Thursday, December 4, 2014

My Chalk Paint Experience


After this sneak peek on Instagram last week, I thought it was time to show the entire desk. It was my first time using chalkpaint and I'm just going to be honest from the get-go, I'm not crazy about the look of chalkpaint. Now, distressed, crackly, beat-up looking pieces? Absolutely. But there's just something about the chalky look of chalk paint that I'm not crazy about. That being said, I had a piece of furniture that was starting to look not so great and needed to be refinished. At some point I want to sand it all down and stain it a dark espresso color, but since I lack a certain motivation to do that kind of work, chalk paint was the easy way out.

You may remember that I set up a dressing room in our house just after we moved in. It looked like this...


If you're a before and after fan, scroll no longer. Here is the desk after it's chalk paint treatment.


Now, I could have been a really good blogger and photographed all the steps, but that wouldn't be typical Courtney fashion. Also, this is so incredibly easy that you really don't need images.

So, what did I use? Cece Caldwell's paints were being sold at a local furniture refinish shop in town so I stopped in and picked up a container of Nantucket Spray, a really tinted version of seafoam green. (side note: did you know that when a color is lightened, it's referred to as tinted? and when a color is made darker, it is considered shaded? truth.) I also picked up this tiny jar of wax and a jar of aging dust.


After emptying my desk of all her makeup goodies, I wiped the entire thing down with a Clorox wipe. I poured my paint out into a tray because I heard that chalk paint cures quickly, so I didn't want to leave the lid off for too long. I painted one coat, let it set for a few hours then gave her another coat.

The next day I grabbed an old paint brush (you really don't have to buy the $30 round brush the store tries to sell you) and started applying the wax to the entire piece. Work in small sections if you have a large piece of furniture. I worked for about ten minutes, brushing on a thin coat of wax before I went in with an old fluffy makeup brush and the aging dust. The best way I found was to dip my brush into the jar, tap it on the side to remove immediate excess, then press it into the still tacky wax.You will have fall out, so make sure you put down a drop cloth. And that's it. Apply the dust wherever suits you, then move on to the next section. Brushing on wax, pressing on aging dust.


You need to let the wax sit for a week. I know that seems crazy, but you really want it to harden and cure. If you want to apply a second coat of wax, you can probably do that the next day then wait a week, but one coat was fine for me. After a week of waiting (and doing my makeup from my dressing room floor), I took an old rag and brushed away any excess aging dust. Then I buffed down the entire desk.

I added my new hardware and filled her back up with makeup. That's it!





To purchase any of these products click here.