…blue egg q&a’s

Here are your Q&A’s for the week! Got questions? Email me at cbensten@blueeggbrownnest.com and I’ll post.

I am painting a dining room pedestal table that is shiny dark brown and would like a shiny black distressed on the edges look.  Would you use Annie Sloan paint for this?  Their black is a gunmetal look and I prefer a brighter black.  The chairs I will use with the table are a rustic cream frame with tan linen upholstery.

You will never get a “shiny” black with chalk paint or milk paint. You have a few options. You could use one of these and then seal with a shiny polyurithane to get your shine. You could also buff it with a lint free cloth or fine steel wool and you will get a bit more shine – not completely “shiny” though. Or you could use a latex paint or a Rustoleum paint in a spray can that is high sheen. Also, ASCP’s blackest color is Graphite and it is not a true black. I have use Cece Caldwell’s paint and she has a black. If I were you I’d use this and then poly it.

I have second thoughts and think I want to remove the wax and use a poly acrylic. My question is: should I use mineral spirits to remove the wax?  Would you recommend this?

I tend to think that you could just use the poly right over the wax. I would test it. You should be fine.

What do you use to remove the Annie Sloan wax residue from a mirror?

I use Goo Gone and then Windex to clean it up.

I was looking at your photos and saw the dining room color and fell in love! What is that paint color?

Do a search for “Wall Colors Revealed” on my site.

I have to ask you a question, when you paint drawer fronts in a dresser etc., do you paint the inside edge of the drawers or do you find the don’t close properly if you do.

I do both. If I find that the dresser is not so interesting and old then I typically paint the inside edges. However, if I have an old piece and the drawers are dove tailed I love seeing that detail and leave it.

I really wish I would have seen your RH table tutorial before I started my oak table. It is our kitchen table, which gets lots of use (& I have 2boys) I want to do want to do what you did, but already painted it in Paris grey, distressed lightly & have put 3 coats of clear wax on!  It still doesn’t look right & really don’t want it to look “country” “shabby chic”……Do you have any suggestions on how I can get the restoration hardware look?

Bad news. If you want to do the weathered wood look then you need wood. You could try to lightly sand off all the paint, but try not to sand the natural ridges of the oak. If you sand too much you will flatten these ridges and you will not get the result you are looking for. If you try this and you can’t reach wood without sanding everything off then paint it again and then just distress more of the table for that shabby look.

So today I painted a sofa table with the graphite paint mixed with some blue (can’t remember the name at the moment).  I wanted it a dark gray blue, which is how it turned out.  Now I’m not sure on the distressing.  I always distress by hand, but I’m stressing over this one a bit for some reason.  I started sanding, but you can see around where I’ve sanded the paint off, that the paint is then lighter gray around it.  I know it’s very hard to understand what I’m trying to explain or to picture.  Do you think it will look ok once I’ve waxed?? 

Yes, that will happen when you sand and have 2 layers to go through. Do you not like the lighter color you are getting? With the darker Chalk Paint colors when you sand they sometimes get this white, powdery look. This will darken and smooth out once you wax. However, you may still get that lighter color underneath, but that could be cool.