CHALK IT UP TO ...

A special hello to all my regular followers, I love knowing that you always stick around for my posts.  Some of you have been with me from the very beginning, and I honestly and truly appreciate your support.  Much love to you all!

So - I mentioned a chalk paint project I was going to tackle this past week - tackle it - I did!

Until I moved here, I didn't know such thing as a chalk paint finish even existed, but thanks to my dear friend, Lou - who owns and runs our local Uniques and Antiques shop here in town - and if you haven't been to visit - you are missing a true GEM....  thanks to Lou - I have learned all about chalk paint.

Lou re-purposes many different things for her shop, and many times she uses the chalk paint technique.  She inspired me - she even presented me with some Plaster of Paris to get me kick started!

So what is chalk paint?

It is a mixture of acrylic paint, Plaster of Paris and water.  You can buy it in any store that sells paint, but be prepared to pay up.   A tiny pint of this specialty paint can cost you as much as a gallon of any other paint.

I am cheap - and the projects I want to work on are large, so I decided to brave my fears and mix my own.

There are many recipes on the Internet for this, but I chose this one, only because it makes a larger batch than some of the others.

2 cups acrylic paint ( colour of your choice).
1/3 Cup Plaster of Paris ( can be found in most hardware stores)
2 tablespoons of water.

Mix well until smooth.  I thought it would be gritty, but surprisingly, it's not!

I found a very inexpensive gallon of already already coloured paint ( Glidden) in Walmart.  It was half the price of the paint that I usually use, but I actually have used Glidden a lot in the past, and have always like the finish.  Speaking of finishes - this gallon was Eggshell.

So my first project is a shaker TV cabinet that we have had since the 90's.  Its been in every room in our former house, and quite a few in this one as well.
Here it is in the kitchen 2 years ago, before I changed the kitchen and moved it into the basement family room.

We haven't used it as a TV cabinet since the wide flat screen TVs have been the thing, but it is a great storage cabinet, and I plan to use it in my doll/ little girl room.

Here is my before picture (missing the 2 drawers)- it is sitting in the newly painted doll room...

After taking the doors off, I lightly sanded the cabinet and then wiped it down with a damp cloth.


First coat:

When you do a chalk paint you are supposed to lightly sand between coats, but my first coat was so thin that I waited until after the second coat.

Here the cabinet is finished, now I am working on the doors.  As you can see I removed the panels from the doors.  I am going to do something chic with the panels, I am also painting the wooden knobs the same colour as the wall.

Next post I will reveal the finished project - I think you will be surprised!

So I'm off to finish my first Chalk Paint Project....

Until later -