Beginners Guide on How to Use Chalk Paint, Distress & Wax to Paint Furniture & Cabinets

Hi everyone, I'm Rochelle and I originally used and in this video we're going to go over the basics of how to use

chalk

paint

. I will teach you all about how to

paint

, clear wax and use dark wax if they are brand name. new to this watch the video and at the end if you still have questions be sure to comment below and I will try to help you as much as I can if you have painted

furniture

and used

chalk

paint for years watch anyway because I never know what kind of tricks have up my sleeve, but first make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and find us online at originally used online and on facebook and instagram and pinterest at originally used before we dig in, let's go over the supplies and tools. that you are going to need to achieve this look, I will use all Annie Sloan products, the reason is that she invented chalk paint over 30 years ago and since she is the original paint and I think she is one of the best. brands that exist, it's the only one I can really talk about, it's the one I use all the time, the one I sell in my store and it's the one I love.

I'm sure there are other decent brands and I know there are some. They're certainly horrible, but for the purposes of this video we'll just stick with Annie Sloane, so the first thing you'll need is some paint. We are going to paint our coffee table Annie Sloan duck egg blue. You can see the color. There's a really cool kind of vintage blue green right there um this is the leading size. Her paints come in one liter and 120 milliliters, usually if you think you're going to do more than just a small accent or a really small table. It's worth buying the big one, things last a long time and I mean, I haven't thrown one away yet in five years, so buy the big one when you can, it's worth your money, next time.

I'll need something to pay for the paint. These are an Annie Sloan round bristle brush. This one is actually a medium size, but it comes in small, medium, and large. Now that this one has been worn for a long time, they are actually probably much longer. They come with a little hole at the end, but you know it's had a hard, hard life. They're made in Italy, their bristles are natural and you see the shape of them, it's very original and cool and it really lends itself to an antique. It's not like it's full of brush medicine or anything, it just gives it a good texture and it's great, but if that's not your thing, they also make a flat synthetic bristle brush that's also from Italy, less expensive than the bristle one round. brushes, I still like to have them when I start painting because like in the cracks and crevices, it's really hard to get those round bristles in there, but this works great to get into those flat areas.

You may also need a couple of tools, such as a screwdriver to remove the handles, maybe some wood glue to repair something, painter's tape if you need to seal any areas with tape and you will most likely need a removal stick. paint and a paint opener, if you decide to

distress

your piece you will need one of two things or an old rag that we are going to get wet and actually that is the method that I will show you in this video but I will also teach you how to do it with a block of sanding you don't need a power sander this paint It would melt in a second if you put a power sander on it and the last thing you'll need is a top coat; in any sloan world it's usually clear wax, you'll always need to put something over your annie sloan chalk paint unless it's exterior, but usually you start with clear wax and then you can build from there, they make wax brushes.

This is the biggest one. I love it, but it took me a couple of years to get used to using something like this. It's usually a great point, but I've done a lot of cooking on this and then I use two different ones when I use a dark wax that's like brown or they actually have black wax that's black. I use this poor sad little knot. boy, which again starts with a spot that's there or I use a chip brush and the reason is that all I'm doing is like a little groove, I use this brush to get it in there and if I'm doing it all over dark wax I use this big guy this is the side table we're going to work on today it's a long thin solid oak table it's actually in great condition and it's very heavy and wonderful but it's just outdated you don't need to sand your piece when it's Using a high-quality chalk paint, like Annie's Sloane Paint, you can do this if you need to fix a blemish or take care of an area or repair, but it's not necessary for paint adhesion purposes, but you need to clean your piece well. , any type of oil, grease and hand stuff, and wood cleaners like commitment can wreak havoc on paint and stick well.

To do this, I mix a couple drops of dish soap with about a quarter cup of vinegar and a half gallon of hot water together and I clean it all and then I clean it with clean water, clean hot water, I've already done it here and it It's drying right now. The first thing you'll want to do is remove the pieces. that you need to like remove the tape let's say we weren't going to paint the top of this I would need to tape it off we're going to have to take this drawer out and I'm going to remove the handle that I just need a small screwdriver or in this case I can just turn it with my hand here and I'm just going to paint this or replace it with another one, I'm not even sure yet, but I'm not going to change the whole setting if I'm going to do that, try to do that before painting.

You would have to fill your old hole and then you know you would get the best paint job so here's the drawer and actually I'm just going to tape it up. these sides for this piece that's all the preparation we really needed some would require more than others also something small like this or certainly a chair, start with it upside down. In this case, we're not actually painting the bottom, it's kind of a hollow drawer area. and i can get to all these edges and this is already unfinished, so let's leave it in this direction for now, but like i said, i have my duck egg blue annie sloan here and a can opener, the covers of the newest paintings, depending When you watch this video, they're a little bit hard, so make sure you go around the lid and they collect a lot of paint on the lid, so I'm going to remove a little bit of the excess here and then You can certainly decant your paint into another container if you like.

