I'm on a Mission

Adoring Husband and I recently discussed changing our ageing bedroom furniture. It's quite outdated, much darker than any other furniture in the house and doesn't go with the beachy decor of everything else in the room.

I did a bit of research and found a style that I quite liked, though it wasn't perfect.

When I related this to my cousin Nellie, she told me about a fairly new craft item in the market place called chalk paint. She is currently chalk painting her bed and has already completed a side table that she inherited from her grandmother.

Because our current furniture is still strong and is good quality, I've decided that a facelift with chalk paint is the way to go. It will cost a fraction of the price of new furniture, will hopefully look amazing and will be a creative outlet for my itching fingers!

Chalk paint is easily accessible from places like Spotlight or other craft stores, but there is a better quality brand available, called Annie Sloan. Stockists in Australia are limited, so I have to order on line and wait for delivery.

Using this paint is an easier way to create the shabby chic or the distressed look on furniture. Where you once had to prepare your furniture with sanding and undercoating and then paint and then use sandpaper to remove the dry paint .. with this, the only preparation is cleaning the furniture.

The paint itself is so soft that you mostly use a rag to create the look. Sometimes, very soft sanding is required, but with little effort. The wax mixing and coating is what sets the paint.

It's also non toxic and has no smell.

I found a few videos to show some techniques and here is one



... and go here to see the finished product

This is what I'm going to do with my bedroom furniture, except mine will be more of a distressed, almost shabby chic look. I'm not sure what colours I'm going to use yet, but these will give you an idea of how imagination and effort can create something special ...

... or maybe a bit more colour and imagination

I'm going to buy some of the cheaper craft paint and practise my technique on some picture frames before I do the furniture. I'll also change the knobs on the drawers, if I can find something suitable or interesting or unique.

I will take 'before' and 'after' pics!

So that is my mission, which I hope to have completed by the end of August.

Thanks for reading.

Nite all.