I feel that I have to speak up in defense of all the great pieces of old wooden furniture that are being snatched up by us furniture painters to be painted with chalk paint.
Some not so great things are happening to some fantastic furniture pieces!
When I look back at some of the very first pieces of furniture I painted with chalk paint, I see many, many mistakes that I made.
I’ve never excelled in artistic endeavors, and I’ve learned that producing quality makeovers when painting furniture requires some basic artistic skills.
With lots of errors and lots of practice, I have grown in those skills.
And I have been able to pinpoint a few things I believe are definite Do’s and Don’ts for painting furniture with chalk paint.
The popularity of chalk paint and paints like it, has given many the confidence to try painting furniture for themselves, which I think is wonderful!
BUT . . . there is a learning curve to producing pieces that are professional, attractive, and will be timeless in your decor.
So, whether it’s painting with chalk paint, painting with milk paint, or Fusion Mineral paint, the principles still apply.
Here is my short list of Do’s and Don’ts for painting furniture with chalk paint.
I’ve also included examples pulled from pieces I have found for sale on Craigslist around the country:
Pin This Resource Page!
DON’T use too many different colors OR colors contrasting too greatly . . .
Creating too much color contrast often gives the piece a childish style. Unless you already decorate with a colorful “50’s modern” style of decor, rarely do these bright, starkly contrasting pieces work.
DO use subtle contrasts and anchor it with wood . . .
The contrasting colors on this piece are still pretty stark, but the subtle distressing and solid wood top anchor the color scheme and add elegance. This helps the piece look classy instead of “kiddie”
DON’T over distress . . .
Unlike milk paint, chalk paint will not self-chip. It must be distressed with sanding paper.
Taking too much sanding paper to a piece results in a look that is unnatural and unprofessional.
DO lightly sand edges to create texture and visual depth…
Adding some slight distressing in appropriate places brings out depth and character to a piece.
If you’re wanting a super chippy, primitive look, consider using milk paint instead of chalk paint (read more about the difference in those here).
The chippy / distressed look will come across much more natural.
DON’T get overzealous with hand-painting …
While I admire the artistic talents of the individuals who painted these pieces, I can’t say their skills are best used on furniture.
These pieces will inevitably be painted over before you can say “animal print.”
I think it’s best to save the intricate designs for wall art that you can more easily change out over time.
DO try subtle hand-painting designs to add visual interest . . .
Much better, don’t you agree?
Subtle hand-painting on a furniture piece appeals to a much broader audience and will last longer in your decorative space.
DON’T disregard the original era and style of the piece . . .
A sleek mid-century modern sideboard just doesn’t look right painted in a primitive, heavily distressed style.
DO understand the style of the piece and use paint to enhance that style . . .
A piece from a glam, sleek era looks much more appropriate with a glam, sleek color scheme.
And lastly, DON’T substitute paint for wood stain . . .
This may be a personal preference, but I see so many tables painted in dark brown or black on top rather than refinished with wood stain.
Call me a purist, but to me it looks unprofessional.
If you want to create a stained wood top on a table or dresser, it is more professional (and longer lasting) to actually refinish and stain the wood instead of using dark paint.
DO learn how to strip, sand, and re-stain to create beautiful wood finishes . . .
Sanding and refinishing bare wood may sound intimidating, but it really isn’t! I’ve actually written two-post tutorial to show you just how simple it can be.
Try it out on some extra wood you have, and I think you will find yourself getting hooked.
I’m not always 100% satisfied with each and every piece I’ve made over. But the more pieces I do, the more I learn what works and what doesn’t in the world of painted furniture.
Well, I hope this has given you some tracks to run on if you are thinking about trying your own project.
The good thing is, it’s just paint!! And if a piece doesn’t turn out right, you can always start over 🙂
And if any of the “Don’t” examples were pieces you happen to be selling on CL, please don’t hate me!
This post was meant to be helpful and not condescending in any way. I realize everybody has their own taste and style, so enjoy creating pieces that fit your unique vision but that also have a broad and timeless appeal.
Update – I now use Fusion Mineral Paint in place of chalk paint (all brands). I have found Fusion to be more affordable to to produce more durable results, all without the need to finish with wax. My suggestions in this post for using chalk paint still hold true and apply also to using Fusion or any other paint to paint furniture.
If you’re interested, can read my step-by-step Chalk Paint vs Fusion Paint here.
Wanna learn more about the basics of painting furniture? Check out these posts!
How to Prep Extra Dirty Piece for Chalk Paint
What to Look For When buyBuying Old Furniture to Paint
How to Use Glaze or Dark Wax to Antique Your Painted Furniture
And, if you’re ready to get your paint brush dirty, I’d love to get you started.
