Chalk Paint

Yesterday's post was about my search for Chalk Paint / Milk Paint, because I really wanted to used that type of paint on some of my furniture. 

It was a lengthy, but hopefully informative post - a lot of reading - which is good if you are looking for info about those types of paint. 

If however, you are just wanting to see something painted with chalk paint, this post might be a better post for you, since it has a few more photos with their paint colors listed.

 

 

Here is my collection of furniture that I painted using chalk paint - my own mix, as instructed in the sites I mention in my previous post.

 

I guess I'll start with the first piece I painted and then follow with each piece I painted in the order I painted them.

 

FIRST -

I think this is my very favorite piece, among the six pieces I refinished. It turned out just as I had hoped it would.  It was the perfect piece to start with, and it inspired me to continue.

 

My Pie Safe,

that used to reside in my kitchen, looking something like this -

 

 

(I wish I had taken a better photo of it before I moved it out of it's place in the kitchen, but  I was so enthused to begin that painting project that I neglected to take a photo of it, so this was what I could quickly find in my photo files.)

 

Now rests in our main bath looking like this -

 

And we call it our towel cupboard now.
WE REALLY LOVE IT!

 

 

About it:

Paint color is Valspar Gentle Wave / Satin gloss,

mixed up as chalk paint, using unsanded grout.

 

I did not sand the cupboard before I began, but I did wash it down with a wet cloth, and let it dry.

I then began to paint -

 

This was the first chalk paint mix I did and it was really interesting. 

It started thickening so fast that I had to add more and more paint and water.  I don't know what I did wrong, or if I did anything wrong, but it just kept getting thicker, so that it was almost difficult to stir. Strange thing!  It finally seemed to be a good consistency, but it began to get gritty, and that wouldn't work out with stirring, and I wasn't willing to put it in my blender.  I wasn't going to toss it out either, so I decide to use it as it was. 

 

I wasn't really careful about the direction I painted in some places,

it kinda gobbed up in some of the corners, making a bit tricky to work with,

 it seemed to have a sandpaper grittiness look when it was wet, and that same sandpaper grittiness to the feel when it dried. 

 

It was odd paint to work with, and it worried me a bit, but it seemed to be the right color and look we were hoping for, and it was covering the wood nicely, so I just kept going with a hope that it would turn out better than I thought.

 

After it dried I sanded it, and the grittiness came right off with little effort.  I was sanding it all anyway, so it wasn't a problem.   I distressed it in places, sanding a bit harder and longer, until I felt like I liked the look. 

I didn't want too much wood showing thru on the outside parts of the cupboard, though some of the inside parts are quite distressed. There were a couple placed that the paint peeled right off, even too much, so I just painted over that, let it dry, and sanded it again.  It was great!
 

(These next photos aren't very true to color)

 

 

I painted the inside of the drawers with a bit of a dry brush and liked that worn look inside. I sanded them, but not much (it's just too hard to get into those tiny areas with much force or movement).

After sanding, I wiped it clean again and began to wax it, using Fiddes and Sons Supreme Wax Polish, in a Light color tone, purchased from Amazon. 

I chose this brand of wax because of the info I had heard from Miss Mustard Seed. 

 

I waxed it and let it sit all night and buffed it in the morning and was so very pleased with the look. 

It looked aged like I had hoped it would.

 

 

We sprayed the wire mesh white, instead of the black that it was,

 and put it back on the doors using the staple gun, and replaced the doors using the same hinges that were on it before.

 

We did not use the same wooden pull knobs that it originally had, but instead replaced them with some cute and colorful ceramic knobs from Hobby Lobby.

(You might notice that the left door doesn't have a knob on it - that is because they only had four knobs at the time, so I'm going to have to get two more for the doors when they come in.)

 

One more bit of info -

The original look had a little piece of wood above the center of the two doors to turn down to hold the doors closed. I didn't want to put that back on either, so I left it off and have been thinking about purchasing some magnetic closers to hold them closed.  They don't seem to have too much of a problem staying closed enough on their own, so I am not going to worry about it unless it begins to bug us for some reason. (One of them is held open anyway.)

 

It is the perfect look for the exact place we were putting it, but I must say, I'd love to have it back in my kitchen in the condition it is in now.  It is lovely.

I don't know what I'm putting in the kitchen, in the place this came out of, but I do know that I'm not going to worry about that for several more months.  I'm sure I'll share with you when it happens.

 

 

SECOND -

The tall cupboard

that used to reside in my entrance hall,
looking something like this -

 

 

changing it's contents depending upon the season or the desire ...

