The Painted Furniture Sourcebook

"Artists and decorators have always built upon other people's motifs and decorative ideas," says Sloan, and her eclectic sourcebook of painted furniture from medieval times to the present proves the point.

It is not Sloan's intention to write a complete history, even were such a huge project even possible; instead, she has made a visually arresting collection "of painted works that I like", arranged by theme--fruits and flowers, figures and animals, and so on--with which to encourage the reader's own decorative efforts. If the book isn't dog-eared and broken-spined, you're not using it properly.

Nervous decorators should turn first to page 20, and consider Sloan's examples of original oriental lacquerwork, a painstaking and time-consuming business at best and one whose duplication tested the best decorative minds of the 17th and 18th centuries. On the same page, however, we find an exquisite painted chair from 1820s Salem, Massachusetts. It is done very simply in imitation of chinoiserie: shiny red paint has been used as the base, and the oriental designs have been achieved using stencils and bronze powder. This really could, with Sloan's help--her close-ups, motif library and advice on finishes--be you. --Simon Ings

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Good front cover - Rated
Just started a furniture painting course in France and needed some books for inspiration this is one of few ive bought and the second by Annie Sloan.
Went for this book as the price wasnt so expensive and the front cover was nice. Its an ok book but doesnt make me go wow . I feel that I have seen all the pictures before. The book is printed in Asia and the quality of the photos and texture of the paper isnt that high , the paper doesnt feels smooth. If you can get past the dull reproduction of the printing then its an ok book