Why Red Chalk Paint?
This little table came from my husband’s grandparents home, many years ago. Although I loved how sturdy and functional it is, it was also sooo dated. Never in my life have I decorated with red, but we also received a red sofa-bed from his parents. So I thought I’d give red a chance on this table.
A Little Goes Far
While I have stained and painted lots of different pieces of furniture through the years, (mostly as a teenager, many, many, many moons ago) this was my very first chalk paint experience. I had no idea how much paint I would need. I bought a whole quart of red paint! I made my own chalk paint with the recipe I found on Pinterest; you can find it here. I only used 1 cup of the paint.
Chalk Paint Recipe
1 cup any color paint
1 tablespoon of Plaster of Paris
1/4 cup hot water
Make sure to break up any clumps in the Plaster of Paris powder;
mix it with the paint; then slowly add the hot water and stir until smooth.
Before starting my chalk paint project, I read lots of info through links I found on Pinterest, (what did we ever do before Pinterest?), some of those are on this board:
Follow Dancing Dish & Decor’s board upfurnish-it on Pinterest.
To Prep or Not, That is the Question
Most of the tutorials said there is no need to sand, just clean the surface so I did that. I wish now that I had sanded the top. You can see there was some water damage. I think sanding the top would have made a difference. It does not show up too bad in the finished project and I am super-happy with how it looks. Live and learn! My next chalk paint project came out much better.
Finishing Well
I did not do any distressing on this piece and I only used clear wax. For this project I used a slightly used paint brush to apply the wax and some soft cloths to buff it. Before my next project I purchased a set of nice brushes for the waxing, like these:
I let the chalk paint and wax finish cure for two days before we moved the renewed table into place and put a lamp and accessories on it.
Even though red is not really my color this works great next to the brown recliner in our rec room across from the red couch. BTW the rec room is also my husband’s home office, music room and workout room. It’s a big room with a lot of functionality. It works because he is very organized and a neat freak (which is one of the things I adore about him). The red’s and browns are a perfect, manly style for the room where he spends the most time.
Have you used RED chalk paint? Did you love it? Do you have any special recipe for your chalk paint or do you use a specific brand? I’d love to hear all about it, just leave comments below – sharing is caring.
Blessings,
Lauree
…keep dancing the dream
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Thank you for sharing your experience with the chalk paint project. I love your writing style!
Thanks! It’s fun to write and share my fun projects.
So pretty, Lauree! I love the color you chose!
Kendra, thanks! We are enjoying it. DIY projects have a side benefit of constantly reminding you that you accomplished something good. Don’t you agree?
Beautiful table! I love the red you chose. I have used several different brands of chalk type paint (Maison Blanche is my favorite), but I have to admit, I’ve never made my own! I will have to give that a try, I sure like the idea of having many more colors to choose from. 🙂 Have a great day!
Kimm, you are so right about variety of colors. I just go buy a sample jar of the color I need for a project and it’s usually plenty. I always stop by the “ooops” marked down paint section to add to my collection. However, I would love to try some premade brands of chalk paint to see if there is a difference. I’d live to hear from you if you try the homemade version. Thanks!
I have never used chalk paint before, but I am planning on painting a piece of furniture I plan to move to my office soon with it. I am going to do a gray color, though… I think 🙂 Thanks for all of these tips!! I think it turned out really great and I love that color!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Carrie, chalk paint is fun and so easy to work with! I’ve stripped furniture, stained it, and painted furniture. I love how forgiving chalk paint is. The best part is you can make it in any color. Can’t wait to see how yours looks when you finish it.
I love this shade of red. You did a lovely job on restoring this piece. I’ve used homemade chalk paint for some smaller pieces and it works well for those.. I was curious to find out if there is a big difference between homemade and ready made. There is. I found that my DIY paint wasn’t as smooth and didn’t give me the best coverage. It could have been user error though! I have a large upstairs den that serves a few different purposes and I’ve got a coffee table that I wasn’t thinking of painting black, now I’m thinking red would look great. Red matches the sports memorabilia we have in the room. By the way, I’d love it if you would share your projects on our next Snickerdoodle Sunday Party. It opens every Saturday at 5:00 and runs through Monday night. Have a great day!
Beverly,
I’d love to hear if you test the difference between homemade and ready made chalk paint. I do find if I dissolve the plaster of paris in warm water BEFORE I mix it with the paint it is smoother. However, sometimes I get it too thin doing it that way, especially when I’m in a hurry :). I’d love to join the Snickerdoodle Sunday Party. (Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie, so I should be able to remember that name!) Thanks for the invite and for reading my post. I appreciate you!
I love the red!! So fun and different, good choice! Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday! Sharing on my FB tomorrow! ! Have a great week!
Kim
Choosing red was a bit scary for me, but I’m so happy I did it! I have a huge shadow box that was actually a display at Starbucks. I’m planning to redo it in the same red to hang in the rec room. I want to use it to display military medals from my husband’s Grandfather and his Dad’s military careers. Now it’s like I cannot get enough red! Thanks again for stopping by my blog.