Glass jars tend to work very well. Easy squeeze bottles sometimes do this too and then you will have to stir this and stir it quite well. Any Sloane paint does not separate like the same as a typical latex paint you would buy to paint your walls, but there still needs to be a good stir and usually when I paint I throw some into a plastic container disposable, like a kind of cottage cheese. container that we had left over, especially if you're going to mix water in it, if you've never used a high quality chalk paint before, then you don't know, I mean, this is thick like ah, between a pudding and cream consistency.

I guess it's thick and if you've never made it, it can be a little strange to get used to if you choose to mix water with it, which you can, but you need to mix it in a separate container that's not your pitch and you need to stir it really well, that will give you a smoother texture when painting, but it will also reduce the coverage, so you may have to apply an extra coat now because we're working here and then I'll paint directly from here. container, although again, like I said, I wouldn't recommend it, but I go through these things pretty quickly, so I'm going to use my Annie Sloan medium round natural bristle brush and I'm just going to put a little bit of paint on the edges.

I don't have to like go in a ton and see how much paint I have there and then I'm going to start, oh, I guess right here and I'm going to start putting it everywhere and see how I can smooth it out. Go out and work and these brushes why are they so amazing, let's say for this leg here you just do like this and it gets into all these little detail grooves without any problem, so I'm going to go. around and I paint a layer over everything, everything has been painted and I let it dry.

It took me about 20 minutes to let it dry. Now you can see here how one layer doesn't have full coverage, but I'm not actually going to do that. do a second coat because I'm going to accept that look but feel free to do a second coat if you want a more solid coverage, if you decide to put on one or two coats of paint it's up to you but then the next step is also up to you If it's

distress

ing, you certainly don't have to do any of this distressing, but any sloane paint and chalk paint lend themselves really wonderfully to this type of distressed look, so there are two methods that I use to do any type of distressing. wet rag, I'm going to show you that you would use this method, it's actually called wet distressing, um, when you want to preserve the finish that's underneath this, so let's say I had a really beautiful dark walnut underneath here that I didn't want.

If you don't want to ruin it, I'll use this damp cloth. It's also wonderful when all you want to do is highlight the worn edges and you're not going to distress everything, otherwise use a sanding block, this will cut everything off. a little faster than a wet rag, but it will create a dusty mess because this thing gets chalky before it waxes. I'll show you both in this piece. Another thing to think about when it's distressing is that you don't just want to do it all. All of a sudden, you come in here and you start sanding and you get these little things we call cheetah spots and they look very unnatural and very sneaky.

It's not good not to say you can't have a completely distressed look but then you need to make sure your edges are distressed very well and you need to start from there so what I suggest doing distressing is the most natural way to think about whether This piece has been used in the home for the last 50 years. Where would it have come naturally from? Well, all the hard edges that he would have come away from, you know, maybe like the dots here along this background, this, he most likely wouldn't have been distressed as much. This down here maybe not.

Now, again, you can really go in and do that, but make sure all the edges are really worn down. Well, I'll start at the front of the drawer so you can see it up close, so we'll take the rag and again. do the wet problem, the paint is dry, the rag is wet, so look how it has this little ledge right here. I'm going to take my finger to wrap it around that rag and then just push that edge slightly and you'll see. right there, no mess, no fuss, perfect kind of angst on the edge and don't feel like you have to do it everywhere, like I can skip part of that corner and just do that right there and you can hit like that, take some of that away .

You can see the little pieces there. Now let's do the other two sides with the sanding block. So just take your sander, rub it down, and you'll see that you have the same type of edge. You have a little control. More control over it with sanding. block than what you do with a rag as sometimes that rag just cleans up the paint more than you would have thought or you can be a little more gentle with it and then I just wiped the dust off the sanding block. so the top is done there with the block and that side and that side is done with the rag on the bottom so you actually end up with pretty much the same type of results, it's more than you're comfortable with and what that you want with the finish underneath, if that makes a difference to you, so I'm going to go ahead and wear it all down.

