7 Ideas For A Frenchic Painting Project

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Last week I had a go at my 7^th Frenchic painting project. This time last year I hadn’t used the paint at all but once I picked it up for the first time*, I was very quickly hooked. I’ve shared most of my painting ideas on Instagram over the past year but suddenly thought I could have a helpful recap here on the blog so you can see just how brilliant this paint is.

For full transparency purposes, I bought my first tin of Frenchic and have been subsequently gifted pots for further projects. I am under no obligation to write this post however, but just wanted to share the love in case it inspires any of you to have a go at a Frenchic painting project of your own.

For all the projects below, I’ve used three colours all from the Al Fresco range*: Swanky Pants (grey), Dusky Blush (pink), or Dazzle Me (white).

The uPVC Kitchen Door (internal)

The very first Frenchic painting project I attempted was a bit of a gamble. Fresh off the back of our kitchen makeover, I knew that leaving the back door as it was wouldn’t cut it. The rest of the kitchen looked so smart but the back door leading into the garden felt so shabby. I’d come across a few people online who had success using the Al Fresco* range to successfully paint uPVC doors and decided to have a go, using the colour ‘Swanky Pants’ which is the closest match to the Ammonite I’d painted the kitchen walls.

I couldn’t believe it really was that easy – no prep required other than to just clean the door with sugar soap to get rid of any stubborn grime and then on with the first coat. The paint has a very chalky matt finish when used over uPVC but dries super fast so you could easily do two coats on the same day. If you get any on the rubber seal around the door, you can just clean it off with a warm, damp sponge. One year on and the paint looks good as new and the door has been transformed.

The uPVC Kitchen Door (external)

Last year I started work on our back garden and patio area, unintentionally but you know how these things go. Once you start one part, it shows everything else up. Since I’d had such success with the inside of the kitchen door, I decided to paint the outside using colour ‘Dusky Blush’ which is the perfect mid-smoky pink.

Again it was super easy to do but you do need to wait for warmer weather. I used two coats and at the time thought I’d get round to a third but haven’t got there just yet. Coverage is really excellent and aside from needing a wipe down because we’ve had autumn and winter in the meantime it doesn’t need any touch ups.

The Wall

For my third Frenchic painting project I collaborated with them on another garden update. By this point I’d started painting all 200ft of our garden fences a dark grey and once we had the patio and retaining wall jet-washed, the cream colour that emerged clashed horribly with the grey fencing. So I decided to paint the retaining wall white and honestly, I absolutely love it.

For this, I used colour ‘Dazzle Me’ and watered down each tin that I used. It paints on so easily and again coverage is fantastic. Now we’ve been through winter and a very wet one at that, I’ll have to do some repair work where a bit of moss has grown back but it will only take me a couple of hours to resolve. Even if I had to repaint the wall each year, it’s still worth it for how smart it looks once its been done.

The Fireplace

When I decided to do a dining room makeover towards the end of last year, one of the main reasons was to give the very dated fireplace a fresh, modern look. We’re very lucky to have two fireplaces because I think they’re such a gorgeous feature but a discoloured marble surround did nothing to enhance the look.

I decided to stencil the marble with a terrazzo pattern, but the outer surround which is so intricately detailed I knew would need painting. I really didn’t fancy the idea of sanding any of it because of all the patterns and knew that I’d be able to just paint on with the Al Fresco, using Swanky Pants* to pick out the grey in the wallpaper. I couldn’t be happier with the finished result, it’s gone from being a fireplace that looked old-fashioned and neglected to a true feature.

The Shelf

Again, as part of the dining room makeover we wanted to create an area that Boo could use for his food without being disturbed by Maddie. Previously he’d always eaten on the dining room table but since we wanted to reclaim that for us, we decided to use two shelves from the book case that we used to have in the dining room and create a two-tier feeding system for him.

I decided for this Frenchic painting project to paint the top shelf in Swanky Pants again*, to pick out the grey from the fireplace but also as a contrast to the soft pink I’d used to paint the walls above the dado rail. I did prime the shelf so the paint would be able to adhere more easily and then used two coats of paint. It’s easy just to wipe down and Boo is super happy.

The Plant Pot

I’ve been amassing quite a house plant collection over the past 18 months and some of them are doing so well I’ve had to pot them up to bigger sizes. The problem is I can’t justify buying more and more ceramic pots to house everything so decided to get a cheap one from Wilkinson’s in the size that I needed and then paint a pattern on.

Last year I saw my friend Michaela who blogs at House of Chester had created some stylish outdoor pots using a bit of tape and paint so decided to have a go for my indoor one, using Dusky Blush*. I marked off the sections to paint with masking tape and created something a bit more exciting than just a standard pot for no more than £1.

The Lampshade

My final Frenchic painting project (so far anyway!) has been to upcycle a lampshade*. We’ve got a basic standard lamp that I think we bought from IKEA maybe around 10 years ago and has moved with us from place to place. I love the light it creates but the shade no longer went with the dining room patterns and colours since the makeover.

I’ve seen so many people online tackle all sorts of different projects using Frenchic including leather chairs! So I decided to paint the lampshade, thinking that in the worst case I hadn’t lost anything if it didn’t work but it did and looks so much better. I’d recommend two coats with a small roller for even coverage.

I hope this post has been helpful and shown how you don’t need to always find painting projects daunting. If you have any questions about using Frenchic paint just email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to help.

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