CHALK PAINT MAKEOVER: COFFEE TABLE (PART 2)

About 3 weeks before we moved to Illinois we were heading over to my sister-in-law's house for a little summer cookout. We were just a couple houses away from our destination when I noticed a huge pile of garbage/furniture thrown to the curb at another house on her street. I really didn't think anything of it as we passed. Then, something caught my eye in the rearview mirror. It looked like a decent coffee table, leaning on it's side in the grass. I couldn't even see the entire thing. We had just sold our coffee table and end table set, so I thought to myself that it couldn't hurt to look at it, could it? It was probably junk since it was on the curb ready for trash pick up. I quickly said hey to everyone at the cookout before I dashed down the street to take a look at it anyway.

And behold, it was a huge coffee table with gorgeous detailing and structure. It was real wood, but it had definitely seen better days.

BEFORE 

Sooooo you better believe I shoved that baby in our car. A few days later it was loaded onto a moving truck headed for Illinois with us. You can see it in the early stages in the picture of our living room at the bottom of this post. 

I finally got around to redoing this piece around the beginning of September. There was a LOT of sanding and filling to be done on this table.

If I'm being totally honest, the top part still did not turn out as smooth as I would have liked it. I'm not sure if it was just too scratched up to really fix well, or if I should have sanded it even more after the wood putty. Still, I love the way this (*free*) coffee table turned out after the paint job. And in the season of life with a little baby who loves to bang toys and crackers on our coffee table, it's not the worst thing to have something we don't have to worry about.

The coffee table was redone just like the end tables I blogged about last month as Part 1 of this post, but with a little something special. Instead of painting it all gray, I painted the table top with the same Rustoleum "Aged Gray", and the bottom half with Rustoleum "French Cream" (which actually appears more white than yellow in person). THESE COLORS, y'all. I love this combination so so much.

The thing that you HAVE. TO. do with chalk paint is seal with a wax. It is a must. I tested that theory out on this coffee table. I kept it in use in our living room without wax for a little over a week, and I had to physically clean finger prints and dirt smudges off of the table with a damp cloth multiple times over the course of that week. Everything clung to the dry, chalky surface of that table. That aint happenin'. So I finally threw on the wax and it made allllll the difference. 

So be sure to pick up some of this stuff when you are picking out your paint. It will last you a very long time, too! 

AFTER 

This was pre-wax (look how dry it looks!), but it gives you a really good idea of the color combination.

I had a ton of fun painting these three pieces of furniture...annnddd now I'm ready to sit back and enjoy them! I hope these posts have been helpful or have inspired you to go out and do something of your own. And be sure to send me pictures! 

CHALK PAINT MAKEOVER: END TABLES (PART 1)

I am a sucker for cheap furniture that can be repainted. If I wasn't completely creeped out by Craigslist, I'd probably be on there looking for free furniture all the time. Plus, I'm sure my husband would love me turning our rental condo into a workshop. 😂    

In fact, this is not my first furniture makeover blog post! So for a detailed description of my entire process and the materials I like to use, check out this post about redoing Charlie's baby dresser. 

Back to the main agenda ---> This is going to be a two part blog post because it was done as two separate projects. Part one was redoing these two end tables, and part two was a coffee table (but more on that later). I started this first project in the last two weeks of packing to move to Illinois. Nothing like adding a little extra fun to the moving to-do list!

BEFORE 

Unfortunately I didn't take a completely before picture. But you can get the idea of what they looked like pictured below, even though some primer and wood putty had already been applied. The end table on the left was my grandmother's (Thanks for passing it to me, Mom!) and the one on the right was a Facebook yardsale page find for $10. Those yellow drawers were the original color of my grandma's end table to give you an idea. 

HOW TO 
There are generally 4 stages to this process that I have found to work really well.  And they are:
1) Sand 
2) Fill holes/dings with wood putty 
3) Prime 
4) Paint
And since this was a chalk paint base, there was a step 5) Seal with a wax.

The exact materials I used for sanding, filling in holes in the wood, and my favorite primer are listed in my first furniture DIY post.  

Supposedly one of the advantages of using chalk paint is that you don't need to use a primer first. That may be true. I didn't really see a reason why I wouldn't just go ahead and prime while I'm working on it anyways, and since I knew I liked this primer that I used last time I went for it. Maybe one day I'll try another chalk paint project to try without priming, but I didn't want to test that on these pieces.

Once the sanding, filling, and priming were complete, I got to painting! I used Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint in Aged Gray that I purchased from Home Depot. I chose to do a can of paint + paint brush, but it also comes in a spray paint. I found that the can of paint would go a lot farther than the spray paint would have. You can probably count on using around 3-4 cans of spray paint vs. just the one can of paint. But if you don't actually enjoy the act of painting with a brush, maybe the spray paint route would be better for you.

This shade of gray was exactly what I was looking for! It's a beautifully light and simple gray color, not too "antique", not too dark, and not too white. If you're looking for a color that gives the impression and brightness of white, but isn't white (so that you don't see EVERY dirt mark) this is the color of your dreams.

WAX
Since I used a chalk paint, I definitely needed to use a wax coating as the final step. Chalk paint naturally dries chalky and very "unfinished" looking. Because of this, chalk paint is very vulnerable to water spots and dirt, so it needs the extra layer of protection from the wax. I used Annie Sloan's Clear Soft Wax with a rag to apply the wax. Much needed final step!

