Desk Re-Do

LOVE chalk paint...my new thing...after the armoire turned out so well, I thought, "I should paint that desk downstairs, the one with the laquer finish that would otherwise have to be sanded and then painted" Oh yeah...those girls over at Your Funky Junk warned me once you paint with chalk paint, you will be hooked...and they were so right...love it!!!

So here is the desk...hubby had it before we were married 25 years ago...for the longest time it was what we kept the cat food on so the dog wouldn't eat it...and since we moved into this house, it has held my sewing machine...but it is red stained, and it totally needed a color change. Chalk paint...black and cream....would have painted the whole thing black, but was concerned about sewing on a black top, might be hard to see...I don't know...

 When knobs are on sale at Hobby Lobby, we usually pick up some that we like, and I found a set of these in the knob box...yes, we have a box for knobs....lol

 Here is the finished desk...I opted to seal the chalk paint with 2 coats of acrylic polyurenthane, just so the paint wouldn't chip. I love the clean, fresh look it has now...so much better in this space than before.

Chalk Paint Attempt

Been wanting to try chalk paint out for a while now. Of course, here in southern Ontario, no one sells Annie Sloans Chalk paint, so I decided to try making my own. After searching online, I decided to try the paint, water and plaster of paris recipe . ( 1 1/2 cups latex paint, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup plaster of paris...mix the water and p of p, and stir into paint)It was easy enough to make and I loved how it covered the old armoire without any sanding or prep work. It felt all chalky when dry on my piece.

So here is the said armoire. We picked it up at a yard sale a few years ago, without really anywhere to use it. I didn't even like it. But then we moved to our new old house, and Im sure you know what the closet space is like in older homes...so I graciously told hubby he could have the only closet in our room, and this armoire would be for my stuff. I know what you are thinking....how could you possibly fit a women's wardrobe in this...but I did...anyhow, it is ugly...plain jane....so it was time for a makeover

 Here is the new color scheme...cream left over from basement painting, and light turquoise from my son's room...one coat done!

 Two coats...now, I painted this sloppily,,,every which way, and with lots of paint in some places and not so much in others...watch this video for some help with the hows...

 Here you can see the somewhat sloppy way I painted

 Then once the two coats were done, I stenciled with a dollar store stencil...yup, you read correctly...

 Now came the work. Since we don't have the Annie Sloan products, I bought a paste wax at the local hardware, found it in the cleaning section...they said it was for polishing wood floors...oooook...and I bought some Minwax dark finishing wax. Both products were a lot more solid than what the Annie Sloan seems to be in the above video...but they worked fine. I sanded some edges to get that distressed look.  Firstly, I rubbed the clear wax over an area and then rubbed it off, somewhat, and repeated with the dark wax, until I got the desired effect, and finished with the clear wax. It was not as easy for me as it looked in the video, but then I wasn't using the same products.

Below is the finished piece, and although it didnt turn out 100% like I thought it would, I am mostly happy with it. It is a little blotchy, but it looks a lot better than it did. Added some decore on top and lets call it another finished project!!!

 Here you can see the dark stain rubbed into the detail of the armoire...I love how it looks

Thanks for stopping by...let's see what new trouble I can get into.