Join me for some Chalk Painted Furniture ideas and inspiration
I had the pleasure this week of giving a demonstration to a local WI on techniques for chalk painted furniture. On a lovely summers evening I took myself to Puddington, Devon. Read on for some Chalk Painted furniture ideas and inspiration.
For this session, I took along a small table which was a dated orange pine. I also had a little wall shelf which I had painted already so that I could demonstrate how to wax.
A lot of pine furniture has ‘good bones’; in other words is well made and has a nice shape. However, the orange pine was very dated, therefore an ideal candidate to update with some Chalk Paint. I decided on using Oxford Navy by Annie Sloan. This is a gorgeous, deep inky blue which would give my little table style with impact!
I start a demo with a talk about the tools of the trade, so that people can see what is useful when starting a hobby of chalk painting furniture. Then the fun begins when they realise that I haven’t sanded or primed the item of furniture!
You can see the transformation in the before and after photos. I think it’s safe to say that the Oxford Navy has made a huge difference to this piece of chalk painted furniture. Look closely and you will see that I added a surprise on opening the drawer, with a pretty stencil on the side.
Now to the shelf unit. This was another orange pine monstrosity! I wanted to give this wall shelf a vintage look with some French style. The body of the shelf is painted in Annie Sloan Country Grey. This Annie Sloan colour is an alternative to the neutral tones of grey or cream. I added some stencilling in Duck Egg Blue and Coco to mimic old wall paper.
I am often asked how to antique furniture with Chalk Paint, and this is the technique I use. I use the bristle brush to apply the paint, layering and stippling to create texture. Then, after clear waxing, I apply the dark wax. working this into any texture where it will sit. This mimics old paint that has aged with time. A tip for this technique is to work in stages, adding the dark wax and then wiping away any excess.