Chalk Paint Tutorial

Welcome, Stacy Roseberry, our dear friend in Dallas Texas (also spouse of a clergyman), who recently attempted and succeeded painting furniture using chalk paint. She has an excellent eye for design and is a wonderful mother of two. Thank you for sharing your tutorial with us today!  Here's Stacy's guest post:

Over the years I have inherited many pieces of antique furniture from my family. Some are beautiful the way they are and others don’t quite seem to fit in with the more modern pieces in our home. I really love to find old pieces that blend with the style we already have instead of purchasing something new. 

So, when my husband insisted that he needed more storage for his clothes (if you knew him you would understand why he needs more than half of our master closet including the entire shelf system at the top to store all his shoes) I bought  a beautiful, second-hand French dresser. The dresser had a white and gold speckled finish which just didn’t fit with the other brown furniture in our bedroom. So, I decided to paint it.


Although I have painted many furniture pieces in our house, I didn’t feel like sanding, stripping and priming this piece…not to mention it had a laminate top which wouldn’t hold the paint color. After a tip from my sister-in-law and some researching on the internet, I came across Annie Sloan’s chalk paint.

This isn’t chalk board paint. It is essentially a latex paint with plaster of paris or chalk mixed into the paint creating a thick, super-matte , easy to use furniture paint. The paint has a gritty feel when you brush it on and has an amazing way of lying flat as it dries (in about 20 minutes).  

I started by wiping down the furniture piece with a wet rag and then letting it air dry before applying any paint. I took out all the drawers and removed all the hardware. There is no sanding, priming or anything else to do. Unbelievable! 

I chose duck egg blue chalk paint from the 28 premixed Annie Sloan paint colors. The paint is a little pricey, about $38 per quart but you don’t need much at all to complete a furniture piece. You can mix the colors or even add water to create a light coverage. I did not add anything to my paint because the color and finish was exactly what I wanted. Then, I just started painting with a natural bristle paintbrush. The paint would dry really quickly, so I worked in small sections. I tried to work with the grain of the wood because you can see the brush strokes a little when it dries. Even though this paint is amazing, it is still a hand painted piece.

After one coat, really that is all it takes, you are ready to apply Annie Sloan’s soft wax. I would recommend getting her clear finishing wax because I tried to save money and purchase another wax and it actually stripped the paint finish off my furniture. The wax looks and feels like Crisco. I just used an old t-shirt to apply the wax, but Annie Sloan recommends a round brush. It was a little tough to get into some of the detailed areas but it saved me another $20. Here you can see the slightly darker finish after applying the wax. It seals the paint and makes it much more durable. When the wax dries you can take another clean t-shirt and buff it to wipe off any excess wax.

   Another thing that makes this paint awesome for furniture is its workability. After you paint and clear wax you can sand the edges as well as take the Annie Sloan dark wax and detail the decorative accents on the piece. You brush it into the edges and around any ornamental details then wipe it off to create depth and an aged look. We like things to be more simple with clean lines so we did not age our dresser. The finished piece is gorgeous and I couldn’t be any more pleased with the results. My neighbor liked it so much I took her to get some chalk paint in red and she completed her antique chest by the end of the next day. 

THANK YOU, STACY!!!!