A couple final notes to add to the scuffing if when you are wet, scuffing or using your sanding block and it slips away. Don't be scared, if you hate it, you can always add another coat of paint. You can see I went a little off that edge, although I'm okay with it because I like distressed

furniture

. Another thing to add. The fresher your paint is, the easier it will come off with wet wear, although Annie Sloan paint does need a top coat, it still cures on its own the longer it sits, so if you're going to try to come back and Santa distresses something inside two months it's going to be hard you're going to hurt your elbow um this of course has been dry for like three minutes so it cleaned up really easily too because there was just one layer of paint on there. paint you have to work harder it will also be if you are working on a larger piece your rag will fill with paint when wet distressing just save a bucket, wring it out, rinse it and move on now let's talk about sealing your piece or protecting the paint job for which you have worked hard.

There are many options for sealing your piece in the Annie Sloan line. There is Annie Sloane clear wax and there is also an Annie Sloane. Lacquer comes in matte and gloss so if you want something really shiny use the Annie Sloan gloss lacquer or if you have something that gets a lot of wear and tear like a table the Annie Sloan matte lacquer is perfect for that but I will tell you all the

cabinets

. of my house, the side tables, all of that with two little kids in our house, it's all done with Annie Sloane clear wax as a top coat and it's blended into our lives beautifully, so clear wax is definitely not it. delicate nor is it necessary to reapply it year after year inThe five years I've done this I've never reapplied wax like it dissipated or anything.

It's the strangest rumor ever but you don't ever need to do that so don't worry because wax is a wonderful top coat. It's more of a European top coat, but it's super easy. I will have videos on the lacquer. You can't wax outside so I know that too I guess but that's when you use the shellac and I've done some of those tutorials too but the wax will be the simplest and easiest way but what's needed again is good wax quality. I only use annie sloane. clear wax and it's the consistency of a crisco, you should be able to crush it, you shouldn't need to push it into a plate first or anything, sometimes I scoop some out and work it into a plate, but most of the time I just go in there and I'm going crazy, here's my big Annie Sloan wax brush.

You can see that it is not filled with wax. It has a little wax. You don't need a ton. Two thin coats is better than one thick coat, unless you really know what you're doing, so you put a little bit of wax in there, I put a little bit more in there and you just start and I'll show you a close up of the drawer here and if your paint It's fresh like this. You can rub more if you apply too much wax, which in my case isn't a big deal, but if that's going to be a problem, just know that you may have to let the paint dry a little. a little harder overnight, so you'll want to work in smaller sections.

Think of the front of a dresser drawer. I'm going to work on the side panel of this and again I'll show you the front of the drawer here in a second, but you'll be able to see where the wax is and where it isn't, so I'm going to reach there because that's what I can reach here. and then I'm going to grab a lint-free rag right now I have this old rag Here the blue towels work great too and I'm just going to give you a couple, one, two, three, let's see four quick wipes, the reason is if you just wipe this , will cause high and low spots, there will be bright spots. and dull stains if you can clean them so they don't get too greasy and sticky which helps if you don't put too much at first which helps with the wax brush then you don't have to clean as much and when I let this be and I leave it like that , it will be matte and beautiful when it dries in a couple of days.

Here's the front of our drawer and I'm going to try to make it as close as possible so you can really see what the wax looks like when You're going to be harder to see in a white, uh, kind of black and dark navy blue. Take a completely different method that I also have videos on, so I saw, you know, a little bit of wax on my wax brush. I'm going to try to do it. Spread it out and you can see where you can see where it hits, trying to see the kind of shadow right there, the difference in tone.

Let's see if I can get some more for you. I'll go along the edges and maybe Then I'll be able to say that this doesn't change the color, it almost enriches the color, okay, so you can see around those edges where I waxed a color like this, it really looks great, so you can see if You've missed some point and if you're very careful I think you just need a good coat of wax, but whether you're quick or not, it's a color that's hard to see or you're not careful, just go for it. It's two light coats, it won't damage anything that you can see here and I like to work it around the piece and get the excess out of the grooves, but on my brush so you can see there.

Now I waxed the front of the drawer. I'm taking my lint-free cloth and I'm just going to give it a couple quick wipes to remove the extreme excess. I'll take it off any edge and sometimes you have to glue it on. nail on things like that, but that was all it took. Look, I can't really see here. I'm applying very little pressure when I do that and there's an evenly waxed drawer front here, if it hits the light right, you can do it. Like seeing where the wax still has its streaks, but then it will cure to a beautiful kind of finish.

I would say I call it a matte finish. It's definitely not shiny but it's not dull either and I love it now. You certainly could do it. stop here, it's all clear wax. If you decide to stop here, be sure to let the wax technically dry for 21 days until you put things on top. I found that if you give it a couple of days, maybe two, it's very easy to handle. It doesn't have any problems with things on top of it, but the best part about wax is that if something happens to it, say you scrape it to the surface, you can just hit it with a little more anti-slow. paint right there and then more wax, but let's say you put a lamp on it too early and the wax hasn't cured yet, just remove the lamp, rub on some more clear wax and you're done, I've had it. some side tables that the kids have done a number on in some areas and all I ever had to do was hit a small spot with clear wax and it looked new again, but since we're here to learn, let's move on to talking about Darkness.

