I was super excited when Tina sent me a Facebook message about a little dresser she had picked up – I had been wanting to play with DecoArts Chalky Finish for months & finally had the perfect excuse. Tina, attends Dental School with Chad & is my new thrifting soul sister. I mean, not ALL people head straight to the clearance racks, and have no problem spending hours combing through the racks at Goodwill – but Tina gets IT. It’s so refreshing to be with somebody who loves to thrift, decorate & save some money. We may or not have a monthly date with the local goodwills on 50% off Saturday. (I’m already counting down!)
So, Tina came over and we got to work on her little dresser. It ended up not being solid wood, so we had to modify our plans a little bit; but it still turned out great & ultimately just saved us a few steps. Typically, you would sand off the previous pant, stain, etc – until you get down to the base wood. This dresser was a crazy material & we ended up just hand sanding the flower detailing a little bit to help the paint adhere.
Then, we took DecoArt Chalky Finish in Everlasting and went to town. We ended up doing 3 coats to get the thickness and color we wanted, waiting between coats & making sure to go over everything pretty evenly.
We also decided we wanted to do a darker top, so made a quick run to the store to get find the right shade we wanted. Then, after the paint had dried – we started to hand distress the edges and sides/legs with sandpaper to get a slightly distressed look.
Then, we let it sit for a week before applying a top coat of wax. EASY PEASY. This was a quick morning project & we really only used the Everlasting (white) Chalky Finish, the brown paint for the top & the top wax. I was really impressed with how well the Chalky Finish covered the darkness of the original dresser & how quickly it dried. We barely sanded anything other than the flowers & it looks amazing. I cannot wait to use this paint to do some other projects….I’m thinking a growth chart for Presley, a thrifted TV tray – I mean, the possibilities are endless.
Tips:
*Work in a well ventilated, COOL area. We started outside – but in 100 degree heat the Chalky Finish was liquid instead of creamy, so we moved inside.
*Lay down a drop cloth to protect your flooring
*Let paint dry fully between coats
*Wash your brushes between coats
*Distressed = not perfect
*Wait a week before applying wax to let the paint fully ‘cure’
Not bad huh?
Make sure you check out DecoArt and the amazing products they offer. Their instagram feed is my favorite – before/afters are my kryptonite.
*I was sent these products for free in exchange for this review – all opinions and pictures are my own*
[…] everything. Our first project was this small dresser makeover – you can see the tutorial HERE. Our next project this last week with some leftover white paint from a previous project was easy, […]