If you miss the old days of grandma's kitchen or your own mother's old fashioned cozy home, you can reconnect here and get a flavor for all things vintage, warm, cozy, special, and memorable!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Trying the Chalk Painting Thing.....

Since I moved into my place a couple of years ago and brought with me the earth toned contemporary style furniture I already had, things have gotten quite boring to me.  Yes, I know that even if I do not have small children or pets and my color choice is practical for hiding a good amount of wear and tear it concerns me to be so milk toast. You may remember my post from some months ago highlighting the re-do of my galley kitchen. There is not a lot a person can do to improve thier digs when they are owned by someone else, i.e., a property management company. However there are small details that can be enhanced, colors introduced and non permanent things that can be brought in to make your place your own.
Well, changing out the furniture in my place will certainly make my townhouse feel like a real home.  And I am excited about that.
 
In the past year I have really bought into the shabby chic look.  On Facebook I joined a county shabby chic page and seen all the beautiful furniture pieces that people sell there and share with their members.  Since I am a big fan of a softer palate of colors for my surroundings this style works well for me.  Chalk painted tables and hardwood accessories, the soft pastel/white/linen colors of upholstered pieces and various decorative pieces in soft turquoise, sage green and pink go no only with my personality but also brighton my demeanor.  So that's the way I choose to go and decided to embark on
chalk painting a piece of furniture that screams "I want to be painted". 
 
It is a country french china cabinet done in dark cherry or mahogany.  Some people warned me not to paint such a beautiful piece..leave it as I found it.  I used to agree with that piece of advice. I thought it, at one time, that it was a crime to paint over natural wood.  But as the decades have proven, dark pieces make for a dark room.  And seeing the success that others have had with chalk painting intrigued and excited the heck out of me!  I can see the possibilities of having a pretty dining room with my pink Homer Laughlin "Marilyn" pattern china displayed so proudly. I can see pretty floral pieces and dazzling crystal set up in this  cabinet providing the perfect starting point for setting up a chalk painted country french dining table with chairs upholstered in a lovely cabbage rose pattern to match the skirt that hides the cabinets under my kitchen sink directly adjacent to the dining room.  My mind cannot stop now.  I am so ready for this.
Here is the before of my cabinet:
 
The beautiful lines and curves of this cabinet work perfectly
for a chalk painting project.  I cannot wait to get started!
So I picked the color I wanted, which was a linen white, and did some research to learn that the paint type I wanted is available at Home Depot.  It was just a quart and cost $15.98.  I bought some new brushes and a drop cloth too.  Everything I had been reading up to now about this kind of project kept telling me how esy it was to use chalk paint, how forgiving it is..what a nice smooth finish it provides with no sanding or surface prep required other than a light wipe down with a mild detergent to get rid of dust or other particles. 
I ran home, paint in the bag with all of my tools. I couldn't wait to get the paint opened.  I knew I had thoroughly dusted the piece the day previous and did not observe any new dust accumulating since.  I taped off the glass doors, but I left the hardware which i wanted to be painted anyway, and if need be I would change out the knobs later. 
I laid on the first coat with a brush about 3 inches wide.  The paint was smooth and thick.  I tried to be as even handed as I possibly could as I stroked on each line of paint and moved from the side of the cabinet to the front aruond the glass doors and up around the molding. 
 
It was about this time that I noticed the paint had taken on a crackle effect.  Oh no.  This is not the smooth linen finish I expected or wanted.  I had to stop.

This is what I expected the piece to look like:

The fnish on here is not streaky or crackled. It is a smooth
white finish with a wax sealant on it.  I think the
finish makes the china more attractive. Just my opinion though.


When I posted this on FB I got kudos from many who said they thought this was
a very attractive outcome and said they would not change it.
While my FB friends thought this was a beautiful finish I could not disagree more.  I envisioned a different smooth white shiney finish. I felt that it highlighted the china more and provided a sort of fancy with a plain backdrop for everything inside the cabinet.  I believe that the crackle finish makes everything look more folk art primitive...not the look I wanted.
So today I will be going home and working on correcting this and my next blog update will follow letting you know what happens.  Thanks for following.  I will return in a few days! 

So it has been a few weeks and I have not even gone back to my chalkpainting project.  I am so afraid of being found out by a professional grade chalk painter that my efforts were less than stellar and that I may have ruined my piece. You see, I am not ready to sand down the finish on the portion of the cabinet that crackled.  So I tried painting it with shellac and repainting in an inconspicuous place and I am not sure it looks good painted matte white.  I will never be able to get that chalk paint finish that I was seeking.  Oh well!

So, onward and upward to just painting the whole thing with plain white latex, replacing the knobs and calling it a day. I find that I just do not have the energy to re-do this whole project right now.  Here I was thinking this endeavor would be fast and easy, but it is not, especially when I figure in all the things I would rather do on the weekend or at the end of a long day.

I will try this paint method on another piece that is smaller on another day in the future.  Take care and see you back here next time.

2 comments:

  1. hi
    how are U?
    nice blog
    ============
    ahmad from Luxor - Egypt
    rashidyahmad@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sorry it took me a long time to answer. Since I wrote this entry I acted on an instinct to go after a small home I found to buy. I hope that you read future entries so that you can see what I have to share. so nice of you to write..I am fine and dandy, thank you. I appreciate your nice comments. Send more my new blog friend. :)

    ReplyDelete

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