[CHALK] it up to [PAINT]

I have never used furniture chalk paint before. The expense to purchase a can is beyond ridiculous and I’m not insane enough to purchase any (so sorry if you are).

I have a few gallons of interior “oops” paint that I picked up really cheap from various hardware stores in rad colors like turquoise and sea foam green. When I purchased them I didn’t have any ideas for them but they were super cool colors that I figured I’d someday find use for. I used the green shade in my kids bathroom and it looks great! 

Here, you have to see it…

Moving on…

Turquoise has been hanging out on the shelf for months. When I scored a $20 desk at Goodwill, the first thing I thought of was that turquoise gallon at home on the shelf. The desk was either going to look super cool when I was finished slapping turquoise all over it, or, it’d look like shit. But, what the hell, the paint was $9 and the desk was $20. If it all went south, I wasn’t out much.

I searched Pinterest for a recipe for diy chalk paint. This is the recipe I settled on (and also the recipe I will be using for future projects). It worked beautifully.

I started by lightly sanding the desk. I know most chalk paint doesn’t usually require you to sand your project first but I wanted to be sure all of the gunk was removed before applying paint. That, and I didn’t want to do this project a second time because the first job didn’t hold up.

I removed the dust with a dry cloth then went over the desk with a damp cloth and let it dry, then I started to apply the paint. I used a brush, the Wooster Shortcut that I use on all of my paint projects. It is truly the best on the market (non compensated opinion).

I brushed on a thin first coat and let it dry. It dries very quickly. I then went back through and spot painted, only covering the places I wanted to stay completely painted, and left the spots with wood showing through so I could sand the paint off and create a distressed effect.

After I had the application I wanted, I took very fine sand paper and went over the entire desk (by hand). Very lightly on the turquoise color just to remove some of the grit on the surface from the baking soda in the paint mixture and harder on the parts I want to distress.

I did not do a top coat. I reinstalled all of the hardware, and reassembled the desk and called her done. It was a bit difficult to sand the paint down to the wood so I am pretty sure this will be durable as is. 

I have heard of Vaseline being applied to your project before painting on the spots you want to distress, but I haven’t quite wrapped my head around that technique. I hate the feel of Vaseline and I don’t want it hanging out on my furniture. Does it clean off of the project completely? If so, how? If you have used Vaseline to distress, I would love to hear from you. I would also love to hear what method you use to distress projects easily without the use of (nasty) Vaseline.

I refinished an ugly dining chair I already had to match to use with this desk. I used a canvas tote to cover a chair cushion and attached it to hide the few little holes in the black fabric of the chairs seat (I didn’t want to go through a reupholstering project too). I like the dimension the black and the decorated cushion add to the overall look. 

*Tutorial to cover a cushion or pillow with a canvas tote here: Canvas Tote Covered Pillow

Without further ado, here is the finished project:

I love this so much, I am shopping my house for other items to paint turquoise! Remember the sofa table mentioned in the Halloween Home Tour??? 

Yes?

Stay tuned, folks… 

😉