Annie Sloan has mesmerized multitudes of American women. She has convinced us that every single piece of wood furniture in our homes must immediately be covered with paint. Not just any paint — shabby, scruffy, worn and buffed Annie Sloan Chalk Paints.

Annie Sloan is a British decorator who hit her stride with her own brand of paints that produce a weathered, old and worn finish.

I recently read that Annie Sloan has three grown sons, so perhaps that’s the reason she decided to go with the aged furniture look. It’s a case of the standard, “if you can’t beat them, (literally) join them.”

Kathryn Grotefend, one of the owners of Cottage Attitudes in Robertsdale, says Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is “magic in a can.”

And she should know. As the only local supplier for Annie Sloan, Cottage Attitudes has sold thousands of cans of the magical liquid.

“The only limit is your imagination,” Kathryn said. “I’ve even seen people paint appliances with it!”

With our new fervor for “shabby,” we've managed to take the family heirlooms and make them look like something our grandmothers would have thrown to the curb. But for some reason, we love it!

Most Southerners can trace their family roots back to good ole' country folk whose practical sides were influenced by their simple upbringings. My grandparents' home had beautiful old pine floors, which they covered with wall-to-wall carpeting.

"Why don't you let your beautiful floors show?" I once asked.

"Those old pine boards? Why they’re just plain old wood," was their sensible answer.

Wall-to-wall carpeting was something they didn’t have when they were young during the Great Depression, so they furnished their new home with modern elements, a sign of achievement.

My mother once burst into tears when she happened upon her father-in-law burning an old trunk. He thought it was just an old piece of junk, but she saw the beauty in the aged patina. He felt so sorry for her grief that he went out to the barn and found another old trunk for her, which made Mom happy and made Granddaddy scratch his head.

Somehow, old and beat up now looks fresh and new to us. It's casual. Fun. Lighthearted.

The Annie Sloan treatment of furniture has an air of "I don't really care how this place looks, I have much more important things to think about than silly old furniture!"

Debbie Holobaugh of Flower Child Designs in Fairhope can’t paint furniture fast enough. She has customers lining up for her to apply “old” to their pristine treasured heirlooms.

“This style really is popular all because of Annie Sloan,” said Debbie. “The way she paints is an aged and distressed look – similar to old European home style. The key is, you want it to look natural, like it’s developed and truly evolved over the years.”

Could it also be that we are longing for simpler times? Times when dinners included everyone in the family and hot cornbread on the table, and dessert wasn't picked up at Publix, but instead made by a sweet Granny with a homemade apron around her waist?

In the early 1960s, my grandmother in Hartselle painted her china cabinet a queasy shade of Avocado Green. When it came into my possession in the early 90s, nothing would do except for me to strip the hideous paint. Days and days were spent in the sweltering Gulf Coast heat, wearing big gloves and nearly swooning from the chemicals.

If I didn't love her so much, Grandmother would have been cursed, right there under that Magnolia tree in my backyard. Ice cold lemonade and good breeding kept me from breaking an all-out sweat.

The stripped cabinet now proudly sits in its glorious walnut beauty in a corner of my family room. I use Lemony Pledge on it every now and then to bring out the natural wood luster.

And honey, don't you know — now I'm itching to paint it teal! Kind of a beat-up, beachy teal would look fabulous.

But if I'm brave enough to paint the cabinet, I have a feeling that someday, my yet-to-be-born-but-promised-to-me-by-God-because-I-raised-two-mean-boys-granddaughter will spend days and days stripping the bright paint off.

But I'll deter any feelings of animosity by leaving a note inside that tells her…

"Annie Sloan made me do it."

Leslie Anne Harrison is a contributor to the Southern Coterie web site and blog, Fairhope Supply Co., www.fairhopesupply.com.

Debbie Holobaugh at Flower Child Designs, can be reached at 251-605-5793.

Cottage Attitudes in Robertsdale can be reached at 251-947-2585.