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Our house has been under construction lately (long story…I’ll find another day to talk about that “story”), so it’s a mess everywhere you go. Z and I have been thinking about giving a more “updated” look to the mantle in the living room for quite some time. Since the house was going to be in a mess for at least another 2-3 more weeks, we finally decided to take the plunge. 

The house was built in 2003, but a lot of 90s look can be found throughout. One prominent feature, besides the “bubble” ceiling, is the honey oak wood – kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, hardwood floor, and our (two) fireplaces’ mantel/trim are this wood kind. Sure, it’s functional and serves the purpose, but it’s a lot of orange in the house. 

Replacing all the wood is not an option, so I have been looking for budget friendly ways to update the aesthetics. Since a year ago, I started to read more about the use of chalk paint and was fascinated with the idea. I researched a lot – milk paint, latex paint, gel paint, stain, etc., but really wanted to give chalk paint a try. Chalk paint is typically used on furniture and sealed with wax. Over the last few years, the popularity of this method exploded amongst crafty demographic. Annie Sloan was the pioneer in developing and commercializing chalk paint; however, nowadays there are tons of other (copycat, some would say) brands out there. Let me just warn that chalk paint is not Godsend. Like any other paints, it has its pros and cons. The definite pro is that it doesn’t require sanding as the paint is very good at adhering to any surface. The con, however, is that it’s not the most durable paint. I would recommend applying on furniture that’s not used heavily. 

 My first use of chalk paint was in September when attended a furniture painting class at Green Groose Resale & Consignment (https://www.greengoose.com/). I used a cheap laminated file cabinet as my project guinea pig at the time.  I learned the basics and gained more confidence to expand my experience, and along came the mantle. 

I’m still learning and perfecting my skills, but with the help of Z, I got to tackle the mantle I’ve been meaning to update for a really long time. Here is how we did it:

[Supplies]

Paint – I used Maison Blanche. I know the majority prefers Annie Sloan, but I had no problem using this brand to ways I want it. I purchased the whitest available (Magnolia) because I want it to pop against the dark accent wall. 

Paint brush – Get 2 or 3 good quality brush depending on how many people are involved in the project. I got 3 Wooster paint brushes that all are all 2″ wide. If your project involves much bigger surface, go for wider paint brushes. I heard that Purdy brushes are really nice too. Angled brushes are more helpful. 

Sealant – I didn’t use wax. While my first guinea pig project was sealed with wax and it’s holding up just fine, I wanted something more durable than wax. Problem with wax is that it’s low tolerant to heat and water. It’s also not a permanent sealant, therefore requires re-waxing every now and so to keep the integrity of the furniture. Let’s be honest, I don’t have time for that. I wanted to make sure the sealant doesn’t turn my about-to-be-white mantle yellow over time, so after much research, I went with Mini Wax Satin Polycrylic Protective Finish. It is water-based solution so it doesn’t yellow the paint later on; also, you can clean the furniture with damp cloth…can’t really do that with furniture on wax. 

[Steps] 

1) Buy TSP (I bought it from Lowe’s) to remove any oil and grease. If your furniture shines, most likely it has some kind of protectant. Add TSP into a bucket of warm water (ratio as directed) and thoroughly clean the furniture. 

2) I know chalk paint advertises as no priming and no sanding. However, I personally wanted to make sure that the surface was smooth and perfect for the paint to adhere. Using the orbital sander, I gently sanded the main surface. Light sanding is all you really need. 

3) With a damp cloth, remove any dust (from sanding). Once dried, apply first coat of the chalk paint. The key is to apply lightly. Just make sure that all surface has some paint on it, but it doesn’t need to covered completely. That part will come later anyway. 

4) Let it dry for 15 minutes (chalk paint typically dries fast). Using a fine sanding block, do a very light sanding just to even out any rough edges from the paint. 

5) Apply 2nd coat. This time, be a little more intentional covering the surface. You still do not want to apply really thick. Make sure to evenly spread and use long brush strokes. Let it dry longer since there is more paint used than before. 

6) Depending on your taste, you can stop after the 2nd coat or do one more. Z and I both preferred a more clean, polished look. We noticed that the wood was still bleeding through the paint (just a little bit), so we decided to go for another coat. I think this part depends on what color you are painting – honestly, if we were painting a dark color, 2 coats of paint would have been just fine. 

(It’s good to keep in mind that chalk paint is really vulnerable to chipping until it is sealed. For those going for vintage/distressed look, this kind of paint is perfect, but we wanted a more polished look. We probably could have achieved this look even better with another type of paint, but we really wanted to see if chalk paint would allow that look we desired.)

7) Once it is completely dried, you can start sealing. Again, instead of using wax, I went with polycrylic, which is more doable to maintain (in terms of cleaning and  maintaining the integrity of) the furniture in the long run. I applied two coats, preferably two hours apart. Same way as before, you will want to evenly seal the surface without caking it. Brush stroking in one direction is highly recommended. 

Another nice thing about polycrylic is that you can apply additional chalk paint on top of that as a touch up. You don’t have to strip down the sealant before you repaint. I noticed that there some spots that I wasn’t too happy with (it wasn’t evenly painted), that I might revisit in the near future. 

That’s it!! Since this was our first major painting project and I was teaching Z in the process, it did take us about 5 hours to complete. Once I get more experienced, I think I would be able to shorten to about 4 hours long, but it certainly depends on size of the project. The mantle is definitely not a highly touched area, but it is one of the centerpieces in our living room, so we wanted to make extra sure we were doing correctly. 

We are really happy with how it turned out!! 

#chalkpaint #diy #furniturepainting #tutorial