 

 

Now rests in our main bath looking like this -

 

About it:

You might remember (if you saw this post) that I was having a hard time with how dark the inside of this cupboard was and how I wished it would show the items displayed in it better.  If you remember that, then you might wonder why I painted it a dark purple.  Well, I wondered too, but decided that the things being stored in it now do not need to be seen so much, just stored there.  So it actually works great for what we are using the cupboard for now.

I also think that the slight glossiness of the paint makes it easier to see into anyway. The place might make a difference as well. The lighting is much better in our bathroom than in the entrance hall, so it helps us see right into that cupboard.

 

For this piece of furniture I used Valspar Purple Valley in a Satin finish / mixed as chalk paint using unsanded grout. 

 

This time I used less grout and thought it spread nicely, but when it was all done I wondered if there wasn't enough grout mixed in because it didn't look as old and antiqued as the blue piece - it was so smooth.  I wasn't up for re-do, especially since it really was fine the way it was, so I left it.

 

I sanded and distressed it a bit, cleaned and waxed it (using the same light wax as the blue cupboard), and buffed it up nicely for a great look.  It's harder to see the distress because of the darkness of the colors.

 

 

We left the wire black, though I did spray a fresh coat of black paint on the mesh to help freshen it up a bit, placed the mesh back onto the doors, and put the doors back on with the same hinges that were on it before.  We purchased new handles for this piece too.

 

 

This cupboard also had little wood pieces to hold the doors closed, that I left off after painting. 

The magnetic closers will work great on these too, if I choose to use them later.

 

 

THIRD -

The wall shelf

that was above our toilet, looking somewhat like this -

 

 

 

Still rests above our toilet, looking like this -

 

 

I used the same paint as I did with the towel cupboard (seen above), and I love the look.  I kept the same hardware as it had previously.

 

 

 

This blue has to be our favorite color of all.

 

 

FOURTH -

The small mirror with floral pulls,

used to hide in a closet, with a honey oak finish - never used, and never before photographed ...,

now smiles on the wall in our main bath with that same lovely Gentle Wave blue, looking like this -

 

 

 

 

FIFTH -

The picture of the mother and child,

on the window wall, with a stained frame, once looking like this ...

 

 

 

Now looks like this ...

 

About this:

The paint color is Valspar Homestead Resort Jefferson White / Satin gloss, mixed as chalk paint using unsanded grout.

 

It was painted, distressed, waxed and buffed to create this look.

I first waxed it using Fiddes and Sons Supreme Wax Polish Light tone wax at the same time adding a bit of Rugger Brown tone, but the Rugger Brown tone was much too dark for what we wanted, so I painted over it again, distressed it again, and used only the light tone wax, and liked it much better.

It was obvious with this color, that the grout changed the color slightly.  It is a bit different than the trim, though it was the same paint color.  We thought it might change the color a bit, but we couldn't really tell with the colored paints.  Maybe it is because I mixed up such a small amount of this color.

 

 

 

SIXTH -

The thing -

phone stand or plant stand or whatever it is

- purchased from Goodwill with a distressed stained finish, looking somewhat like this ...

 

 

used to sit in the family room somewhat hidden behind another piece of furniture, waiting to find a place of it's own ....

 

which it now has ...

 

rests in the main bath looking like this -

 

 

About it:

It was purchased from Goodwill several months ago for four dollars.

The purpose of it's purchase was because ..., well, because it was only $4.00 and it is very sturdy, and I thought it would work nicely in some sort of wedding or other décor somewhere, sometime.

Yip!  It was one of those purchases - the kind of purchase that my husband says is "goin' broke saving money".

It was still a great purchase, don't you think?

 

By the way - if you know what this stand really was made for I'd love to hear about it.

 

The color is Valspar Del Coronado Coastal Peach / Satin finish, mixed as chalk paint using unsanded grout,

and it is our second favorite color in the collection we have here today. 

 

This chalk paint mix turned out perfect.  Everything was working great.

I painted, sanded and distressed, and waxed it with the light wax, and it is lovely.

 

 

SEVENTH, and LAST -

The only new piece of furniture purchased for this room is this small black

shelf

that used to look like this -

 

 

It now rests under the window looking like this -

 

 

 

About it:

It was purchased from Ross, in that glossy black, distressed finish.

We wanted more of the pink color in that room, so we painted it the same Coastal Peach chalk paint that we used on the little stand above.

We distressed it and waxed it with the light tone wax and buffed it to a lovely look.

 

We think that this little shelf looks much more cute in pink than it did in black.

 

We put a toilet paper holder on the side of the shelf, since it sits in front of the toilet, and we think that looks pretty good there too.  What a great toilet paper holder that little shelf makes!

 

 

 

I have learned that I do like chalk paint.

I will used it again ..., someday ..., somewhere ..., sometime!

 

 

This post has given a sneak peek at our main bath redo.  Stay tuned for the overall look of that redo - My Main Bath - Part 5 - Completed.