS
• paintbrush
• ruler
• craft knife
PROJECT NOTES
• Use masking tape that suits the dimensions of your design;I used 24mm masking tape.
• Decide in advance what colours you'd like to paint; I usedAnnie Sloan paint in the colours Napoleonic Blue, Greek Blueand Scandinavian Pink, and Tjhoko Paint in the coloursMatt Black, Goodness (green) and Silvermoon (light grey).
Before
How to create the mosaic pattern
1. Start with the ‘grout' lines. Stick strips of masking tape next toeach other, leaving a 2mm gap in-between, along the length of thearea where you want to paint the mosaic pattern. Paint over thesegaps with black paint (Tjhoko Paint Matt Black). Remove themasking tape, wait until the paint has dried and then stick maskingtape in the opposite direction over the first strip, again 2mm apart,to complete the checkered pattern. Although it is time-consuming,make sure each square resembles a small tile.
2. Using a ruler and craft knife, cut out strips and triangles in themasking tape at random; ready to be ‘coloured-in'. Keep in mindwhere you'd like each colour to be in the final look and use extramasking tape as needed to cover the ‘grout' lines in-between.Paint the first colour in the prepared squares.
3. Cut open those sections where you'd like the next colourand carefully paint between the lines again.
4. Repeat the process until all the squares of the entire strip havebeen painted in your desired colours. It may be necessary later inthe painting process to apply fresh masking tape over the squaresyou've already painted to protect them, but that's part of the fun.
To finish
The braai room was originally a stoep with a brick floor. It wascement-screeded and then sealed - once the mosaic designhad been applied - with two coats of Duram Showfloor Clear.The brick wall was painted with two coats of black Duram WeatherRoof; this disguised the different textures of the wall and made thebuilt-in braai ‘melt away', instead of it looking like a black hole.The ceiling was painted white, making it seem higher.
It was a labour of love that took longer than I care to admit but I'm thrilled with the end result. - Johan
