DIY Chalk Paint Furniture Tutorial for Beginners

In this easy-to-follow DIY chalk paint furniture tutorial, you’ll learn how to chalk paint your wood furniture and add a distressed look to it.  Follow along in this tutorial as I chalk paint two side tables and slightly distress them to create a look that I absolutely love.

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The EASIEST DIY chalk paint tutorial with a distressed look #chalkpainttutorial

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Furniture restoration is one of my FAVORITE ways to spruce up my home.

It is also one of THE BEST ways to save money.  Instead of buying new, expensive furniture, you can give new life to outdated wood furniture for a fraction of the cost!

The best part about it is that, when done right, your furniture pieces can look like a really expensive piece.

I personally love painting wood light-colored tones because I feel like it always looks good. Prime example: when I painted this buffet white after painting it black the first time around.

HOW TO DIY CHALK PAINT FURNITURE:

STEP 1: FIND WOOD FURNITURE WITH GOOD BONES

If you don’t already a piece of wood furniture in mind for your project, make sure to take your time and find the right furniture piece.

You want to look for a piece of furniture that is in good shape and has a structure you want.

I searched for end tables for months and months to find ones that had good bones.

In my living room, next to my gray sectional, I had one white tray table that I was looking to upgrade. Instead of paying a fortune to get the look I wanted, my goal with this project was to revamp two old side tables into high-quality, expensive-looking pieces.

For months, I searched for side tables on Craigslist, Facebook groups, and our local Habitat for Humanity. Nothing.

Then, last week, I decided to take a peek at the furniture section in Goodwill after I dropped off some old clothes. I couldn’t believe it! I saw a side table that I loved. It had four chunky legs (score!), a drawer, and was in great shape.

But, I didn’t see its match, which was a huge bummer…until I glanced around and spotted it. Could it be? YES! 1 point for Marly.

I immediately bought the pair of side tables and got to work planning out my new project.

STEP 2: MAKE A PLAN

This step is so important and often overlooked. You want to make sure you buy the right materials you need for the project and make a time to do the project so that when you go to do it, you have everything you need.

I always go through a planning phase before just tackling my projects. I want my pieces to look expensive, which means I can’t cut corners in my rehab of these pieces. After I determined the perfect color for my tables and assessed the project, I bought all the materials needed.

As far as time goes, it depends how big of a furniture piece you are tackling and how many coats of paint you need to do. If you’re tackling a similar furniture piece to what I did, you can most likely knock it out in a day.

COST BREAKDOWN

My Cost: $26.50/end table (I had some of the materials already needed)

I had some of the items I needed for this project already on hand, so the only things I spent money on were:

  • the two side tables ($24 total),
  • chalk paint ($16.98),
  • new hardware ($11.96)
  • That’s about $53 total, or $26.50 for each table
  • That’s about $53 total, or $26.50 for each table.

That’s about $53 total, or $26.50 for each table.

I’ve seen similar end tables go for over $200 a piece! 

Compare those to my $27 DIY chalk paint version:

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

STEP 3: GATHER/BUY MATERIALS

For this project, you’ll need:

  • Chalked Paint (You can use any brand you like. I used this paint.)
  • Polyurethane (I used this poly.)
  • Hardware. (I used these pulls.)
  • Two Synthetic Brushes (You’ll need one for chalk paint and one for polyurethane.)
  • Sand Paper Block
  • Screw driver (to remove and add hardware)

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

STEP 4: PREPARE YOUR FURNITURE

I cannot stress enough that preparing your furniture is vital.

You’ll want to sand the wood using a sand paper block, dust off the residue and wipe down the furniture so it’s ready for painting.

Also, make sure to remove all hardware, pull out any drawers completely, and remove any doors from your furniture piece.

For this project, I lightly sanded the tables so the paint would adhere to the wood.

After that, I removed the hardware, dusted the tables, and wiped them down. I also removed the drawers to prepare for painting.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

STEP 5: PAINT

Before you start painting, make sure to stir and not shake your chalk paint.

It’s also important to note that it’s not recommended to use a roller when applying chalk paint. You should use a high-quality synthetic brush.

Two or three coats of chalked paint can be applied, depending on the look you want.

