Upcycled Coffee Tables Using Chalk Paint®

{This post is sponsored by Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan. Although I wasn’t compensated for this post, I did receive free products in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.}

Let me start off by saying I love to re-use, re-purpose and re-paint furniture. It is such a fun, affordable and easy way to update something old or thrown out.

I don’t know about you but I find it to be somewhat addicting, yet it can also be time-consuming and exhausting, especially when there is a lot of prep time needed.

Ever since I was diagnosed with CRPS my right hand tends to get tired a lot quicker than it used to, and although I paint and wax more with my left hand now, I still find myself needing breaks. This was especially the case when I first started re-doing furniture and was sanding or stripping it down all the way before re-painting it. That was before I was introduced to Chalk Paint®, which has practically eliminated prep time when painting furniture.

It took me a while to get used to spending less time sanding furniture just because that’s what I was accustomed to. Can you relate?

So, of course, I was excited when I finally found a line of products that work great, look beautiful and saves me time.

Is Chalk Paint® worth the money?

I admit that I am cheap frugal and made my own chalk paint for a while because I was having trouble justifying paying $30 for a small can of paint. I even added Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan to our wedding registry last year {yeah our registry was filled with paint and tools, haha}, and was so excited when a friend sent us a gift card to buy some {Thanks Marian!}.

So after staring at all of the vibrant and beautiful color options I finally decided on Paris Grey. I LOVE gray and felt that it was a safe first color to go with because I could mix it with other paint if need be, and it was neutral and would go with a lot of things. Let me tell you… it’s so worth the money!

A little goes a long way

I was really impressed by how thin the paint was, the coverage, and how quickly it dried. It was obvious that the quality was much better than the homemade paint I had been making, and best of all I didn’t have to worry if I didn’t mix it well enough or about gritty pieces randomly getting into the paint. I also realized that a little goes a loooooooooong way.

I re-painted a lot of furniture in our home after buying that first can because I decided to neutralize a lot of pieces in our apartment since we were getting close to Christmas. Isn’t that the beauty of paint? I re-painted our beach-inspired coffee table{s}, beach-inspired console table, and thrifted mirror, just to name a few.

Distressed vs. Modern

I love the chippy, distressed look you can achieve with Chalk Paint®, but you can also skip the distressing for a more modern look. I also mixed a lot of the Chalk Paint® with latex paint to create some custom paint colors, which you can see on my navy dresser with copper pipe drawer pulls, and on a few other pieces, I haven’t shared yet.

Once I had purchased Chalk Paint® I found it difficult to go back to the homemade version and was able to see the value in their products. This is why I am so excited to share some other products with you today!

This time I decided to go a bit bolder and chose the Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan in the color Florence and Arles. I also wanted to test out the Annie Sloan Flat Brush and Annie Sloan Wax Brush to see what all the hype was about.

We have pops of turquoise and yellow throughout our home and I was excited to incorporate these bold colors into some of our decor. I’ll admit that the Arles color wasn’t quite as mustardy {is that a word} as I thought, but I love to mix colors so I decided to add it to some of the Florence paint to make it a little more green. You can’t tell in the photo below but I ended up getting crazy with it and added nearly the entire container of yellow to some Florence paint I had poured into a mason jar.

I then stirred it up really well and made sure I had a good amount so I could cover both tables and still have some leftover.

Upcycled Coffee Tables Using Chalk Paint®

We’ve been hoarding holding onto these 2 side tables for nearly a year now, can you believe it?! I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them and they actually had legs when I purchased them at a thrift shop. Some of the legs were pretty damaged though and we eventually cut them off thinking we would add new ones.

Here is the before photo of our upcycled coffee tables:

I had lots of ideas run through my head for these guys… a stacked bar cart with wheels, attach them together and make a sitting bench, create a pet bunk bed. I had tested them out as coffee tables a while back, but they were too tall because they still had the legs attached at the time. However, now with the legs off of them, they seem to work perfectly! Even with casters, they would be a great height with our sofa. Oh, and of course I kept the table legs, and I am hoping a few of the good ones can be used on a future project.

I loved our pallet coffee table{s} and knew I wanted to keep 2 coffee tables vs 1 but did want more space on top, and these 2 side tables seemed to be the perfect option for our future upcycled coffee tables.

To sand or not to sand…

While taking a painting class at Haven last year Miss Mustard Seed gave some great advice about using Chalk Paint® that I will never forget. She said that you should never spend more than 5 minutes sanding a piece of furniture {some pieces don’t really need any sanding prior}, and she doesn’t purchase furniture that is really torn up or needs a lot of fixing up prior to painting.

This has changed the way I paint furniture and saved me tons of time too. It’s awesome if you really enjoy fixing broken furniture {that’s how my mom is}, but I’d rather just update the piece and not spend too much time fixing it beforehand.

So I spent 5 minutes max lightly sanding down the tables, not worrying about the tops since I planned to add wood planks to them. I then vacuumed them {to make sure all the dust was removed} before I started painting.

