End Table Mini-Tutorial

I am working toward painting the end tables and coffee table in my living room.  They are not great quality {shiny finished fake cherry wood}, so I don't feel bad at all for changing them.  My living room has brown walls, brown hardwood floors and brown tables/accent pieces.  Sit in my living room and you know what it feels like to be on the inside of a Hershey Kiss!  I need to lighten up a bit, so I am painting all the tables and accent pieces in linen chalk paint.  My paint is from a local lady who has a great shop inside Woodstock Market.  Laura Whitlow's business is called Rethunk Junk.  If you live in the northern 'burbs of Atlanta, you should check her out!  Laura makes her own paint, and I love how easy it is to work with.  So today I painted one of my end tables and below are the steps in the process.  Total work time for this project was about 2 hours.  Of course there was dry time in between, but this paint dries really quickly!

The Subject {the underside of this table has a sticker that says it was delivered on 09/05/92...we've had this table for over 20 years!}:

The Supplies:

Although sanding is not needed when using chalk paint, I go ahead and give my pieces a light sanding since my Mouse sander works so quickly.

After sanding, comes a dusting, followed by a wipe down with a wet cloth.  I just use warm water with a splash of pine-sol.

Now it's time for the first coat of paint.

And here she is with her first coat, drying.  Dry time is very quick with chalk paint!

The second coat covers very well, and then she dries again.  I must admit, I put a 3rd coat on the table top just to ensure no chipping.

My next step was to sand the edges and corners to give this table a worn/aged look.  Doing this step is personal preference and totally determined by what look you are trying to achieve.

After another good dusting, my table is ready for polishing.  This is a dark wax.  There is also a clear wax.  The dark gives a little darker tint, where clear keeps the original color intact.  I use a soft dry cloth to apply this evenly over the entire piece.

After this step, my table is completely done, ready to go back to its home.  I think I'm going to be SUPER happy with all the tables in this room painted with my linen chalk paint!

Hope this helps show you just how quick and easy Chalk Paint is to use!

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