I bought these bar stools from my SIL with the intention of redoing them. Well, here it is  two years later and I finally got around to doing it. After looking on Pinterest for inspiration, I saw some stools on The DIY Village that I fell in love with. SO with my plan in mind, I went to work.

I made some chalk paint so I didn’t have to sand or prime which is always a plus.  However, you do still need to lightly sand between coats.

The verdict is still out on the homemade chalk paint. I found a recipe for the chalk paint on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try. I have used both homemade chalk paint and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the past. I thought I would try to save some money on this project and make my own.

One of the benefits of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is that they say that you generally only have to paint one to two coats. On another project that I did in the past, the AS Chalk Paint I used was the pure white. The pure white paint doesn’t have any pigment so I had to do more than two coats. It did however go a long way and I have been very happy with how durable it is.  A quart of Annie Sloan paint is around $30 dollars. It’s expensive, so I guess you will have to figure that it does save you time and like my husband always tells me, time is money (he’s an accountant).

To make the chalk paint, I mixed 3 tbsp. Plaster of Paris with 2 tbsp. of  water and then mixed it into 2 cups of  paint.

The Plaster of Paris makes the paint a little thicker and gives it a chalky finish after you sand it. Adding the Plaster of Paris also makes the paint more durable. It isn’t as likely to chip and scratch like other paints. With my five kids, any little bit helps!

I had to paint 4 to 5 coats of paint on each stool. I think the reason was because I didn’t buy a high quality paint at a paint store. I just bought a medium grade paint at Walmart. Chalk paint does dry faster, so that did help.

I cut the circle design and numbers out on my trusty Cricut. Then I traced them onto the stools and used a small brush to paint it. The nice thing about the vintage look is that if you mess up, it doesn’t matter as much because you are going to distress it anyways.

After I had finished painting and lightly sanding (I used 180 grit sandpaper), I noticed that there were a few scratches on one of the stools. Of course, my three year old had been driving one of his Match Box cars over it. The scratches are not what you want to see after spending so much time painting. I wasn’t too stressed because I figured I was going to distress them anyway. Once I let the paint cure for 24 hours and I have applied the Annie Sloan wax over the top, I don’t think I will have any more problems with the paint scratching.

All in all, I am very happy with how they turned out! Even though I had to paint a few more coats then I was planning. It was still worth it. Now I can proudly say that I have one less project on my mile long home project list.

Until next time,

Carrie