Homemade Chalk Paint: Dresser Makeover

I have seen some pretty amazing furniture makeovers using chalk paint and I have pinned them and awed over them hoping they would give me some inspiration to do my own makeover whenever I found the right piece of furniture.  Luckily my mom is always on the lookout and spotted a dresser that someone was throwing out and brought it home.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the dresser.  It is in great shape and I still wonder why someone decided to just toss it but I am thankful they did.  It was the perfect piece for my very first experience with chalk paint.  I looked into purchasing chalk paint but it was pretty expensive and there are lots of homemade recipes out there so I decided to try one (or two) of them out.  Here are the pictures I took before I started:

I found a lot of different recipes online.  Some used Plaster of Paris and others used Unsanded Grout.  I started out using the Unsanded Grout recipe because that is what I found first at Lowe's. 

 

1 Tablespoon Unsanded Grout

1 Tablespoon Water

Mix the above together and then add

1 Cup Flat Latex Paint

Blend well

                                    

                                          

 I followed the instructions I found online but I was sure I was doing it wrong because all of the recipes I found talked about how thick the paint was and how quickly it dried up.  Some of the comments even mentioned the paint hardening into clumps of paint.  My paint looked completely normal and had me thinking I was not doing something right.  So after a few coats I decided that I must have gotten the wrong kind of grout so I headed back to the store to find Plaster of Paris.  I came home and mixed up a new batch using this recipe:

1/2 Cup Plaster of Paris

1/2 Cup Water 

Mix the above together and then add

1 Cup Flat Latex Paint

Blend well

 

This mixture looked just the same - smooth and not thick at all.  I still don't know if I did it correctly or not but I went with it anyway.  A lot of the recipes mentioned how fast it will dry up but I left it in this open container for hours without it drying up at all.  It did not harden in the slightest.  I did have to do A LOT of coats to get it completely covered.  One of the great things about chalk paint is that it does not require sanding or priming.  However, I WOULD recommend sanding if the piece has been previously painted.  If it is solid wood without any paint skip the sanding and priming and get straight to painting!

I had planned to use polyurethane to seal and protect the dresser but after reading about it yellowing in time I decided to go with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in Natural.  This was easy to find in the paint section right beside the stains.  I followed the directions and used cheesecloth to wipe the wax on the dresser.  By the time I was finished putting the wax on I had used up all my cheesecloth so I used an old cotton burp cloth to rub the wax in and the burp cloth worked much better than the cheesecloth. 

As I was waxing my fingernail snagged a piece of the raised design on the top drawer.  At first I was SUPER bummed because at that point I had been working on the dresser for ten hours and I was ready to be done but when I saw the white peeking through it was like it was just begging to be distressed.  I got the finest sand paper I could find and went along the edges and eventually all over.  The dresser is going in my three year old's new firetruck room (more on that later!) and distressing it will definitely keep this Momma from stressing out every time it gets a knick or scratch because let's face it, three year olds are tough on just about everything!

 

I love the lines and the shape of this dresser.  It has a retro feel that I really like and the curves at the bottom are perfect. After some new hardware and lots of work, someone else's trash definitely became a treasure - thanks Mom! This was my first experience with DIY chalk paint but it definitely will not be my last.  I already have a couple of ideas for my next chalk paint project. Have YOU ever tried chalk paint? What is your favorite recipe? I'd love to see some of your treasures!