Here it is...see what I mean...it needs a little love! First things first...I removed the wooden knobs since I am going to replace them with new hardware. Next, I washed it down with soap and water to get all of the dust and debris off of it. Let it dry overnight and then, I sealed it with Zissner clear shellac which I got from Home Depot.
For this piece I decided I was going to try to mix some different chalk paint colors. I wanted to do something dark gray, but my husband wanted a lighter gray. So I compromised....I mixed a dark gray color called Graphite and a lighter gray color called Paris Gray. I mixed 1 part Graphite to 2 parts Paris Gray. You can click on the Annie Sloan link above to see all of the colors! Once I decided on the colors, I went to my local retailer, Drab 2 Fab to get the paint. When I was there I saw a piece where they had a solid color on the top of the cabinet and then another lighter color on the rest of the cabinet. That was perfect! Dark for me and light for my husband! Here is what it looked like after letting the shellac dry for about an hour and using 1 and a half coats of paint (I did let the paint dry overnight between coats) and a little sanding....
So I sanded the edges of the doors and the trim on the doors. I also sanded on the doors and the bottom lip to help it look a little more distressed. I did not do any sanding to the top of the cabinet where the Graphite paint was. I applied 2 coats of chalk paint to it and no sanding. When I sanded the doors, some of the old paint from before showed through. I liked the distressed look and didn't want a completely smooth finish on this piece so I decided to try washing it with just the Paris Gray. To "wash" it I took 1 part of water to 1 part of paint and mixed it together really well. I applied it with some painters cheesecloth. I used vertical strokes when applying it and then went back over it with some more cloth rubbing off the excess until I was happy with the application. I did darker in some spots and lighter in others so it didn't look uniform. This was the look after I washed it....
After letting it dry overnight I applied some Annie Sloan clear wax to it. I used circular motion and worked it into the piece and then wiped the excess off with the painters cheesecloth. The cabinet looked really flat before, but once I added the wax it really shined up nice. To the touch it was smooth but not tacky, so I knew I had gotten all of the extra wax off of it. I let it sit overnight and then I applied the hardware I had picked out for it. I got these knobs from Hobby Lobby. I didn't know they had so many pieces of hardware! Definitely check it out!! And here's the final product.....
I am really happy with the way it turned out. Now to fill it and decorate! Chalk paint is a great way to refinish furniture. It's so easy and helps the amateur painter finish with ease! On to the next piece...
Happy Painting!!!
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