Adventures in Chalk Paint

I got to try something new on my latest piece of furniture... chalk paint. Someone asked me to describe chalk paint and I couldn't. Think of chalk dust mixed with paint, I guess. I've seen lots of furniture painted with it all over the Pinterest and wanted to try it for myself. Buying it is expensive, so I made my own. 1 cup of flat latex paint, and 1 Tbsp. unsanded grout. That's it. Easy peasy.

 It comes out really thick and kind of gloppy.

Here is the bench I was painting.

It went on really unevenly at first. I used a foam brush- I thought it would be easiest on all the spindles.

I switched to a roller and it went on thicker and more even.  Those spindles were the devil! They took for ever to paint- I wanted them to be painted evenly even though I'd be sanding it off eventually. 

So here is the finished bench!

So... would I use chalk paint again? No. Not the homemade stuff anyway. It wasn't different enough from regular flat paint. I'd read it was supposed to distress easily, but it wasn't any easier than other paint. Maybe someday I will suck it up and spend the extra money on real chalk paint. But, I am happy with the bench. It looks exactly how I wanted it to. 

One more time... before...

...and after!

If you are interested in purchasing this adorable little bench, let me know! Christinaann80@yahoo.com

You can also check me out on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/SeaShellsFurniture