You can check out all of Fusion’s colors and product by clicking right below.
Happy Painting!
PS – If you think your furniture painting friends would find this helpful, I’d be honored if you’d share the love where ever you typically share things (Facebook, Pinterest, Email).
Thanks, Melanie. Excellent advice.
Thanks Ann Marie. I was really trying to offer helpful advice and not sound snobby, I hope it came across that way 🙂
What sandpaper should I use to sand in between coats of fusion paint. Do you sand after using ultra grip?
Hi Shellie. I use a very fine grit, a Two Twenty or Three Twenty to sand in between coats and to do a final sanding. You can sand lightly after Ultra Grip to smooth out any bumps, but it’s not necessary.
Thank you so much.
This is an offensive blog. I found one of my pieces on here that was used to test a color and donated to a fellow painter! You stated that it was “over distressed” when it was never distressed at all, but dry brushed! Your an arrogant & ignorant lady. I would ask permission and do research next time you decide to steal people’s images!
J, I am sorry you were offended. I took all of the images from pieces that were listed for sale on Craigslist, not from people’s blogs or websites. I also say very clearly at the end of the post that the it was written to provide helpful tips for people looking create furniture pieces that will have a timeless appeal and sell well. I also say that everyone has their own style and taste, and ultimately you need to enjoy creating pieces that are unique to your vision and that you enjoy. I appreciate you stopping by and voicing your concerns, and I wish you all the best in your furniture painting future!
So I was told to make my own chalk paint 1/3 cup plaster Paris, 1/3 water 1 cup latex paint so I did. I hate the way it feels it’s way to chalky so I ended up taking fine sand paper and sanding it down somewhat smooth and will be going to buy chalk paint. Will I have trouble since I painted it with to chalk paint I used first or will it work out ok? This is my first experience and I shoild have just bought it but was told sit buy it make it lol….big mistake so just wondering the best way to correct the situation and save the piece.
Kevin
Hi Kevin. I have never made my own chalk paint because I was concerned about having the same issue! I don’t think you will have any problems though painting over your homemade chalk paint (as long as you have not applied any wax to it yet). Could I make another suggestion though? If you are considering buying paint, I would recommend Fusion Mineral Paint instead of a chalk paint. Fusion has the ease of use of chalk paint, but paints smooth like latex and seals the surface without any need of a topcoat. It’s an acrylic paint, so a totally different product. It has replaced all of my chalk paint use! You can read more about the difference between Fusion and chalk paint here. Good luck and happy painting!
Hi,
I have an old coffee table that legs are uneven. You can notice it on solid floors. Not as noticeable on carpet. I do want to sell it. The table is sturdy and we reinforced the joints with wood glue. Any suggestions on how to address a wobbly table?
Could you trim off the bottom of the longer legs Christine, to make all of them even to the shortest leg? Without being able to see the piece that’s my best guess. Good luck!
Do you put on a coat of wax after using chalk paint?
Yes! Chalk paint has to be sealed with something, either a wax or a poly. Typically wax is the choice. Although I don’t use much chalk paint anymore, but use Fusion Mineral Paint now mostly. Fusion is an acrylic paint and doesn’t require a topcoat of any kind to be sealed.
I’m not a very handy kind of woman, so I seldom try my hand at this DIY stuff. But I love the furniture in the pictures!
Thanks Nicole. I love your blog and enjoyed reading through several of your posts today.
Great advice – thanks for all the great points! P.S. About ten minutes after I read your blog post I came across this beauty on CL – haha!
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252
{\fonttbl}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
}
I can’t see the link, but I bet it’s some crazy stuff! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Yes, a dining set featuring red, turquoise and black paint on blonde wood…whoa! I stumbled upon your blog last week while searching for tips for refinishing an old solid wood dining set that was given to me. It has trestle legs and two leafs – fully extended, it’s 102″ long. I got some great ideas from your blog and am slowly making progress!
Oh my, that does sound interesting! I’m so glad you found the site and that it’s been helpful. Your table sounds like a big project! You can do it though 🙂 Feel free to email me if you have any questions along the way.
I couldn’t agree with you more! People also need to learn when not to paint! Valuable antiques should be restored not devalued with paint. I love to paint everything so I struggle with my last point!
Like I said at the end, the good thing Jody about paint is that it can always be removed 🙂 So even if we paint one of those great antiques we can always take it back off. It’s hard to balance appreciating the history a piece with giving it a more modern look.
Thanks for the tips, didn’t know you can use chalks to paint furniture.
Hello Michal! This is a specific type of paint called chalk paint, and it’s different that chalkboard paint. In the past few years several brands of chalk paint have come out (Annie Sloan, Cece Caldwell, Maison Blanche) and it’s paint specifically formulated for furniture. It’s great stuff!!
