https://honeyandroses.com/2015/04/25/makeover-of-a-pine-kitchen-chair-using-chalk-paint/

Inspired by my successful first experience using chalk paint … with the makeover of a terracotta garden pot (see here). I decided I was ready to progress to a piece of furniture. My next victim project is the makeover of a pine kitchen chair using chalk paint.

Here is a before photo. As you can see, it’s a rather sweet pine kitchen chair that was handed down to me from my good friend Jenni. The fondly named Jenni’s Chair has survived a couple of culls before moving house. As well as being used as a make-shift step ladder when painting. I think she deserves better … time this old girl had a makeover!

I like the turned legs and spindle back. Not a fan of the orange colour!

One of the selling points of chalk paint is the lack of prep required. But old habits die hard and if I’m truly honest with myself, I just can’t believe you don’t need to sand before you paint! So I gave the chair a quick sand with medium grade sandpaper and a wipe down with sugar soap and water.

However, I did skip the undercoat and went straight to painting … baby steps! I decided to try two-colour distressing technique. Using Annie Sloan’s chalk paint, I started with a base coat of Old White and finished with 2 coats of Provence.

Quick Tip … start by painting a chair upside-down, that way you’ll be sure to get every nook and cranny.

I then used some very fine sandpaper to distress. I started softly at first to show the white paint. Then applied some more pressure to cut through to the wood. The key to distressing is to sand the edges, corners and beveled areas. Think about what areas or edges would naturally get knocked and worn over time … and sand there.

I have always used a polyurethane as a protective finish on my furniture. However, looking around it appears a lot of people use wax as a finish with chalk paint … and very successfully! As a little girl, I remember my parents waxing antique furniture to sell in their shop (with beeswax if I remember correctly). So the idea of using wax on furniture is nothing new … here I go!

I used a brush to apply the wax and then wiped off the excess with an old white t-shirt. I worked on small sections at a time … as recommended. After a couple of days, I buffed the chair with cheese cloth to create a shine.

There appears to be two schools of thought on distressing chalk paint … before applying wax or after. I distressed before applying the wax and was pleased with the results.