Meet The Team

Meet the Team

At ShabbyAnd… our team are always on hand to help you with all things chalk paint related. At little over a year old, our small team have settled in well, and have become familiar with our customers.

Our Shabby Queen is Ann Beament, who began painting shabby chic furniture and selling it to friends and family. As the demand grew, Ann knew she needed a shop, and ShabbyAnd… opened in September 2013 in Barfield Road, West Mersea, Essex. Central to Ann’s life is her family, her partner David often helps out with the furniture, and recently installed all new shelving and display into the shop. You will often see her children around the shop, either helping out or waiting for Ann to finish!

Ann's sister-in-law Louise has been there from the start, you will see her in the shop busy painting furniture. Her love of paint is equal to her love of horses,  she is a keen rider and horse enthusiast. Louise is also a real family lady, enjoying her free time with her 4 children when she is not at ShabbyAnd...

The latest addition to our team is Sara, who loves the world of shabby chic just as much as Ann and Louise. Sara is athletic, she is a skilled runner who’s determination has helped her with all her skills. She has recently become a grandmother for the first time, so expect to see some baby themed products in ShabbyAnd…!

Why not come visit us? We stock a wide range of unusual gifts, Autentico chalk paint, soft furnishings and retro and vintage furniture. There will always be one of us in the shop, 7 days a week!

Autentico Chalk Paint Workshops

At ShabbyAnd... We host Autentico Chalk Paint Workshops all year, on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays.

They are usually 3 hours long, and you cover using layering techniques with various colour patterns, create special effects using Distressing & Autentico waxes, using crackle glaze and the craquelure system in the basic workshop, then you cover Crackle Glaze effects, Craquelure system, 3D Effect using stencils and the Terrapieno embossing paste and Art Medium in the advanced workshop. Basic workshops are £50, reduced from £65 for the Autumn Promotion. Advanced Workshops are £85, refreshments are included.

You can bring along your own piece of furniture! So bring your stool or small table, and we will teach you how you shabby your furniture.

You can call us after the workshop!

All the dates are kept up to date in store, on-line and on our Facebook.

365 days in a life of ShabbyAnd…

365 days in a life of ShabbyAnd… - first year in a life of our local Shabby Chic Furniture, home accessories and Chalk Paint Supplier 

“ShabbyAnd… was started from a hall table. “The table I wanted was very expensive and made of reformed wood. Then my partners’ mum Janet gave me a table that was a perfect size and character but was very dark wood, she said I could paint it”. Inspired by the experience, my first ethos was to create shabby chic furniture that was affordable to everyone.” – says Ann Beament, owner of ShabbyAnd… 

It takes a lot of hard work to get off to a good start with a new business and preparations had been going on for the better part of six months. What started in March 2013 as an online shop, soon – due to demand – received a real-life presence at Barfield Road in West Mersea, with a grand opening in September last year.  

With a selection of gift items, often made by local artists and a growing number of commissions, it blossomed quite early  and soon had the addition of being an Autentico chalk paint supplier – Shabby And… is not your average chalk paint retailer. Clients come here for advice, inspiration and a healthy dose of chic and vintage charm. But you can read all about it on their website, so how about sharing some information you cannot find online? Here are a few sneaky peeks into the life of ShabbyAnd… 1 year on: 

• More than 1700 transactions 
• Over 80 commissions, including 4 kitchens  
• Became a Star Dealer (there are only 10 out of 250 stockists) for Autentico chalk paint, and on that note, it turns out the most popular colours are white and cream!   
• Run regular paint workshops 

Success? Bearing in mind that, according to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months, we’d say ‘yes’. 

What’s next for them? Ann, sole owner of the business working with two part-time members of staff wants to become the main dealer in Essex for Autentico chalk paint and further develop the paining techniques workshops to incorporate Advance Sessions. In addition, they are starting workshops for the Colchester based Cedar Project in September for people that want to get back into work. 

