Welcome to my blog, this is a new journey for me so hand on tight! It might be a bumpy ride. I am a much more hands on type of girl and computers are not my favorite thing - but hey! It's worth a shot.
I am the type of girl who likes to turn up the classic 80's music and hang out in the garage making over furniture. I came upon this habit quite by chance or should I say by "cheap" since I was not willing to shell out the big bucks for furniture. I always try and make things myself and have pretty good luck with little projects so far. My first item was a buffet that I picked up via Facebook yard sale sites, it was only $30 and I thought I would love to try and paint that. So after bruising up my legs hefting it into the trusty mini van I was ready to go. I had researched chalk paint before, but again, my cheapness won me over. I could not stomach paying Annie Sloan prices for something I have never tried before. Annie Sloan costs $34.95 for a quart! I found a local girl who was selling small jars of home made chalk paint from her shop. RVA Furniture Works. (Sorry to say she has since closed up shop) The jar was approx 8 oz and cost around $17.00 - I requested a dark grey and painted the heck out of the cabinet. I did sand the top a bit to make sure to give the paint something to adhere to. Even though chalk paint seems to stick to anything I felt that the top needed to be sanded to make sure. I also gave it a good cleaning with Windex. To remove old dirt, oil or marks. She recommended a simple chip brush from Lowe's. It was approx $1.50 Since then I have found that the Dollar Tree carries a set of three brushes for $1.00 that are totally usable. I painted two complete coats. A little goes a long way. I painted this cabinet and a whole wardrobe after that!
I did pump her for advice and scoured Pinterest for details. I know that I wanted a aged look to the edges, and that required something called "dark wax" - turns out that is not cheap either. So I made some up! I took the regular wax required to seal your chalk paint and added some dark skin. I used Kona, by Rust-olium. It costs around $11 for a half quart. I bought the smallest size for around $6. I applied with a small brush and buffed it into place. After I applied the wax with a t shirt like cloth. The wax I used to seal in the chalk paint was made by Min Wax. It cost $9 for a tub. It looks habit yellow but goes on clear. I applied the wax in small circles and buffed it in. I have since learned that the wax and paint can take upwards to 30 days to set or cure on the furniture.
I sprayed the hardware with a can of spray paint in pewter that I already had. They now blend well with the grey paint. I lightly sanded the edges to give it a old look, and waxed over top of the spots that had been exposed. I added two coats of wax. I wish I had taken a before picture of the buffet, but I didn't know at the time I was going to be sucked in and refinishing furniture as a hobby! The whole buffet was finished in a couple of hours, the chalk paint drys very quickly and you are able to start the second coat right after the first. I will be uploading more details shortly on how I then crafted my own recipe for chalk paint using Calcium Carbonate, and some before and after photos of items that have been completed.
Here you go! The finished product! I was hooked. It wasn't long before I was hunting down cheap furniture to practice on at the local online auctions. I have been very lucky to find pieces that needed some TLC and have since been painting away in my garage, rocking out to the old school hits of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and the rest of the 80's crew! I have found a new love of "up cycling" furniture. And have been making some extra cash! I'm having fun and thought I'd let you in on it!
Here is another photo of a before and after. I was able to scoop up this treasure at a local online auction. The total cost was $10! Yes! What a score! Until I sent the husband to pick it up for me. Alone, on his lunch break with only a hand track to help him.....um I might have not looked at the measurements on the piece! It was massive! And most auctions are sold as is where is. Which means if it's in the basement, in a back bedroom (um, it was) you have to move it out on your own. They won't help at all. He was not a happy camper. But I was when it came home! It needed some work. I had to re work the drawer pulls, they were not all present, and I did not want to pay to replace all of them. New holes were needed, and hardware was rearranged. I used the same paint I had purchased, it was gone after this wardrobe was finished. I used the same stain to darken the edges and it looks amazing! I have since found that the more detail on a piece of furniture the better it turns out. Almost like the uglier it is, the more beautiful the result! Even better? I sold this cabinet for $200. A really nice pay day for doing something I enjoyed so much.
The only extra cost other than the furniture itself was two new handles for the cupboard doors. And I reused the hardware on another piece later on. Hope I've inspired you to try something new! Its a fun and easy job, and its very rewarding when you see the changes you've made.
