Here is a lovely little desk that I recently gave new life to.

Recently I've tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) and liked it. Honestly, for the price I was hoping for... I don't know, miracles. It was very similar to a other paints I've used, not hugely better and certainly not worse. It's a good paint but I can't afford it! 

Sooooo, for this little desk I tried my hand at a homemade chalk paint recipe and really liked my results. The recipe calls for 8 oz. latex satin finish paint, 1/2 cup really hot water, and 1/4 cup plaster of Paris. This combination makes the paint quite a bit more watery than ASCP, so if you're a lover of thicker paints, you could experiment by adding more latex paint, adding more plaster of paris, or using less water. 

Before I starting doing anything with the desk I gave it a good cleaning. It was pretty dusty. Then I gave it really good layer of Zinnser's 1-2-3 bonding primer. This desk wasn't solid wood and I didn't want to sand anything off the existing finish for fear of ruining it. This primer is INCREDIBLE for boding to slick surfaces and eliminating the need to sand that slick surface. However, I didn't want brush strokes to be visible to I used a sponge roller as much as possible and when it was dry I sanded it until it was very smooth.

After the primer was dry and sanded I wiped it down to remove the dust and began painting. On the top and sides I used a sponge roller to try and prevent signs of brush strokes. I was going for a super smooth finish. On the drawers and detailed parts I used a small paint brush to get into all the cracks and crevices.

Since this paint is pretty watery it took a good 3-4 coats of paint with sanding between every layer to get the look I was going for. Once this was done it had a very smooth finish with very little evidence of brush or roller strokes.

Next, came the fun part, the distressing and antiquing (actually, it's all fun!).  Even though the paint was thin, it is very strong when dried! I really had to use some elbow grease to get the desired look I was going for. Using a medium grit sanding cube I gave this thing a pretty good scrubbing on the edges and in places where it would appear natural distressing would happen. After the sanding was done I used Miss Mustard Seed's dark wax in various places to help age and "antique" the finish a little bit. Last came the finishing wax. I used ASCP clear wax. I LOVE this wax. I love the smooth, buttery feel it leaves when buffed and shined. It really finishes off painted furniture the right way and when it's fully cured it has a hard durable surface.

This was a fun little desk to bring life back into. I'm REALLY bad at remembering to take before pictures! I'll try and do better about that. If you have any questions about how any of this happened, please let me know!