Imagine an antique store owned by a hoarder who didn’t have an attachment to all of the stuff piled inside.  That’s exactly what Bekka (@bekkabess) and I came across the other day while treasure hunting.  It was amazing.  The owner, Jeanie, a sweet boisterous grandmother with a thick country drawl, owns the antique store that is going out of business in two weeks, and is desperate to sell as much as possible so she won’t have to move it all. She literally had the store packed to the brim with “treasure” (also known to the untrained eye as junk).  If we were willing to climb and dig through the mountains of boxes and random pieces she had gotten at auctions over the years, we had the opportunity to find those little things that would make our entire day.  Only a few items had price tags, so when we did find something, we yelled “Jeanie! How much for this!?” and Jeanie would yell back with some insanely low price, only logical to those who were desperate to get things sold, and who has obviously never been on Pinterest before.  That afternoon was like Heaven on earth for a thrifter like me.

After bringing home the haul, I had to decide what to refinish first, and where to put it in the house!  Normally when I refinish furniture, I make it a day-long process.  My routine consists of cleaning, sanding, prepping, priming, first coat, second coat, polyurethane, re-cover cushion, wait for everything to dry, and then reassemble.  To be perfectly honest, as much as I enjoy doing all of that on rainy days, I don’t have the energy, time or patience right now to do that to everything I had just bought.  Trying to think of other options, I remembered my beautiful friend, Sheena (@southernstylist) who just refinished her porch furniture using DIY chalk paint, and decided to research it a little more.

After researching, the most wonderful thing I learned about chalk paint is that there’s no sanding, or priming of any kind involved.  It’s just about the easiest and cheapest way to paint imaginable (and it looks great too!).  What would have taken me hours and hours to refinish, only took a little over two hours…with drying time.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was.  At first I was skeptical, until I finished, and then I was amazed.  If you’re pressed for time and energy–you’ve got to try this….take it from a veteran refinisher–you won’t be dissapointed!!

Here’s the chalk paint recipe I found online and chose to try:

2 cups flat paint (any color)

5 tbs, Plaster of Paris

2 tbs water

Mix and apply two coats, sanding after it’s dry for an antiqued look.

Finally, use furniture wax to protect the finish.

I always say “recipes only work for perfect people” because every time I try to use a recipe for anything, for some reason, it doesn’t work out as planned, and this time was no different!  (This is why I’m not a chef and why my hubby is so skinny…) 

After a couple minutes of mixing, I wasn’t happy with the paint consistency, so I modified the recipe until I had exactly what I thought I needed it to be.  For all of you crazy people like me out there who want to experiment with chalk paint and not have to follow an exact recipe, I’ve included my experience with detailed pictures below!  …But just remember, this recipe is partially made up by me (use at your own risk!).  I would encourage you to experiment with what you have at home too. From my new experience with chalk paint, it’s really hard to mess up, so get crazy!!

Here’s the before shot of what I refinished:  (The chair may look nice in the picture…but don’t be fooled.  It was a very yucky yellowed color/texture in person.  Jeff told me as he was lifting it out of the car that only I could love a chair like that!).  It took me over 30 minutes to clean the thing because it had so many spider nests and stains on it!!

(p.s. I apologize for the low-res, unedited iphone pictures! Since the house is being worked on and is crazy dusty right now, I don’t dare bring my good photography equipment here for fear of the dust monster eating them!)

Step 1: Gather Materials.  To save money, I used paint that I already had on hand.  Because I was going for an antique look and the only flat paint I had was pure white, I decided to mix in an off-white semi-gloss paint with it.  I wasn’t about to go out and buy more paint when I had perfectly good (inexpensive) semi-gloss to use, and I’m glad I didn’t.  In the end, everything turned out awesome, so yay for saving money and not following the recipe!  (p.s. this kind of logic is why I’m not known for my cooking…).

Step 2: Mix ingredients in a bucket.  I suppose you could use a large bowl to mix in depending on the size of your project, but I had a feeling I was going to experiment,  so I got something a little bigger.  At first I mixed 1 cup of flat white paint with 1 cup of the off-white semi-gloss, 5tbs plaster of paris and 2 tbs water.  Not happy with the results, I just added more ingredients, little bits at a time (I didn’t use any more water) until the consistency was what I wanted.  I wanted a thick paint that would cover just about anything, so I ended up using a lot more plaster than I had planned.

Notice the difference between the paint strokes?  To accurately measure the consistency, I applied it directly  to the table that I wanted to refinish.

Step 3: Paint the first coat.  ( I painted both the chair and table with the same bucket of paint,one right after the other, because I wanted them to be a matching set when I was finished.)

The chalk paint is not smooth (the name itself probably gave that away…) so I embraced the texture and didn’t try to make the surface “perfect”.  My brush strokes were uneven, and some places had more texture than others.

See the stained yellow I was talking about? And this is AFTER I gave it a good scrub down! Ew!

Step 4: Let the first coat dry, then paint the second coat.  For the second coat, I was a little more careful about my brush strokes.  Even though chalk paint makes imperfections look pretty, I have found that there’s a way to be imperfect, gracefully.

Step 5: Let dry and re-cover any seat cushions.  Make sure to also break out the sweet tea to treat yourself.  Sweet tea was definitely part of my recipe.

Step 6: Get your antique on!  I’m not an “extreme antique sander” which means, I don’t over-do the antique look.  For this project, I was going for the more shabby-chic look with only a little wear and tear…not the “I’ve lived in a barn for the past 10 years, look”.  There’s honestly no right way to sand…just take it a little at a time until you get the style you want!

Step 7: Wax on, wax on.  Take an old rag and lightly apply a thin coat  to your dry piece.  Let dry for 10-15 minutes and buff with a clean rag.  This gives a lightly polished look, and smooth to the touch, while also protecting your surface from normal wear and tear.

Step 8: Let dry completely, screw in the seat cushion, then enjoy! (with more sweet tea, of course!)