Due to sharing a walk/talk with good friend S, I learned she too is really into chalk paint! But I had no idea she had taken a class to learn how to at Peinture at SoCo. –

“Never heard of it.” I said.

“Say whaaaaaaat?” she countered.

Well, it seems this place was completely off my usual 5 mile radius and it is 15.5 miles away by freeways I am actually somewhat familiar with.

It amazes me how I can happily drive all the way up to Berkeley with a smile on my face and refuse to go outside my own town to shop (except at Christmas when I splurge and go to South Coast Plaza) so I was stunned to learn there was a whole center waiting for me exactly at the same time I needed to window shop for furniture and two minutes away from an appointment the next day. Needless to say, I made sure there was time to visit the Art Shop full of English designer Annie Sloan’s signature chalk paints.

Meanwhile, I have been experimenting making my own paint with recipes from online and I have been pleased with the results and it IS considerably cheaper. But I just had to try the famous Sloan paints and bought a few small pots of neutrals.

The space is inspirational. I can’t wait for my all day advanced class in January!!!