Another Homemade Chalk Paint Project

I was so excited by how my homemade chalk paint dresser turned out that I had to do another project.  But before I reveal the piece, I wanted to answer a question.  Some commenters asked why you would want to use chalk paint as opposed to regular old latex paint.

Chalk paint is perfect for when you want a piece to have an aged, vintage, or distressed look.  To get a distressed look, I sand around the edges of a piece and other areas that would naturally wear.  Sometimes latex paint doesn't sand off very well.  You also have to wait about 24-hours for latex to cure before sanding.  Chalk paint, on the other hand, sands off very well into a nice, fine dust.  It doesn't peel like latex sometimes does.  It also dries VERY fast and can be sanded as soon as dry.

Chalk paint is also very "sticky" and covers pretty well, meaning you don't have to sand or prime your piece before painting.

If you have any other questions about the paint, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

This time the victim was a buffet that I found on Craigslist (where else???). 

I have a bunch of Clark and Kensington paint that I got for free at Ace Hardware in Oyster Pearl.  I've been meaning to paint my bedroom is this pretty light gray, but haven't had time.  The color looks very gray in my bedroom, but turned out much lighter on the buffet.  I'm wondering if the addition of Plaster of Paris whitened it?

Anyways, to make your chalk paint, just mix a little water, some Plaster of Paris, and your flat paint.  The consistency of mine was much to thick at first because I added too much P of P.  It was hardening into cement in my bucket.  I just kept adding more water and paint to get it to a more workable consistency.

Here's the final result:

The buffet was missing a knob, so I bought two fleur-de-lis knobs at Hobby Lobby.  They were originally an oil-rubbed bronze color.  I lightened them (and all of the rest of the hardware) with some Rub n Buff.  By the way, Centsational Girl has a good post on Rub n Buff and hardware if you want more info.

After I painted the buffet, I sanded it and gave it a coat of glaze to bring out te details and to get that aged look.

A couple of coats of wax later and here it is:

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