The wax, so Annie Sloan wax comes in light white, dark and dark black, it's actually brown and it's what's best used for antiques, it's like shoe polish, so there are a couple of ways to darken the wax, but it's also good to have on hand. Here is a separate wax brush. You don't want to mix your clear wax and dark wax brushes, it will cause problems in your next step if you don't want to afford a second high quality wax brush, get a chip brush here, so the reason why a chip brush What works is that you can put it in there a little bit and again.

I'll show it to you in the drawer up close, but you can take it and put it in these cracks and judge it now, this doesn't work. If you're going to do a completely dark wax which we did today, I don't know yet on this piece and then you take a lint free cloth and you just wipe off the excess of my clear wax. really cool because I just did it so it cleaned up very easily but let's say it's been two months since you waxed it you may also need to have your clear wax on hand because adding more clear wax will help soften and fix your dark wax if that doesn't work, for example, if for some reason your furniture is super dry or I just don't know, the paint really wants to harden, maybe you didn't put on a good enough coat of clear wax if you use mineral spirits, natural mineral spirits pure, you can use them to clean the dark wax and grind it up and it will reactivate it because that's what wax is made of and it really helps you do that.

There's also a technique called glazing, which I have a video about and I'll share the link, but let's go to the drawer so we can show you a little bit closer, so once again here we have our drawer and see the edge there, let's see if you can put some dark wax on now, the less you can put on, the less you have to work to clean it off, so if you can push this in and almost think of it as paint. Instead of thinking of it as a cover that you then need to remove completely, don't do it, so there it is and I'm going to take my rag and so, this is more of a decorative thing.

I think that rag might have mineral spirits in it, we'll move on to the next top here. I'm going to get a new rag so there's another area of ​​my dark wax and I'm just going to wipe it off there so now you can In fact, I saw that another rag had mineral spirits on it and you saw how much it took off and you saw how this left a brown haze everywhere. That's more what I'm looking for. I just grabbed the wrong one, so I'm going to put it on this edge here and yeah, I've got a bunch on this brush, so I better go get it and then I'm going to grab my rag here and clean it again now that you're.

I'm going to see how you can see the stripes. You know, just be mindful of how you're cleaning. You don't want to make these big brown swirls. Think about it again, more like you're painting brown there, but I really think technically. It's called antiques, so here I'm going to use a little bit more of a drier brush and less wax to see how that worked and then I'm going to go back to cleaning up the edges and polishing a little bit of that. So here you can see now, if you take a step back, how this side has less than this, it's just part of the real art of painting furniture, so you can go back, you could have removed more of that, let's say you did.

I don't like that, either with clear wax or mineral spirits or just cleaning a little better. I like a lot of dark wax because I like a lot of old things and I'm going to do it lightly as long as it's not super. Sticky and super sticky, you don't have to clean it up as much and it's also waxed the same way as clear waxes, it just has pigment, so if you're super creative you can skip the clear waxes in certain clever cases. Don't do it normally unless you know what you're doing, but there you go, so I'll do that with the rest and show you that here's a great example of a place where you would need the great Annie Sloan. wax brush doing something on a large area again you're just doing the cracks the small brush will work great but if you want to cover a whole area and you want it all the way you won't be able to do it with anything. faster than with this Annie Sloane wax brush, uh, and I do it very deliberately with long linear strokes here or at least trying not to be on camera so much for you, so then I'm going to take my old rag and I'm going to try to work faster because I don't want it to stick completely, sorry for the shakiness, put a little more effort into the dark wax than the clear wax until you get the look you like and again, just be deliberate about where it goes now if this is too much for you and you don't like it, just take clear wax, add some to your rag and it will help you loosen this whole thing up again or again if everything sucks. it gets loose, so just take mineral spirits that will help you perfect.

Hopefully you can see it well there, that should be fine, so here you have the finished table. I replaced the knob with a knob. I have a hobby lobby there and you can see then. I aged it and aged it with Annie sloan's blue duck egg and Annie sloan's clear wax and dark wax. You can find these products right now from this video online on my website at originalwornonline.com or you can find your own location. annie sloane distributor at anniesloan.com thanks for watching and make sure to subscribe to the youtube channel and hit the notifications icon that way you'll know every time I post a new tutorial.

Also make sure to subscribe to youtube. channel and remember you can find us online at originallywornonline.com and on facebook instagram and pinterest at originally used happy paint