These are great tips! I never like the over distressed look, especially when it’s on a piece of more modern design. Thanks for sharing at Fridays Unfolded! Just pinned to the links board.
Alison
Nancherrow
Thanks Alison! I appreciate the pin 🙂
Came over from Silver Pennies link party. Loved your article…spot on! I always try to go with less is more and always try to take into consideration the age of the piece I’m re-making.
Thanks for the post!
Agreed!
Great tips. I’m in the process of painted an old dresser with chalk paint and these tips will come in handy. Hope you can stop by the Merry Monday Link party and link up too.
Excellent advice. I see so many over-distressed pieces that just…er…distress me.
I plan on repainting a dresser for my daughter. I want it to be a bright white to match her other furniture – nothing fancy (no distressing or anything like that – I am only changing the drawer pulls). I was thinking about using chalk paint instead of a latex-based paint to avoid the tackiness/stickiness. Is chalk paint the way to go? Thanks!
Yes, yes, yes! You put it all together in one place. Great job!!
Thanks for featuring our piece in the “Do” category! I did the dresser with the “subtle” bird design on the front.
Oh hi! It’s a beautiful piece . . . thank you for letting me use it 🙂 I found it on Craigslist, was trying not to rip off anyone’s blog photos. You did a wonderful job!
No worries – I’ll take any (good) publicity I can get ; ) So glad you liked it! You can see more of my work at http://www.1vintagepeacock.com Thanks again for the feature!
At last, a voice of reason in the chalk painting world. I have seen some of the worst creations that I am amazed when people talk of how wonderful they are.
Your guide lines nailed it precisely.
Many thanks!
Lol, thanks Connie 🙂
Couldn’t agree more, especially about considering the era of the piece. A mid century piece can be enhanced and updated with a little paint but heavy distressing screams “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Hey Melanie !
I have a question I hope you can answer. How do you know your painted piece of furniture is good enough to sell ? I have been painting furniture for about 6 months, I just started showing my pieces to people and everyone is telling me I should sell the stuff. But what if its not professional looking enough to sell ? How do I know ? What kind of things do I need to look for ? LOL, is that too many question ?
Tracey, that’s a great question! I struggled at first with wondering if my pieces were “professional” enough to sell also. But I have learned that while everybody can DIY their own furniture, many people never will and would prefer to buy something someone else has already done. My husband reminds me that just because painting furniture seems easy to me, doesn’t mean that it’s easy for everybody. So in that sense, my “talent” has a monetary value to some people who don’t want to attempt furniture painting on their own, or don’t have the vision for how to create the right color scheme and style. I can’t sew a lick, so I will gladly pay somebody to sew curtains for me. They may wonder why I would pay them for something they think is so easy to do, but it’s not easy for me! Make sense? As far as quality is concerned, do your best with your pieces. Make sure any major breaks have been fixed and price pieces according to their “quirks”. If I can’t fix a piece to the point where I wouldn’t have it in my own home, then I am not going to sell it to another. But with old furniture, there is going to be messed up places, sticky drawers, etc, so I don’t think people expect to buy “perfectly new” furniture from me. For starting out, I would price your pieces at a price that you would be willing to pay for them, then see what happens. After you sell a few, you will gain more confidence and you can raise your prices as your skill level and expertise raises as well. I hope that gives you a little bit to go on. Thanks so much for stopping by, feel free to email me to chat more 🙂
Hi Melanie,
I love your work and I have just finished sanding an old table before reading your posts. I now want to try chalkpaint but can I paint over sanded wood? Do I need a primer?
Thanks
Hi Selina, thank you for being a Lost & Found reader! If I were you, I would spray on some clear shellac or clear acrylic paint before using the chalk paint. Most likely since you sanded, you will have some problems with the wood tone bleeding through the paint. You could also try covering it first with furniture wax, sometimes that is enough to seal out the wood bleeding. OR, if you have some primer or even latex paint laying around you could paint that on first, then your chalk paint would sit on top of that, also solving the bleed-through problem. However, as I type I’m realizing that if you went to the trouble of sanding the table, you may as well use latex paint. It should stick fine and it’s cheaper! Save the chalk paint for a project that you can’t or don’t want to sand 🙂
This is such a helpful post. You would think some of this stuff is just obvious but to newbies like me they probably aren’t. I’d look back after and wonder where I went wrong. I’ve shared this on my facebook wall 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/peachykeenmumma?ref=hl
i’am paint with chalk paint through the week on some night tables i think it has press wood ,, will the paint still work on it ..
thanks
Yes Ann, it should work fine although it never hurts to do a light sanding to prep the piece. Good luck with you project!
