Painting Furniture

Even though I purchased my beach house fully furnished, there were so many style choices of the previous owner that I wanted to change.

First, my vision of a cottage-style home was light, bright, white, and open. I wanted soft fabrics on the windows, seagrass rugs on the hardwood floors, and as many white slipcovered pieces as possible.

The owner had a very dark, earth-toned style throughout the house. It was rustic and comfortable, but I didn't share her love of heavy fabrics and the tans, browns, and black furniture pieces she had in the large family den. I loved the style of the furniture, just not the color.

I did a little research and discovered that chalk paint (or a similar-type paint that leaves a chalky finish) would be the perfect solution to keeping the furniture.  The pieces were in perfectly good condition; they just needed sprucing up. It's so easy to use chalk-type paints -- there's no sanding or prepping! Just a quick dusting with a cloth and then the piece is ready to be painted.

Here is a television hutch and sofa table that were custom pieces for the home. They were beautifully made and I loved the style -- but black in a beach house?  I just didn't get it. I couldn't wait to apply a coat of paint to make them lighter and fresher. Chalk paint is not meant to be perfect, so if I messed up, it wouldn't be a big deal.

BEFORE:

  AFTER:

I used Martha Stewart vintage decor paint in Antique Sky for sofa table to change it to a soft, pastel color. It's actually more mint green than blue, but I love the transformation.

I just experimented at first to see how a light coat would look; I also experimented with wiping some of it off with a cloth. I eventually decided one thicker coat would give me the look I wanted. The wood was very textured so the paint didn't grab in all the spots, and that was okay with me. I just let the paint glide on and didn't try to completely cover the distressed look.

The finished look -- I love the contrast of the dark wood top and the painted bottom. I'm also perfectly okay that some of the pieces of wood absorbed more of the paint than others, and I'm also fine that the whole piece appears distressed without even having to apply sandpaper.

I used Martha Stewart vintage decor paint in ivory for the television hutch. 

I'm very happy with the results as they look very shabby chic. I left the tops of the furniture the dark wood for a nice contrast.  Since I only did one coat on each, I finished both projects in only two days.

There are also several dark picture frames around the house that will definitely be changed using chalk paint.