Hi readers! I recently went to a friend's house for a play date and saw her beautiful kitchen. When I made a comment about how great it was, she said, "you should have seen it before." She pulled out the old listing and needless to say it was a major transformation. What was the big change you ask? She chalk painted the cabinets. That's it. I was intrigued and immediately texted my husband a picture with, "We are doing this." I'm a little behind the times I guess since chalk paint has been around for awhile, but I've never looked into it. After seeing her kitchen, I was sold!
We moved into our current house a little over a year ago. The layout and space were perfect for us, but the kitchen was ugly. Think maroon walls sponged over with gold and gray Formica countertops. Yikes!
Prior to moving in, I picked out granite countertops and painted the walls. A few months later we tiled the back splash. Those changes alone made quite a transformation. However, I still hate the cabinets (and appliances except my new dishwasher--but that's for another day).
I like to call myself a "lifetime learner." I always loved being a student, studying and researching. Anyway, my first step in learning about chalk paint was research. Thanks to the many blogs out there I have learned a lot. Therefore, I am going to catalog my journey as a newbie for others to read and learn from the mistakes that I will no doubt make.
After reading several interesting blogs, I decided to start by trying to make my own chalk like paint with calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate can be purchased online. I got mine off Amazon.
I figured if making my own didn't work out I could always buy the popular name brand chalk paint. I did however buy the Annie Sloan clear and dark wax. After lots of reading, I think this is the best decision for the look I want to achieve.
Now to the materials prep. I made a list of everything I needed and started shopping online and in the store with 2 kids in tow.
Here's my list:
- unscented mineral spirits (for cleaning the cabinets)
- scrub sponges (to scrub with of course)
- shellac (after reading a post on
The Purple Painted Lady I wasn't going to take any chances)
- painter's tape (to tape off the walls and back splash)
- chip brush (for the chalk paint)
- wax brush
- calcium carbonate (powder form only)
- Sherwin Williams Color to Go in Antique White
- Annie Sloan clear wax
- Annie Sloan dark wax
- Annie Sloan buffing brush
- clean cloths (for wiping off the wax)
- small paint tray
- measuring cups (b/c I wasn't going to use my kitchen ones)
- crown molding (for an even fancier finish)
- cabinet pulls and knob samples (until I can decide on one)
Items I already had:
- paper plates (to put a small amount of wax on to dip the brush)
- plastic spoons (for scooping out the wax)
- drill and paddle for mixing the paint (optional but I want a super smooth finish)
Now that I've got all of the materials (I think), it's time to get started. I'll post the project in sections since there seems to be quite a few steps in the process. I plan to start with the crown molding so if the DIY chalk paint doesn't work, I can go by the name brand product.
Fingers crossed.
