Craigslist Dining Table Makeover

Last post I showed you how our china cabinet went from this...

 to this with the help of Annie Sloan chalk paint.

Before the China Cabinet came along though I found a set of four chairs and a table on craigslist (before we even moved into the house) and of course I painted them white but for that project I used a homemade chalk paint (paint + plaster of paris + water) using a recipe from Naptime Decorator and some paint I had left over from painting this mantle for our wedding (photo thanks to Lauryn Galloway).

So this is what I started with, in this picture you can see that I started to sand the table because I had originally want to stain the top and paint the legs, but quickly discovered that the tabletop was only a wood veneer and it wouldn't be possible to stain it. So I stopped wasting my time sanding and got to work painting because one of the benefits of chalk paint (both Annie Sloan and the homemade version) is that you don't need to spend any time sanding or prepping your piece of furniture aside from making sure it is clean and dry.

The table took three coats of paint and the chairs each took two (let the paint dry completely between coats.  Then after the last coat of paint I let the paint cure for several days and then used wax to seal the paint and to help prevent scratching or chipping of the paint. I used a cloth to apply the wax and rubbed it in firmly to the paint and wiped away the excess wax.  I used Minwax Paste Finishing Wax and have used this for my Annie Sloan china cabinet as well (Annie Sloan also makes a waxing product but it's about double the cost of Minwax) and Minwax has worked well for me!

source

I also painted the four chairs that came with the table and two other chairs that I got for free off of the curb in Roanoke. Here's the table as it is now.  I love the way it turned out!  The grand total spent came in right at $100.

• table and four chairs- $75
• two head chairs- free!
• paint- $0 (leftover from a previous project)
• plaster of paris- around $5 (with a coupon at Michael's and there is plenty leftover for future projects)
• fabric-around $20 (I used Online Fabric Store)

When comparing Annie Sloan chalk paint to the homemade version Annie Sloan paint definitely goes on a little smoother and has a smoother finish.  The biggest downside to using Annie Sloan chalk paint is the cost (its around $38 per quart) however it really does go a long way...my huge china cabinet only took two quarts of paint! I really anticipated that I would need more than that.  Overall there are benefits of both homemade and Annie Sloan & I think I will use both again in the future!  Have you tried Annie Sloan paint compared to homemade chalk paint?  Let me know your thoughts!



Thanks for stopping by!

xo
Steph