From Drab to Fab!

Hey, Katie here with some fun DIY I did the other week and thought I would share with y'all!  While Jen and I were working a Pop-Up in Folsom, CA she was talking about a store she wanted to pop into called Not Too Shabby so she could check out some furniture that was painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint.  I'll be completely honest, at first I was thinking "chalk paint?! well that sounds weird", because I was thinking of chalk board paint, which turns out, is completely different.  Jen told me she eventually wanted to paint her entertainment center (which is this awesome giant dresser) a really pretty green that Annie Sloan had.  Well I stole the color haha.  Luckily we don't get jealous about those little things because we have a lot of similar tastes since we've known each other for over two decades.

Well enough chit chat, let's get into this!  Ok well a little more chit chat first.  Last year I moved in with my boyfriend Eric, and we're slowly starting to make the house feel a bit more homey with curtains, and plants etc., and making room for my stuff, and as any woman knows, closet space is important.  While we were moving items around in our walk-in closet to make room for my items, we were also cleaning out the hall closet.  Within the hall closet was a dresser that we wanted moved out of there, and I decided I wanted it in the bedroom closet, but its style wasn't really my jam. So let’s change that and give it a coat of chalk paint! 

Supplies

• Chalk paint
• Wax
• Large oval/round brush x 2
• Lint free rag
• Towel
• Drop cloth
• New hardware (optional)

As I said before, Jen told me about chalk paint.  And the AMAZING thing about chalk paint is there's no prep work.  You read that right. ZERO prep work.  No sanding, no priming, just painting.  Also, no strong paint odor; I honestly don't recall an odor at all.  Once you've put on a two coats of paint you'll then apply a sealing wax.  The sealing wax really makes the color pop and look lush and rich.

One of the only down sides to Annie Sloan paint is that you can only get it at certain retailers, but let me tell you, it's worth it.  The colors are gorgeous and Annie Sloan paint is known for its longevity.

The paint color above is the one I used, and you'll be surprised how much paint you'll have left over; it goes a lot further than you'd think.  I did two coats on this dresser and still have about 3/4 of the liter can left.  Same with the wax.  The price tag of the paint may scare you, but trust me, it's worth it.

Annie Sloan has their own chalk paint brush, however it's a bit too pricey for my taste.  I went to Amazon and was able to find this set of 5 for $25, about half the price of the Annie Sloan brand, and they worked great:

Before I started, I designated a brush for paint and a brush for wax by writing on the handle, you don't want to cross contaminate brushes as the wax brush will most likely always stay a bit..well..waxy!

The new hardware I picked was also from Amazon.  Since there were only 4 knobs I wanted to do something unusual, and I found these awesome bee knobs!  Bee's always remind me of my Grandma, because she used to have this cool bee pendant, so when I saw these I knew they were the winners.

For the main drawer pulls I went with some simple brass pulls, also from Amazon.

Once you're all set up and ready to go, just paint! Don't worry about painting in the same direction, it literally does not matter.  After your first coat wait about 30 minutes and then go with your second coat, making sure you get all the spots that are coming through the paint.

After your two coats are done, wait a full two hours to make sure everything is completely dry and then apply your wax.  The wax seems a bit intimidating, but it's easy I promise.  Grab wax with your wax brush and start going over each section.  The best advice I can give is to go section by section.  For example I started with the top, applied the wax, and then took my lint free rag (an old t-shirt in my case) and wiped the excess off.  I continued that process down the drawers and then the sides.

After you wax, you're done! Add on your new hardware if you have any then take a step back and look at your masterpiece.  Pat yourself on the back, you just gave an awesome makeover to your piece of furniture.

*Side note, the painting of the palm trees on my back wall was painted by no other than Jen's ubër talented mom, Kathy!