Thrift Store Table Flip with Chalk Paint

Hello, my favorite people.  I’m so glad you stopped by today!  I love getting to share with you all and I can’t thank you enough for taking time out of your busy day to hang out with me for a few minutes.  It truly means so much to me.

I love to flip furniture.  And I love that my friends and family know that I love to flip furniture because they are always on the lookout for me.  My aunt picked up this side table from a thrift store for $5.  What a steal!  It’s a combo of real and pressed wood.  It wasn’t in the best shape, but I knew that a little chalk paint would dress this little baby right up.

When you don’t have a workshop, you paint projects in your dining room.  Also, you can see that we are still trying to finish up our Shiplap Install.  All we have left to do is paint the trim.  Woohoo!!

The Supplies:

1. Sandpaper
2. Cloth
3. Paint Brush
4. Chalk Paint
5. Clear Wax

There are several brands of chalk paint, but I’ve only tried the Annie Sloan and Rust-Oleum Chalked.  I used Annie Sloan on this piece because it’s what I had, but they are both great paints.  The Rust-Oleum Chalked is much easier to find.

I use the brush below to both paint and wax.  Just give it a good cleaning between the two.

The Process:

The first thing you need to do is prepare your furniture to be painted.  Chalk paint is awesome because you don’t have to sand or strip the existing paint before you start.  You can pretty much paint over anything your little heart desires with chalk paint.  So when I say prepare, it basically means to make sure your piece is clean. This table had a few spots of what looked like candle wax on it, so I just scraped that off and wiped the table down with a cloth.

Next your are going to apply your chalk paint.  I used 2 coats of Annie Sloan French Linen to cover this table.  If you are planning to distress your piece, you will want to have a dark wood or a dark paint underneath so that when you sand, those dark areas will come through.  If you are painting over white or a light wood and then try to distress, those areas that you sand won’t really stand out.

Chalk paint dries super quick.  By the time I finished painting the first coat, the areas that I started with were dry so I could immediately start the second coat.

After the second coat dries, you can start distressing.  This is my favorite part!  You want to distress the areas that would naturally get wear and tear, like corners, edges and around knobs.  After you work your magic, give the furniture a good wipe down to remove all the dust.

The last thing you will do is apply the wax.  I used Annie Sloan Clear Wax.  I use a brush to apply the wax and then come back with a cloth and buff it after it’s dry.  But you could use a cloth to apply the wax if you prefer.  If you are painting a piece that will get a lot of wear and tear, such as a kitchen table, I would highly recommend using a Polycrylic to seal it instead of wax.  The wax will not hold up on a high use area.

The Outcome:

As you can see, I sanded around all the edges of the table and around the knob.

If you are wondering where you can get this adorable, hand-lettered map, check out the talented Allie Smith Designs on Etsy.

There you go friends.  Another day in the life of Beauty For Ashes… giving new life to old pieces.

On another note, I’d love to get to know some of my readers.  Please comment below or send me an email and let’s be friends.  Wishing you all a wonderfully blessed day! xo

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