Today it certainly looks like they are on a road to becoming a landmark. Don’t just take our word for it, visit them yourself. Better yet, you have a chance of getting a hands-on approach and discovering how it’s all done during one of the workshops. Get your hands dirty to make something pretty – they certainly know how!  

Kitchens! Painted with Autentico Chalk Paint

Recently we have had the chance to paint kitchens, and we can use Autentico Chalk Paint to do this! We can use the Velvet paint, which is our professional chalk paint for a superb finish on walls (kitchen walls), kitchen cabinets, table tops and worktops.

We apply a new coat of paint to all the cabinet doors, drawer fronts, shelves and wooden finishes. We can then apply a coat of paint to your kitchen table and chairs, giving them all a matching look with the same paint.

Furthermore, we can coat certain worktops with our paint too, worktops will then need to be sealed.

In the following video, we show you the before and after on one of our kitchens -

If you would like a kitchen quotation, please email us at sales@shabbyand.co.uk for a quote.

Awards and Outdoor Paints

Let's start with Outdoor Paints..

We now stock Autentico Chalk Outdoor Paint in ALL of our colours! Over 140 colours in total - ideal for fences, sheds and even beach huts! Ideal if you live somewhere like Mersea Island or on the coast!

Outdoor Paint is made specifically for the use of outdoors, it will not wash off if it rains, and it will not fade in the sunlight (UV protected) - allowing the wonderful shabby style outside.



Would you like your beach hut in these wonderful bright colours? Check us out today! www.shabbyand.co.uk

Next up..

AWARDS!

Ann, the ShabbyAnd... supremo recently won an award for a short speech on our Garden Drink Stakes - which is amazing!!

What a great award!! These garden stakes are just what garden lover needs for the garden, they allow you to have a bottle and glasses outside, and you get to keep them all in the stakes!

In good old award tradition, Ann would like to thank all her family and friends that supported her through her speech.

Lastly, it is our SUMMER SALE!









Why not come and see what we have on offer for the summer!


If you would like to come and see us in store, come to 35a - 35b Barfield Road, West Mersea, Colchester, Essex CO5 8QX

Refurbished Kitchen using Autentico Velvet Chalk Paint by ShabbyAnd...

ShabbyAnd........The Story Gathers Momentum

ShabbyAnd........The Story Gathers Momentum

Just over a year ago a new business began on Mersea Island that is going from strength to strength at a breathtaking pace.

Partners and self-confessed workaholics Ann Beament and Sara French are local Mersea girls with expansive ambitions. Their business, ShabbyAnd, was conceived originally to up cycle vintage and retro furniture using fresh ideas, exciting colourways and much elbow grease. In the early days, word-of-mouth, local advertising and a strengthening web presence brought in the business but soon the partners realised a retail outlet was required to give their customers the opportunity to see and touch the products of their inspiration and perspiration.

Ideal shop premises became available in Barfield Road, West Mersea, which they quickly acquired and opened in September 2013. Soon other items were selected to sell alongside their unique and striking items of furniture. These comprised gifts including locally designed cards and jewellery, eclectic but very original ornaments and unique handmade soft furnishings too.

ShabbyAnd became proficient users of Autentico Chalk Paints and soon added an authorised distributorship of the wide range of lime based products to their portfolio. The two partners hold workshops in their Barfield Road shop teaching this exciting method of reinventing old furniture favourites, and these have proven to be extremely popular. They have also been asked to run classes teaching their craft as part of the Community Arts Workshops at the Community Enterprise Centre in Colchester. Based in Commerce Park on the Whitehall Industrial Estate, the Centre provides work space for community projects.

The burgeoning reputation of  the partners' talent for colour and design has led to a lot of orders to reinvigorate furniture, including commissions to remodel a number of complete kitchens. This is challenging them to extend further and acquire workshop premises too. Just watch this space for the next instalment of the ShabbyAnd Story.