Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

For the past seven years, I have held back on home decorating for various reasons, financial, time, etc.

Recently, however, I have been learning about various D.I.Y. projects that have made it much more affordable to decorate my home.

I purchased a few items from a great local thrift store and decided to paint them.

My first project was a tv console that I purchased for only $16 from my favorite thrift store. It was extremely heavy, but it was so worth it!

Once I found the items I wanted to paint, I set out to look for which paint to use.

After much research, I ended up trying out Annie Sloan chalk paint. (Here is a tutorial that shows her technique.)

I am now a huge fan of chalk paint! It not only allows you to create a distressed look, it is also much quicker and easier to use than most other types of paint.
Chalk paint is also nearly odorless (Although the clear wax has a strong odor that I find difficult to withstand.) and Annie Sloan claims that it is organic.

This is what the console looked like when I brought it home from the thrift store.

This is the console after using chalk paint.

The first thing that I did was remove all the doors and handles and set them aside.

Next, I sanded everything down with a 220 grit sanding block. With chalk paint, it isn't necessary to sand down or even prime before applying paint, but I ended up sanding anyway because this piece of furniture was particularly scratched up.

I then spray painted with Rust-Oleum metallic spray paint to create a distressed look. I only spray painted the edges, as these were the areas where I wanted the metallic paint to show.

Once this dried, I applied a coat of Paris Grey chalk paint to most of the furniture using a Purdy 2.5 inch brush. I left some of the spray-painted parts unpainted to make sure it'll show. I also sanded down the edges where I wanted to create the distressed look.

At this point, I could have been finished with the chalk paint. However, since I only wanted to create a subtle distressed look, I painted a second coat, again avoiding some of the spray-painted parts to show. I sanded down the edges again to have the metallic color pop out.

After everything was dry, I applied a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax, making sure I wiped off any excess wax as I went along.

I repeated this entire process for the doors after covering the parts that I didn't want paint to get on.

I also changed the fabric on the doors using a staple gun, to give it a fresher look. 

Here is what the door looked like before the changes:

Here is the door after the changes:

Now it was time to put the doors and handles back on the console and put it to use!

Dining Chair Makeover

I have long wanted to give my dining chairs a makeover.
The seats were ruined with watermarks and the foam had been damaged by kids' booster seats.
Even the fabric had been torn.
This was in need of a major fix-up!

Here is what it looks like after the work was complete.

First, I set out to get my supplies:

• Staple Gun
• Staples
• Fabric
• Foam
• Scissors
• Measuring tape

I went to Home Depot to get the staple gun ($8.87) and staples ($2.67), as well as the foam ($5.99 per foam). There are different sizes of foam, but I found this one to be the most cost-effective (I even compared the price to Jo-Ann's foam): 

I went to Jo-Ann's to look for fabric and was surprised that I was having a hard time finding fabric that I liked. I narrowed my choices down to two different pieces of fabric, one of them would have come out to about $25 and the other about $40 (both were 50% off).

I still wasn't satisfied with either the fabric or the price.

A couple of days later, I happened to be at Target and purchased a tablecloth on clearance for $7.88.

I realized that this would be perfect for my chair covers!

Not only was I much happier with this pattern, but the cost was significantly cheaper than any fabric at Jo-Ann's!

Now begins the actual work.

I removed the seats from the chairs by removing the screws.

I measured the seat cover that was originally in place with my measuring tape.

Then, I measured and cut out 6 squares from the fabric that would replace the old seat covers.

I set aside the fabric and carefully removed the old seat cover by removing the staples.

You can do this with a flat-head screwdriver or a tack remover (available at Home Depot).

Some of my chairs had foam that were in deep need of replacement. For these, I removed the foam, placed the particle/wooden board onto the new foam and traced around the particle/wooden board onto the foam.

Next, I cut out the shape.

Now, I placed the foam on the particle/wooden board, and then placed the fabric on top of the foam.

I carefully flipped this over, holding everything together.

I then stapled the fabric onto the particle/wooden board with my staple gun, making sure that the fabric was taut.

My chairs already came with a sheer fabric that I had carefully removed and set aside. I stapled this on top of my fabric onto the particle/wooden board as well.

Once this was complete, I set the seat back into the chair, replacing the screws.
I repeated this process with the rest of the chairs, and voila!

Here is a close-up of the seat.

As you can see, this was a very low-budget project and easy to do!