Chalk Paint Kitchen Table

Welcome to my kitchen and the home of my new chalk painted table!

For my latest DIY project I decided it was time for this tired old table to get a face lift!

 I had been reading all about Chalk Paint
(not chalk board paint but chalk paint! Made with real clay and chalk!) 

After doing my research on making your own chalk paint and Annie Sloan's chalk paint... 

I decided to go with Cece Caldwell's Chalk Paint (found only a select retailers).
I chose Dover White and Vermont Slate (black).

 The best part about this paint (and this project in general) is that there is no priming or sanding!

 Just paint it on! I painted the whole table white
(I didn't even come close to using the small quart of white I bought) and then just the top black
(just a small tester did the trick-this paint can be watered down a bit!)
I painted the black right on top of the white,
because I had planned to "distress" some of the black off and I wanted the white to peek through.

 After following the chalk paints instructions (basically paint it on and let it dry. Oh, and it dries fast!) 

I love this product!
In the picture above Left: the chalk paint before the wax and
Right: after a coat of the wax. The wax deepens and intensifies the color. 

And because this is my kitchen table, we definitely needed to protect it from the everyday use.

 Here is another look at the colors, wax on the left. No wax on the right.

 After reading about many kinds of wax (and I'm sure Annie Sloan and Cece Caldwell's wax is the best...) but after shelling out the cash for the paint (were talking $32+ for a small quart of chalk paint!)
and reviewing waxes I decided that the Minwax Paste was going to be the best thing for this project Minwax Paste is thick and durable.

 I simply applied the wax with a clean cloth and let it set for about 10 minutes before buffing it out. Because the wax is so thick, you can see some variations in the color, but I like the look.
And again, durability is what I was going for here!

 Before adding the wax I did a little distressing with some fine grit sand paper. 

I did this on the edges of the legs, table top and each individual table leaf.

I love the look of the table with our black chair and my fairly recent reupholstered parsons chairs.

 It's been about 2 weeks and the table is standing up well to the homework, family dinners and just about everything else a family of five does to their kitchen table!

 I thought a table runner was in order and I had some left over yellow zig-zag fabric!

I'm so happy with the chalk paint I can't wait to go hunting for some other furniture that needs a facelift!