When I finally got around to starting this project, it felt as though it had been in the works for months and months. First, we
acquired the dining room furniture, and starting thinking about how to make over the chairs. After seeing them in the dining room, I desperately wanted to lighten them up.
Enter
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I've been reading about this magical stuff for ages all over the blogosphere, but at almost $40 for a liter and shipping on top of that, I really needed to have a plan before ordering some.
It took a while to get my ducks in a row but, eventually, the day arrived!!
You can always tell that I'm REALLY excited about something when I take a photo of the packaging
With the first chair, I put the paint on pretty thick hoping that it would just need one coat. The coverage was pretty good, but not quite good enough.
So, after finding out that I would need two coats, I thinned the paint down a little with some water (yes, I'm telling you, this stuff is magical) to hopefully make it last as long as possible.
It took a few sittings to get all six chairs painted. They have a lot of edges! When the paint dries, it has a lovely super-matte finish - chalky like its namesake! - and the brush strokes completely smooth out.
I kind of loved the brightness of the chairs at this point; there's something so happy to me about the color white. Ultimately though, I wanted the set to have a more established and expensive look, so I pressed on...
First up, a coat of clear hard wax over every surface of the chair. I applied this with an old t-shirt and let it absorb into the paint until it was no longer tacky.
The clear wax I used has a very pungent odor. It didn't bother me initially (actually, it was kind of weirdly enjoyable), but as time went on and I used more and more of the stuff, I started to think my house was smelling of gas. Clearly, the fumes were affecting my brain somehow because I didn't attribute the smell to the wax, and kept going in the kitchen to smell the stove. And we have an electric stove.
Anyway, I definitely opened some windows the next time I worked on the chairs.
Next up was the distressing with the dark wax.
I know, it's scary-looking at first. I learned that it's okay to put the dark wax on heavier than you ultimately want it to look though, because it'll lighten again with the final step. I'm admittedly not an expert distress-er, but it's pretty hard to screw this up. Just wipe the dark wax onto the chair, especially around edges, textures, and where the chair would naturally get "worn." If it's too dark, just keep wiping over that area to spread it around. It's hard for me, but there is no point being finicky about this - it's all about the big picture.
Next, gently use sandpaper to distress a few edges and surfaces. Go slowly here, because it's much harder to undo if you go too far.
Finally, I did another coat of clear wax over the entire chair. This significantly lightened the dark wax and made the whole look more subtle. It's also an extra coat of protection against damage to the paint.
Blurry picture apologies
Next up, a few hours of quality time with the staple gun makes these chairs sit-able for the first time since we bought them!
Has anyone else used (and loved!) Chalk Paint? I'm addicted already.
First, I left the old cushions at Mum's house for a long time, and she pulled out the million staples in each one. It didn't sound like fun, so I would definitely recommend conning someone else into doing that part for you.
