Just Chalk It Up To The Dark Side

9

November 16, 2012 by Decorum DIYer

Well, I did it.  I crossed over to the dark side of chalk paint.

DIY chalk paint at that!

Why?

Well, I tried to avoid the trend, but then I heard that chalk paint requires:

NO SANDING!

NO PRIMING!

WHAT????

I’m down.

And so, I shall now become the Darth Vader of furniture revamps.

Well, maybe.  We’ll see how this goes.

Remember my Pick The Perfect Paint poll, wherein I asked you, my readers (yeah, all five of you!), to choose the perfect paint color for my french provincial set?

Yeah, and remember how there was a tie between gray and aqua/turquoise?

And how I let you down gently by telling you I had a second magical set of furniture to be painted?

Okay, well if you don’t, you are now up to speed.

The ‘other’ set is a desk with hutch, also in a french provincial style, circa 1950.

I purchased the desk and hutch from Craigslist for $40, pretty fair, considering it is solid wood, dove-tailed drawers, and a classic look.  The problem?  Well, it has been painted the most undesirable brown.

Here it is when I purchased it.

This is a nice piece of furniture. I have no idea why someone would go through the trouble of painting only to choose this color?

Well-constructed with dovetail joints.

“Bonnet by Sears” – not super high quality, but sturdy and practical nonetheless

Very nice french provincial details and elegant hardware.

More details….

A little over-zealous with the paint sprayer

And a bit under-zealous at times…

I’d say I have my work cut out for me, wouldn’t you?

Well, the desk and hutch did not come with a matching chair.

Luckily for me, I found this cutie on the side of the road one day after dance class:

She is a cutie, isn’t she?

The seat fabric and cushion need replacing, but the chair is a lovely shape and quite structurally sound.

I decided to take the plunge with the diy chalk paint on the chair first.

That way, if it didn’t work out, I’d only painted a chair.  Not a big deal.

I used Pinterest as my guide for diy chalk paint (not chalkboard paint, that is different).

Many tutorials were only a slight variation to the recipe below:

1. 2 cups latex paint (it really doesn’t matter which sheen or brand)
2. 4 TBSP of plaster of paris
3. 2 TBSP of water

Mix the plaster of paris and water together in a container until blended like cake mix/batter and then stir in the 2 cups of paint.  Easy!

I used a cleaned applesauce jar to house my concoction.  I drew a measurement guide on the glass jar to help me measure out the paint.

Remember, I chose Behr’s ‘Jamaica Bay’ in a satin sheen.

Here’s the first coat, it took me three light coats to be satisfied with the coverage.

I used a small, foam brush and a 1/2 inch craft brush to get an even coverage:

After three coats…

The next step is to seal with finishing wax, but that will need to wait until this weekend.

I also chose this fabric off the shelf, without even matching a single paint chip,

to recover the seat:

I think it is fresh and fun!

So, what do you think?  Am I headed in the right direction?

I’m about to apply the wax to seal everything this weekend.

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