Chalk paint obsession

Hello! HUGE apologies for my absence over this summer. No worries, I've been crafting daily, but my Instagram has been my DIY diary rather than here. My newest obsession (or one of them at least) has been chalk painting. I took a class to learn techniques and about how you can use the paint... Which by the way you can literally paint anything with chalk paint. Your rug?? Yes. Your drapes, yes! Your lamp shades? YES! So needless to say I am converted and have slowly been painting everything!!! Below are some of the latest projects

Before

After

Before

After

Complete dining room chair set

Before

After

The chairs were my first babies, and after seeing their transformation I had to keep painting. I highly encourage everyone to look into the paint. It's ease of use is what makes it soo attractive. Below are the basic steps in case you're interested and there are tons of tutorials on YouTube, too!

1. Do not sand the furniture. Simply dust or clean it.
2. No primer needed. Paint your first coat covering the surface thoroughly. If you want to be able the distress the furniture so that one color shows through when you sand, you will need to paint two coats of the base coat in the first color and another coat of the second color on top. 
3. Once you have fully covered the surface in 2 coats ( 3 coats total if using 2 colors), lightly sand the entire surface with 320 grit sandpaper (stop when the surface is smooth). For a distressed look, start by rubbing the corners until the wood or first color show through. Remember, LESS IS MORE HERE! Once the edges are distressed, sand away one or two bigger areas on the entire pieces. For example, on the dresser I distressed, I have one larger area on the drawers and then one on the side. Try to distress where you think will naturally distress with time.
4. The last step is to wax the nature piece. I highly recommend Annie Sloan clear wax. Once applied, remove with an old t-shirt (NO PAPER TOWELS!) 
5. Let the piece dry for 48 solid hours before placing items on top of it! 

Hope these steps help you get started. I've transformed some pretty ugly pieces into pretty pieces all with the paint... And you can too!! 

Happy DIYing!

Gretel