Sold!

I just sold this buffet to some buyers who found in on Craigslist.

In case you don't remember, I lovingly painted it with two coats of homemade chalk paint.  Then I sanded it, glazed it, and then rubbed two coats of wax on it.  After all of that, my arm was tired!

I thought it looked pretty good in its shabby chic vintage state.  I almost laughed when the buyer told me she was going to give it a nice coat of black paint as soon as she got home.

Oh well, to each his own.  At least it's sold!

Another Homemade Chalk Paint Project

I was so excited by how my homemade chalk paint dresser turned out that I had to do another project.  But before I reveal the piece, I wanted to answer a question.  Some commenters asked why you would want to use chalk paint as opposed to regular old latex paint.

Chalk paint is perfect for when you want a piece to have an aged, vintage, or distressed look.  To get a distressed look, I sand around the edges of a piece and other areas that would naturally wear.  Sometimes latex paint doesn't sand off very well.  You also have to wait about 24-hours for latex to cure before sanding.  Chalk paint, on the other hand, sands off very well into a nice, fine dust.  It doesn't peel like latex sometimes does.  It also dries VERY fast and can be sanded as soon as dry.

Chalk paint is also very "sticky" and covers pretty well, meaning you don't have to sand or prime your piece before painting.

If you have any other questions about the paint, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

This time the victim was a buffet that I found on Craigslist (where else???). 

I have a bunch of Clark and Kensington paint that I got for free at Ace Hardware in Oyster Pearl.  I've been meaning to paint my bedroom is this pretty light gray, but haven't had time.  The color looks very gray in my bedroom, but turned out much lighter on the buffet.  I'm wondering if the addition of Plaster of Paris whitened it?

Anyways, to make your chalk paint, just mix a little water, some Plaster of Paris, and your flat paint.  The consistency of mine was much to thick at first because I added too much P of P.  It was hardening into cement in my bucket.  I just kept adding more water and paint to get it to a more workable consistency.

Here's the final result:

The buffet was missing a knob, so I bought two fleur-de-lis knobs at Hobby Lobby.  They were originally an oil-rubbed bronze color.  I lightened them (and all of the rest of the hardware) with some Rub n Buff.  By the way, Centsational Girl has a good post on Rub n Buff and hardware if you want more info.

After I painted the buffet, I sanded it and gave it a coat of glaze to bring out te details and to get that aged look.

A couple of coats of wax later and here it is:

Linked here:
Today's Creative Blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Primitive and Proper, Home Stories of A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tip Junkie, Type A Decorating, http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/, The Thrifty Home, Domestically Speaking, Primp,
A Diamond in the Stuff, Restore Interiors, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Beyond the Picket Fence, Fireflies and Jellybeans,My Simple Home Life,
Addicted 2 Decorating, Just a Girl, Remodelaholic, Miss Mustard Seed, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Thrifty Decor Chick, Coastal Charm, Serenity Now

Homemade Chalk Paint Dresser

There are so many great furniture makeovers using chalk paint.  However, I'm bit too cheap to shell out over $50 for a quart.  I've been thinking about trying to make my own chalk paint, but haven't had the right piece to try it on.

Enter this dresser.  It's perfect for my chalk paint experiment AND my daughter Chloe needs a new dresser.  Double score!!

This is probably the nicest piece of furniture I've picked up at a yard sale.  It's made by Drexel, solid wood (super heavy!), dovetail joints, etc. etc.  It's also in near-perfect condition.

Chloe wanted yellow.  So, I picked up a free quart of Ice Cream Sundae at Ace Hardware in a flat finish.  I had seen different techniques on making chalk paint.  At first I was going to use unsanded grout mixed in with the paint because I had a container of it sitting in my garage.

Luckily, my friend Ange from the Blooming Hydrangea commented that this would make the paint a "chalkboard" - type paint rather than the coveted "chalk" paint.  Instead, I mixed Plaster of Paris with the paint and thinned it with a little water.

I don't have an exact recipe or tutorial for you because I didn't measure anything.  I started by putting a few tablespoons of plaster of paris into a container.  I mixed this with about a tablespoon of water and then added a cup or so of paint and mixed well.  The consistency was similar to yogurt...fairly thick.

As I painted it on, there were glops and bumps.  The paint dries VERY quickly....maybe in twenty minutes or so.  There is no need to wait for the paint to cure.  You can go right ahead and sand as soon as the paint is dry.  Just like everyone says, the paint sanded beautifully into a chalk dust.

I used two coats of Minwax paste wax, which buffed to a subtle shine.

I added some new hardware from Hobby Lobby.

And I have a cute new dresser for my cute little Chloe.

Before:

After:

This is my "After" project for Lisa's Before and After party, which I wasn't supposed to share until the end of the month.  But, I finished it so quickly and was so excited by it that I had to share it now!

Linked here:
Today's Creative Blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Bella Before and After, Primitive and Proper, Home Stories of A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tip Junkie, Type A Decorating, http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/, The Thrifty Home, Domestically Speaking, Primp,
A Diamond in the Stuff, Restore Interiors, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Beyond the Picket Fence, Fireflies and Jellybeans,My Simple Home Life,
Addicted 2 Decorating, Just a Girl, Remodelaholic, Miss Mustard Seed, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Thrifty Decor Chick, Coastal Charm, Junker Newbie, Serenity Now