In our first blog post, we taught you the basics of How to Chalk Paint Furniture. We included information on different chalk paints like Annie Sloan, Maison Blanche and even tips on making your own chalk paint. We covered tricks and tips on painting, waxing, sanding, distressing and even using antiquing dust.
If you missed that blog post, check it out HERE!
In the blog post below we’ll take a deeper dive into some of the chalk paint projects we’ve taken over on the past few years. We’ll share a few advance tips, as well as comment on what worked and what did not.
Hold on to your hat because we have a TON of awesome photos showcasing our dining room set, buffet, china cabinet, bedroom set, TV stand, end-tables, ceiling medallions and even chandeliers (Yes, you can chalk paint chandeliers).
Dining Room Table, Chairs and Buffet
This dining room set we picked up at a local furniture resale shop for only $300. That included a 7.5 foot dining room table that came with 3 leaves, 6 chairs as well as a two-piece buffet/china cabinet!
At the time we were looking at similar dining room sets on Esty that had been chalk painted and they were going for $2,000-3,000, and that was just for the dining room table and chairs. On top of that, similar buffets/china cabinets for also going for roughly $750-$1,500!
The main reason we got such an amazing deal on this dining room set was due to its super old-school yellow color and red floral upholstery. However, this piece had some great bones and that French Provincial look we love. With a little bit of love, chalk paint and new upholstery we could transform this set without having to spend thousands of dollars.
We kicked off this project by painting the buffet and decided to use with Maison Blanche’s Silver Mink chalk paint. My wife loved the color and was looking to go with a complimentary color that match the white and silver damask wallpaper in the photo above.
What Doesn’t Work
Simply put, chalk painting fabric does not work. We ran across DIY tutorials in which people said chalk painting their fabric turned out awesome. Well, NOT TRUE!
We tested this practice on one of our chairs. It literally took 6-7 thick coats of paint. While it looked great, this only makes sense if you NEVER plan to sit on the chair EVER again.
After the chalk paint, the fabric was stiff and uncomfortable. Also, after little to no use, the chalk paint began to come off. Check out the photos below.
Following that failed experiment we decided just to reupholster all six of the chairs. We went with a polka dot pattern for the head/armed chairs and a thick striped pattern for the unarmed chairs.
For the finishing touch we painted the old bronze hardware white and roughed up the edges to give the handles that aged look.
Also, you might have noticed the rest of the room throughout these photos. We finished the wainscoting and even chalk painted our old antique bronze chandelier white with chalk paint.
China Cabinet Find
This China Cabinet we found at a local furniture resale shop for only $80. This is another solid find – a piece that we were able to get at a deep discount due to that undesirable yellow color again.
With this piece we used Annie Sloan’s Pure White chalk paint and a homemade finishing wax that I used gulf wax for as it’s base.
We loved this china cabinet as it had a light to show off our pieces, and the coolest part the glass shelves had a groove in them allowing us to stand up and display the gorgeous Royal Albert Rose Confetti china set my grandmother bought for us for our wedding.
We didn’t need a china cabinet in our new house, so we ended up selling this piece online for $400!
French Provincial Bedroom Set
This three-piece French Provincial bedroom set is one all-time favorite chalk paint projects. I just love the wavy drawers and unique handles.
We acquired this set through a family friend at no cost and currently have it in our master bedroom today. Originally this set was dark brown wood and we painted it with Annie Sloan’s Pure White.
End Tables
Annie Sloan & Maison Blanche Love Child
This small end table my mother-in-law ran across at her local second hand store and picked up for us as it was only $10. Prior to this paint job the body was a goldish color and the top a dark stained wood.
We wanted to use this end-table as part of a sitting area in our master bedroom, so we painted the top with Annie Sloan’s Pure White to coordinate with the three-piece French Provincial bedroom set you saw above.
The bottom was painted with Maison Blanche’s Silver Mink. Also, this end-table has some great ornamental accents and in order to pull those out and make this piece more dimensional, we used Maison Blanche’s Le Dirt Antiquing Dust.
Annie Sloan Pure White Vintage End-Table
This little vintage looking end-table was another find by my mother-in-law at the local second hand shop. I think it was around $30. Originally, it was a dark wood color with a black top. With a little Annie Sloan chalk paint and distressing, it’s got that awesome shabby chic look.
Homemade Chalk Paint – White & Electric Blue End Table
We picked up this end table from a local Habitat for Humanity Resale shop. These resale shops are large warehouses with tons of used furniture donated and then sold to general public to fund the Habitat for Humanity’s efforts.
For this piece, I used electric blue homemade chalk paint for the base and a homemade white chalk paint for the topcoat. The best part about creating your own chalk paint is you can create colors not offered by the big chalk paint companies. If you missed it, check out How to Make your own chalk paint which was in my first blog post on How to Chalk Paint.
Mid-Centry TV Stand
We love this mid-century TV stand as it just has that 50’s atomic age look and also as it was a hand-me-down from my wife’s grandparents. It was part of their original bedroom set from the late 1950’s. This piece initially had nickel handles that attached with two bolts, however we found a set of single bolt mirrored crystal knobs and decide to switch out the hardware.
In order to make the new knobs work we used a spackling knife and DAP’s Plastic Wood-X to patch the two original handle holes. After the spackle dried, we sanded and drilled a new hole right in the center.
The chalk paint we used on this piece was Annie Sloan’e Antoinette which we complimented with a similar color throw blanked and pillows.
Chalk Painting Chandeliers
I’ve chalk painted quite a few chandeliers over the years, all with my homemade chalk paint. Old outdated bronze chandeliers are easy to find and cheap due to their fall in popularity.
Check out some of the cool colors below and if you haven’t seen my full blog post on How to Chalk Paint a Chandelier, please give it a read!
What NOT to Chalk Paint
Antique Furniture
Below is the perfect example of piece of furniture that should NOT be chalk painted! This was acquired from my wife’s Nana, who acquired it from her mother-in-law (my wife’s great grandmother). First of all, this is an extremely unique antique piece with crazy rounded glass windows. They don’t even think about making furniture like this anymore. I mean, this thing is straight up a piece of art.
Second, both the interior and exterior of this piece are covered in gold leaf. That is actual gold that has been hammered into thin sheets and can be applied to the furniture. In the last photo below you can see the lines where different piece of gold leaf were applied.
I’ve actually got in a few minor debates on painting this piece, as it didn’t appear to be a fit in a room full of silver tones. However, it will soon have a new home in our new house and will fit in perfectly.
Also, on the bottom of this curio cabinet I found the tag in the image below. After doing some research I found the Alonzi Furniture Company was founded by 3 bothers from Italy in 1916 and operated in Chicago until 1979. The most interesting fact was that Alonzi made furniture for Pope John Paul XXIII’s private quarters in the Vatican.
A few websites out there had similar pieces from Alonzi going for more than $3,000.
Also, I found 3-4 old ads as well that were pretty cool.
Family Heirlooms
This beautiful six-piece bedroom set was handed down to my wife and was in her family for years – it belonged to her great-aunt Carm. As a child, my wife Annette would visit her home and dream of having this set one day. We would never dream of painting this piece, as my wife’s family would kill us and also because it’s just unbelievably beautiful as it is.
Check out the photos below which speak for themselves.
In Conclusion
We hope you loved checking out our DIY chalk paint projects as much as we loved doing them and sharing them in this blog post. Currently, we have three other chalk paint projects in the works which we hope to finish and share one day soon.
