How to Use Chalk Paint

By now, you probably know that I love finding a good alley treasure.  I literally get a high when I notice something made of wood during a quick alley scan.  I swear, I have trained my eyes to see all wood objects from far distances (even though I am near-sighted!). I will not lie, sometimes what looks like wood is actually cardboard.  Like I said, my eyes are not the best!

One day while trolling an alley by my house, an oak coffee table found its way onto my radar. As I got closer to the “wooden object”, I was delighted to see it was actually wood.  After a quick inspection, I thought it was good enough to snag.  Now, I had Mike’s car (aka our new car) and was a little hesitant to throw it in the back.  I ended up channeling my dad’s crazy car OCD and gingerly placed the coffee table into the car, taking extra care to ensure nothing touched the sides. Mission accomplished!

On my home with my treasure, I began brainstorming what I wanted to do with it.  I was thinking of maybe going with a bright, funky color, but as I looked closer at the table, I realized a funky color wouldn’t jive with it.  My coffee table felt more like Pottery Barn and less like CB2. So, I decided to update it accordingly.

I went with a darker gray color for my coffee table. I was going to stain the top a dark walnut color (similar to my kitchen table) and paint the legs gray, but ended up painting everything gray.  First, I sanded the top to smooth out some of the dings and scratches. After I sanded the top, I made my own chalk paint and painted my entire coffee table with it.  After the paint dried, I went over it with a furniture wax. Now, I am trying to sell it my cute little Pottery Barn inspired coffee table. Any takers? :)