My 1st Chalk Paint Adventure - An End Table Makeover!

I have been seeing chalk paint makeovers everywhere in the blogosphere. Of course there is Annie Sloan, the original, fabulous to be sure but expensive! And limited in color. So the crafty and ingenious women and men of the internet have come up with tons of recipes for DIY chalk paint - some use unsanded grout, some use plaster of paris, some even use baking soda.

For my table makeover, I went with a plaster of paris recipe from Elizabeth & Co. 1 part plaster of paris, mixed with just enough water to make it smooth and 3 parts paint. That's it. Easy peasy! Now according to the info I found online, apparently flat paint is best however, I was planning on using oops paint to get just the right shade of light greenish grey and some of that paint was, well, unknown.

Here I am with all my supplies. I am a messy painter so I usually try to paint outside.

I started with this "lovely" table that I got off Craiglist for free.  I had bought a desk and the seller decided to throw in a couch table and end table for free. Not a  bad deal since I got all three pieces for $15.

While it has these cool finials on the bottom, it also has this so attractive plastic brass. I tried to pry it out and that just didn't work. I was afraid I would damage the wood if I tried to remove it.  That "brass" was part of the reason why I wanted to try the chalk paint. It apparently sticks to everything, even without priming.

You can see from the photo below, it took me a while to get the color just right. Yes, you are counting right, there are 7 different color tries at getting the color just the way I wanted it.   I used white, dark grey, light grey and green paint. Thank goodness I made enough to do the 2 coats because I wouldn't be able to recreate it again.

Once I got the color right, things progressed very quickly.

The first coat went on with great coverage. It was a bit rough but the second coat seemed to even it out.

One of the best parts about this paint is that it dries amazingly fast. I got 2 coats on and dried in less than 3 hours.  It would have been less but I was working on other stuff at the same time. (I love multi-tasking!)

Once the paint was dry, I gave it a light sand with a sanding block. This really smoothed it out.

Here it one spot before sanding. You can see that it is a bit grainy.

Here it is after a light sand. The graininess is gone and it is so smooth.

A couple of coats of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax and the table was ready to go back inside.

It is also the perfect spot to put my foreign coin art while I gather the rest of the pieces for my gallery wall.

One other part of the table makeover - I painted the back of the glass top with liquid gilding paint in platinum, like this.

It adds a subtle shine to the table that I just love.

I think it looks fabulous in its new home! 

The paint color is a lighter version of the grey green in the wall hanging right behind it.

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