Make sure that you let each coat of paint dry completely before painting your next coat.

For this project, I opted for three coats of paint.

Here’s what one of my end tables looked like after one coat of paint:

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

It is very transparent-looking. That is what it should look like after one coat of paint.

Do not keep painting on more layers to your wet paint to try and make it more opaque. This is the number one thing I see people do wrong when they go to paint furniture. 

Make sure you let the coat of paint dry completely before adding another coat of paint.

Here is what my table looked like after three coats of paint:

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

Notice how it has a clean finish to it. That’s because I let each coat of paint dry before applying another one.

STEP 6: DISTRESS YOUR FURNITURE, IF DESIRED

If you don’t like the distressed look, you can skip this section and go straight to step 7, which is to apply the polyurethane.

If you are looking for a distressed look, this is the part where you’ll begin sanding.

Before you sand, make sure that your furniture piece is 100% dry.

When I distress furniture pieces, I like to target the edges and corners, which are the parts that would tend to distress naturally.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

You can sand as much or as little as you like to let the natural wood tone show through.

I chose to keep my sanding to a minimum because I wanted just a slightly-distressed look.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

STEP 7: APPLY POLYURETHANE

There is a lot of discussion surrounding whether to apply wax or polyurethane over chalked paint. You can use either.

I opted for polyurethane.

Simply use your brush to apply an even coat over the entire piece. The polyurethane I used says to allow seven days for total cure of the project. It is dry, however, after a couple hours.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

STEP 8: ASSEMBLE HARDWARE.

Once the polyurethane is completely dry, assemble the hardware, and you’re done!

Your beautiful new piece is ready to make its debut.

HERE’S HOW MY SIDE TABLES LOOK NOW NEXT TO MY SECTIONAL:

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

This tutorial is so easy and helpful! I can't wait to try it on my end tables.

I absolutely love how they turned out!

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The EASIEST DIY chalk paint tutorial with a distressed look #chalkpainttutorial

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11 Comments

  1. Melissa wrote:

    They look amazing Marly and I can’t believe you scored them for $12 each! And they look perfect in your living room. Great job!

    Posted 7.11.17
    • Marly Dice wrote:

      Thanks so much, Melissa!

      Posted 7.11.17
  2. Heather wrote:

    I’ve got a coffee table and side table that came with the beach house I bought and They desperately need to be redone but I’ve been a bit intimidated. You’ve inspired me Marly! I’ll post pics if I get bold enough to try when we go back later this month.

    Posted 7.15.17
    • Marly Dice wrote:

      I’m so glad I inspired you, Heather! Please do post pics if you do the project. I would love to see it. 🙂

      Posted 7.17.17
  3. Wendy wrote:

    This is the first DIY chalk paint tutorial that I actually feel like made the process seem achievable. So many are so complicated! I have been thinking of looking for a buffet for my dining room and doing this. I think the one at the Amish furniture store will have to stay there for a while….(expensive!). I love the amount of distressing you did, not too much, not too little. I was wondering how the poly looked after it dried…did it make the paint look a little yellow? I have had that happen before. I can’t wait to give this a try! Wonderful job and so affordable!

    Posted 7.20.17
    • Marly Dice wrote:

      Hi Wendy,
      Thanks for reading! I’m glad you found this tutorial helpful.

      That’s a great question. The poly actually did give it a slightly yellowish tint, but it was so minor that it didn’t bother me. Plus, they ended up being almost the exact same color as my kitchen cabinets which was a nice surprise.

      Let me know if you give this a try and how it turns out!

      Have a great day.
      -Marly

      Posted 8.1.17
  4. Liza wrote:

    Great Job!! 😀👍🏼 They look very expensive and great in your living room

    Posted 8.8.17
    • Marly Dice wrote:

      Thank you so much, Liza! 🙂

      Have a great day!
      -Marly

      Posted 8.9.17
  5. Brie wrote:

    I love your rug ! Where is it from?

    Posted 5.14.18
  6. Kindra wrote:

    I absolutely love this and am excited to try chalk painting an entry table I have. Just wondering what type of sandpaper you use (how much grit?)

    Posted 5.19.18

Comments are closed.