It was super humid when I was working on these, so I decided to bring them inside and paint them there instead. That’s the beauty of Chalk Paint®, there is no odor and it’s safe to use indoors.

So I laid down a drop cloth and got to painting the base of the tables with my newly mixed paint. Again, the color is only slightly different than the original Florence. So slight in fact that it really wasn’t necessary.

Here is a photo after painting one coat. I actually did a pretty light coat the first time, but even so, these upcycled coffee tables only needed 2 coats. The paint dries super fast which means as soon as you finish the first coat, you can go back over with the second. Gotta love that!

Using the Annie Sloan Paint Brush

This was my first time using the Annie Sloan Flat Brush and I actually alternated painting with it and another brush I had on hand, just to see if I could tell a difference.

I will say that the AS paintbrush held more paint, went on smoother, and this may sound weird but it didn’t make my hand tire out as quickly either. I guess because it covers more I wasn’t having to go over the piece as much?  To me, this is a huge bonus and well worth the money. So yes, you can use a regular paintbrush too, but using the Flat Brush is a great investment if you plan to paint a lot of furniture.

Here is one of the upcycled coffee tables after 2 coats:

I loved the color but being that we are getting into the holidays I thought it may be nice to add some dark wax to make the color a darker green. I had heard you should add Clear Soft Wax to your piece first, and then follow it up with Dark Soft Wax.  So I located my nearest stockist {find yours here to see where you can find supplies locally or order online} and picked up some dark wax {it was about $26}. I did make the mistake of waxing one of the tables late a night with bad lighting, and sorta just winged it. AKA used WAY too much wax. Oops.

I’ve read about this and thought I’d be good but um yeah, live and learn. Chances are, you will add too much wax the first time, and just remember that a little goes a LONG way, and you can always add more 🙂 I’ll share some great tips and videos I found on waxing at the bottom of this post.

Here you can see one of the upcycled coffee tables with clear wax and the other with dark wax:

Isn’t it amazing what a difference the wax makes? I freaked out a bit because it was a lot darker than I wanted and looked “dirty”. I knew I added too much wax because even after wiping it down with a rag the table was super tacky. I ultimately decided to stick to the clear wax and that I will attempt the dark wax again soon and just not add as much.

I’ve gotta say that another great thing about Chalk Paint® is that even when it’s waxed you can simply paint right over it, which is something you can’t do with latex paint. So it’s super forgiving. I basically just re-painted over the dark wax with some more Chalk Paint® and then added the clear wax.

For the top of the upcycled coffee tables we cut some wood to fit, and then sanded and stained them dark walnut.

After they were dry I laid them on top of the tables to see how they would look, but honestly didn’t like the contrast of the wood and pop of color. It looked too… country? I love rustic but not so much rustic country if that even makes sense, and the tables just didn’t seem to look right with the rest of the decor in the room. So at 2 in the morning, I decided to whitewash the boards and see how that would look. I LOVE white washed furniture and felt like it would help tie in our dining table and newly upcycled barn door sofa table.

Whitewashed Wood Top

To whitewash the wood I first mix 50% water with 50% paint and paint it on top of the boards, wait a minute and then wipe it off with a rag. This makes the boards sorta grey looking but doesn’t give a lot of contrast. So afterward I dip my brush into white paint and add random strokes of paint to the wood {this also works well with a dry brush}. I then wait just a couple minutes and sand the boards down with 120 grit sandpaper. I am sorta random about it all but love the texture and aged look it gives the wood.

After the boards were all whitewashed and dry I placed them on the tables to see how it looked and LOVED it! The upcycled coffee tables felt rustic, yet modern and the pop of color is so much fun.

We then attached the tops using our Ryobi Airstrike. Easy peasy. Afterward, I went over the tops with some clear wax and my tables were finished, woo-hoo!

Here is what our new upcycled coffee tables look like in the living room:

I will warn you that once you start using Chalk Paint® there is no turning back, and you may find yourself walking around your home looking for other things to paint. Yes, you have been warned 🙂

After painting our new upcycled coffee tables, I also painted the mirror in our entry, an old window, my upcycled elephant, the top of a dresser, and even a couple small canvases, which essentially turned them into mini chalkboards. If you look at the image above you can actually catch a glimpse of these mini chalkboards.

Here is an updated photo of our family room during the summer, where you can also see the dresser with the top painted in Florence:

Overall, I was really happy about the products I used, and can’t wait to play around with even more paint colors! Not to mention I still have a ton of Florence paint leftover. What do you think of our upcycled coffee tables?

Don’t forget to check out these 15 Tips for waxing furniture with Annie Sloan Soft Wax:

 Have you used Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan before? If so I’d love to hear about your experience or any tips you have in the comments below. If you haven’t tried it before, I definitely recommend giving it a go, especially because it makes transforming furniture a breeze!

Follow Chalk Paint® on Social Media for even more tips and inspiration:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | YouTube

Thanks for stopping by!