We are working on the master bedroom in the house. The first project that I started on for the update is painting the dresser and eventually the chest of drawers too. Once I decided we could update the furniture with paint, I did a lot of research on chalk paint. I watched video tutorials, read up on techniques, and researched the types of paints and waxes. We decided on using Annie Sloan as our friends had used it to paint their kitchen cabinets and raved about it. I found a store downtown that carried the paint and Wyatt and I met there one evening after work to check it out. First of all, Bella Beige has so many gorgeous pieces of furniture for sale that I wanted them all. Second, the owner was so kind in giving us tips and tricks. She even demonstrated how to do the wax coat. I went in interested in Amsterdam Green but she didn't have anything bigger than a sample on hand of it so we looked at the other options including the custom mixed colors and ultimately decided to go with one of those custom colors rather than wait for the Amsterdam Green to ship to her. We felt the custom color worked better for what we were looking for with the room anyway.
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| Before |
Chalk paint is great because it requires very little prep work on your furniture. I simply cleaned the furniture using a cleaning agent the owner of the shop recommended since we were unsure of how much the piece of furniture was cleaned/polished with things like pledge that would leave a residue. I also used wood filler to fill a few scratches and other dents. I sanded a little with the filler but other than that no sanding!
Sox thought he might be able to help out....but no cats allowed! Since the paint has no fumes to it, I was able to paint this piece in the room so we just kept the door closed while the project was in progress to prevent cat hair from getting into the paint, wax, or on the wet painted furniture. I painted the first coat of paint on Saturday afternoon. The paint goes on easy and a little paint goes a long way. I chose to take my drawers out and paint them individually but so many leave them in while painting. That would really cut down some of the time it takes for each coat. Even with doing them individually it was a breeze and never took more than about an hour and half to get a good coat of paint on all of the pieces.
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| First coat of paint. |
I put the second coat on Sunday morning. It's amazing how much coverage the second coat provides!
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| Midway through the second coat of paint. |
We decided we didn't really want to distress the piece at all so I put a wax coat on it on Monday after work. We buffed it out on Tuesday evening and it was ready to use. I can't believe how easy this paint is to work with and how great the piece looks now! I was too excited to see it all put back together and placed the hardware back on before it has been cleaned but we will also clean those up too.
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| Midway through the wax coat |
I cannot wait to work on the chest of drawers and start putting the room together! We purchased a new headboard and the most gorgeous new lamps for the room. We hope to be able to pull it all together in the next month or so!
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| Before and After using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint |
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