I planned to change the hardware pieces on both of the drawers, but only ended up changing the hardware on the single drawer end table because that's the only one I could find a perfect fit for! I could not find ANY drawer pulls that was the right size for my grandma's end table. (And I did not have time to fill/drill new holes sooo I just kept the originals.) But as it turns out, I actually love the original hardware on my grandma's table with the new paint job. 

Hobby Lobby regularly has 50% off sales on their drawer knobs and pulls. The first time I went in to look for new ones for this project, they were not on sale, but just a few days later when I went back they were! So my advice is to wait for the sale to get the best deal, because chances are you won't have to wait that long. 

AFTER

These end tables are some of my favorite pieces now in our apartment in Wheaton. One is beside the couch and the other one is in Charlie's room. SO pleased with how they turned out!

CHALK PAINT FOREVER? 

Do I love chalk paint? Ehh. Yes, I love how QUICK it dries. I love the color options specific to chalk paint (I'm a fan of the shabby chic look, if you can't tell). I love that Home Depot carries various brands of reliable chalk paint, AKA you don't have to spend an arm and a leg on Annie Sloan. But that's about it.

As far as the overall look, it wasn't really anything more amazing than when I redid Charlie's dresser with a latex based paint. And you pretty much have to do a wax coating if it's a piece of furniture that will see a lot of traffic like finger prints, cups, babies banging toys on, etc. So that was an additional step that I didn't have to do last time.

What about y'all? Is there something amazing that I'm missing about the chalk paint hype? I am super happy with how it turned out, but I don't think I will be particular about using chalk paint exclusively in the future. Let me know your thoughts!

DIY NO SEW CURTAINS

This is the ultimate DIY post. It was 1) very cheap and 2) very "use what you have." That's the way I like my DIYs.

I had about 3 yards of upholstery fabric leftover from when my grandma's rocking chair was redone. I considered using the leftovers for just about everything - throw pillows, a crib skirt, valence, curtains...and I can't sew a thing, so you see my dilemma.

I finally decided the most long-term use of the fabric would be curtains. Pillows get replaced and crib skirts get outgrown. And Charlie's new room need curtains more than anything.


For this project I used a new (to me) product that required NO sewing! Yus. It's called HeatnBond Ultrahold. It's more like a super strong hot glue, activated by a hot iron. I used 2 packages of this product that I picked up from Michael's Craft Store as a no sew alternative to creating the hems and curtain rod loop. This stuff is only around $3 or less per package. It was literally the EASIEST thing to use because all you have to have is an iron to activate the heat bond. The hardest part was doing the measurements, which I will explain below.




The materials I used were:

• About 3 yards of fabric (for a standard sized, single window)
• 2 packages of HeatnBond Ultrahold 
• Scissors 
• Iron
• Measuring Tape/Ruler
• Pencil
• Curtain rod (as a reference for the loop)

Step 1: Measure and Cut Fabric
I used one of my living room curtains as a guideline, which is pictured below. To me that was the simplest way to make sure what I was making looked like...curtains haha. 

Next, I cut the fabric into two equal pieces. As you can see on this picture, the blue fabric is 3 inches longer than the tan curtain guideline on the top AND the bottom. This extra fabric will be folded over to create the curtain rod loop/bottom hem, so you will need that extra length! For the hem down the sides, it was folded in about an inch. 

Step 2: Pre-Fold Fabric

I found it really helpful to iron the fold line to make a crease in the fabric early on. Mark on your fabric the exact fold lines so that when it comes time to use the HeatnBond, you already have a precise fold line. Once you have the lines of the fold drawn out, fold and iron it. This creates a definite crease where you will be hemming the fabric and helps to make it look more professional, in my opinion. And I didn't want to start going all crazy/zig zag/uphill/downhill as I was applying the bonding so it just saved time for precision later on. 

Step 3: Apply HeatnBond Strip
Once your fabric is cut and pre-folded, you're ready to apply the Heatnbond adhesive. Like you can see in the picture below, there is a crease 3 inches up from the bottom of the fabric. That's where I will fold over and hem. Cut your strip of HeatnBond to the needed length and place it on the outer edge of the material. Then, follow the instructions for the HeatnBond by ironing the side with the paper on top and letting it cool completely.

Once the HeatnBond strip is ironed in place and has cooled, go ahead and peel the backing off. I had a problem removing the paper backing if it was not completely cool yet. It would rip unevenly and then be tricky to remove...so just be patient.

Step 4: Iron Material Together 
With the paper backing removed, it's time to fold the material over along the crease and iron it together. The strip won't be sticky or glue-like yet, so it will be fine to touch. 

*Note: As in typical DIY fashion, I made a mistake and had to cut the material after gluing to make a hole for the curtain rods. Not smart. So, don't forget to make sure the top or bottom 3 inch hems have an opening for the curtain rod. 

I found it easiest to do the 3 inch sections on the top and bottom first, and then do the sides so that you can stop when you get up to the top/bottom hem and just snip off the leftover fabric and the loop won't get glued together on accident. Below is how to set it up so that you don't accidentally glue the loop together like I did. You will still have to cut an inch off the side of the 3 inch hem, but it won't be glued together and will be easy to cut. 

Pictured below is ironing the side hem, only about an inch wide is necessary. I did not iron a fold into the sides because it was so small. I just folded along as I went.

 It will look like this from the back once you have made all the hems.

Annnnnd time to hang them! I'm super pleased with how they turned out!