Hi Melanie,
I just bought a coffee table at the thrift store with the intention of painting the legs with white chalk paint and staining the top walnut. I’ve started sanding it but I haven’t a clue when to stop… do I keep going until the wood is completely bare again, or am I just trying to get a nice smooth finish? It looks like it had been stained mahogany than glossed.
Hi Melanie. You want to sand down the top until it’s bare wood. I walked through that process (with photos included) on this post here, I think you may find it helpful 🙂 Also, have you heard of Fusion Mineral Paint? It’s a new paint on the market and I sell it locally as well as through my website. Same benefits of chalk paint, but it’s acrylic based and seals itself so no need to wax. Super easy to work with! You can read more about it on my site. Good luck with your projct!
Oh thank you so so much for your quick reply… going to check out your post now. I really appreciate that 🙂
No problem! Glad I could help.
I came across your blog while searching on when/when not to paint things. I’m a purist for the most part. Unless it’s past the point of all return. Our new (old) house had a beautiful mahogany early american dresser in the basement. Damaged from years of moisture, abuse, and missing chunks of wood from it. It’d be awesome restored, but it’s not cost worthy. So, paint it is, because I love it and want to use it in my home. I do have a question. I bought a really neat Eastlake parlor table for $100 a few months back. It’s currently being stabilized as it’s horribly wobbly, and is missing a length of wood on a small shelf part. I’ve toyed with the idea of painting just the base and refinishing the top. The purist in me is scolding myself for even thinking it. But having to have a new piece of wood made, I’m not sure. Thoughts?
Hi
Love your blog. Maybe you can answer a question I have. I was practicing on an old piece of furniture and mixed equal amounts of AS chalk paint in Coco with champagne gold metallic craft paint (DecoArt I think) and LOVE the outcome. Do you know if this should hold up over time? It doesn’t look like it needs waxing or polyacrylic because it has a very soft refined sheen just from the paint. I’d love to do a larger piece in this combo. Any thoughts?
Hi Dee. I would put some sort of topcoat (wax or poly) on your piece just to be on the safe side. I am not familiar with the properties of the DecoArt paint, but I know for sure chalk-type paint must be sealed with a topcoat to have long-term durability. If you want to try a paint that does not require any topcoat sealing, give Fusion Mineral Paint a try.
Thanks for sharing there are some great tips here 🙂
Once you have used chalk paint on a piece and wax sealed it can it be repainted with chalk paint again without sanding it?
Some say yes, I say no . . . Wax is designed to resist any more paint being added on top of it, so any paint that goes on wax won’t have great durability. I generally suggest to remove the wax with mineral spirits (or the all-natural Fusion Brush Soap) and a good sanding first. Sorry for the bad news 🙁
Hi Melanie,
I am getting ready to take on a project, and your information is very helpful. I have a shaker style cherry buffet that I want to paint. It isn’t old, but it is a reproduction that I purchased new about 15 years ago. I have re-stained furniture in the past, but never painted it. I have purchased a farm table with a white base (chalk paint), and a walnut top. So I want to re style my buffet to go with the table.
I am afraid of making mistakes because the buffet is such a nice piece. I don’t know what parts I should paint and what I should leave in the dark cherry stain. Can you recommend a book or website with pictures where I could get more ideas on this? Or could I send you a picture of my buffet to get your thoughts? Thanks!
I have a Duncan Fife buffet it was giving to me years ago by my mother in law. It wasn’t in the best of shape then and it’s been through 27 of living with children and grandchildren. So, it’s accumulated many scratches and the been used for many things over the years. I love the piece and it’s stained a pretty cherry wood. However, I want to paint it with the milk chalk is it possible to do this without it looking distressed too much or at all? Also, what should I do to prep the wood?
Question for you – I totally agree that sometimes we can get too overzealous in painting furniture. I have learned that the hard way and am trying to figure out a way to right my wrong….I painted (chalk paint) my dining room table and chairs white on the bottom/bases and a light grey on the top (table top and seats). I would like to now refinish the top of the table and seats, but am not sure how to start. Do you have any suggestions on the best way to take off the chalk paint? I have a feeling I am going to have to repaint the entire set…
Thanks!
Such great info. I will definitely try Fusion paint. Love that it doesn’t need wax. Thanks!
Thank you! I hope you do, I think you will love it 🙂
Thank you Melanie for the helpful tips!!! I have been searching the net for days for simple instructions that you spelled out!!! You came up with no nonsense approach to How To’s that will make my DIY’s more simple and hopefully more eye approved!!
Hi Melanie, I would like to paint an old (1980) style round oak table for my daughter. Someone told me about Oorter BreakThrough paint which requires no prep work. Do you know about it or have you used it? Thank you, Peggy