Amazing Chalk Paint® Transformation on Oak Kitchen Cabinets

A few months ago, I was hired to paint the dated, oak cabinets in this spacious kitchen.  The owners wanted a custom look without replacing all the cabinetry, which would be quite costly in a kitchen this size.  

Before

The kitchen looked drab and uninviting before, with the heavily grained oak overpowering the whole space. It was definitely the perfect time for a fresh look in this kitchen.

After

After scrubbing the cabinet doors with an orange oil cleaner, I applied three coats of Old Ochre Chalk Paint® to cover the open grain of the oak. I sanded all the doors using super fine, 600 grit sandpaper before painting the third coat.  After the final coat of paint, I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand all the edges, adding dimension to the drawers and doors. When all the sanding was done, I applied two coats of Annie Sloan's Clear Wax over the paint and the finish turned out smooth and silky.

The man of the house, who happens to be a contracter with an eye for detail, was fairly skeptical that Chalk Paint® would live up to its reputation as the best paint in the world.  I think he was also a little bit doubtful in my ability to handle painting a kitchen this large all by myself and, although I did not let it show, I was a bit doubtful myself (my business partner sprained her ankle the first day on the job). However, by the time I finished painting all the cabinets, he was singing praises!

The old linoleum was replaced with a rich, dark, hardwood, which offers the perfect complement to the creamy cabinetry.

Initially, the owners were considering replacing the tile countertops with a solid surface, like granite, but after seeing the painted cabinets paired with the tile, they love the combination and decided to keep the tile.

They put iron cup pulls and knobs on the cabinetry, which definitely added to the new custom look of the kitchen.

 Old Ochre is a beautiful, soft color and it brings much needed warmth to this spacious kitchen.

Another enhancement the owners added to the cabinetry, is the lovely crown molding on top. This is such a small detail, but it made a monumental improvement to the look of the kitchen cabinets. 

The final improvement to this kitchen was replacing the boxed-in flourescent light with an elegant iron light fixture.  What a lovely kitchen we created together!

Pure White Chalk Paint® Kitchen Cabinets

 

One of our customers at Loot hired Nancy and I to paint the kitchen cabinets of her beach house.  She just purchased this home and I wish I could show you pictures of how different it looked before she started her remodel. Everything in the house was in a shade of brown when she bought it. First, She replaced the floor with this lovely, beachy hardwood.  Then, she hired us to transform her brownish-orange kitchen cabinets.

 

 

I forgot to take pictures before the cabinet doors were removed, but at least I remembered to take a few shots before we actually started painting.

 

 

 

The finish on the cabinets before was outdated and did not look right with the pretty, light countertops and bright blue backsplash.  After a little Chalk Paint®, they look like they were made to go together.

 

 The Pure White Chalk Paint® on the cabinets really tied the look together.

 

Here is the Chalk Paint® in action: no need to prime, sand, or strip the existing finish.  Just paint away! 

 

 

In order to achieve a really smooth finish, I thinned the top coat with a bit of water by dipping my brush in a cup of water periodically to keep it moist as I painted.

 

The kitchen is modern and sophisticated now and Chalk Paint® helped achieve the look.  This demonstrates that Chalk Paint® is valuable for creating many different types of finishes.  It looks beautiful and authentic on antique pieces and creates an equally stunning finish on modern, clean lines, like these kitchen cabinets. The coverage, ease of use, and versatility of Chalk Paint® are some of the reasons why I love using this paint so much.

 

 

Of course, the predictably perfect finish created with Chalk Paint® is the main reason it is my favorite decorative paint.

 

 

Chalk Paint® sticks to everything and looks the same, no matter what is beneath it.  The bar is a perfect example of this. Once covered in Chalk Paint®, the cabinets match the, newly installed, back paneling, making it look like it was always meant to be that way. 

 

 

I love her industrial style bar stools against the bright Pure White. 

 

We opted to use Annie Sloan's matte lacquer rather than the wax on these cabinets.  It is designed for use on floor, so it is really going to hold up to wear and tear on the cabinets.

 



What a brilliant kitchen now!

 

 

 

 

She also hired us to paint her front door and French doors throughout her home. 

 

Before

 

After

 

 

 

The Pure White Chalk Paint on the doors gives this sophisticated beach house a fresher, more unified look.

 

 

If you live in the Santa Cruz area, and would like to get an estimate for custom painting of your kitchen or bathroom cabinets, send me an email: amandapierre@mail.com

 

Whitewashed Vintage Dresser

 

The last time I visited my family in Sacramento, I found this awesome pair of old dressers on caster wheels at a yard sale.  I do not come across such stylish dressers often, let alone two at a time! 

 

I was so excited and the woman I bought them from was happy when I told her that I fix up furniture.  She asked me if I was going to paint them white.  I thought about it and realized that when I started fixing up furniture, it seemed like I painted everything white.  I rarely paint anything plain white anymore, but I thought this dresser would look pretty in a simple white finish.  I decided to do white with a twist by adding a French Linen wash over Pure White Chalk Paint®.



 

 

The top was scratched, gouged and well-worn.  I patched the uneven spots with wood filler and then sanded it smooth before painting.

 

I love the long legs on these dressers and the fan detail on the second drawer.

 

I like the contrast of the original dark hardware and caster wheels against the new white washed finish. 

 

I used a dry brush and only applied one coat of Pure White Chalk Paint, so that the dark stain beneath would show through and add depth to the finish.  After the Pure White dried, I mixed the French Linen 50:50 with water to create a wash and brushed it over the white.  I used a rag to wipe off and blend the wash over the white.  I left the wash darker over the fan detail on the drawer front to accent the piece.  I completed this piece with Annie Sloan's Clear Wax for a soft, smooth finish.

 

 

While this is not a true white wash finish, it is a great way to create a white washed look over wood that is in poor condition and has been patched with wood filler.  I would not have been able to do a white wash over the wood filler, without it showing through.  The dry brush provided more coverage over the imperfections and the French Linen wash blended it all together.



Vintage Cane Back Dining Chair Set

 

 

This is the third set of vintage cane back chairs that I have given a makeover.  There were six chairs in this set and the caning was all still in excellent condition.

 



 

The chairs were really dingy and dirty and one of them was painted bright blue.  I sold the two arm chairs to a Loot customer who wanted them painted in Emperor's Silk Chalk Paint® and upholstered in a natural linen.

 

I kept the rest of the set simple and neutral.

 

I painted the chairs with two coats of Pure White Chalk Paint® followed by a wash of Coco Chalk Paint®, made by watering down the paint. 

 

 

 The Coco wash subtly aged and softened the bright white paint and the paint on the edges of the chairs naturally crackled giving them an authentic looking patina.

 

 

I have a thing for stripes, so I chose an elegant, wide-striped, pale, cream and aqua linen to reupholster the seat cushions.

 

Linen and Tulle Lampshade

I know it seems like all I do is paint furniture, but there was a time when sewing and lampshade making occupied a lot of my time. You may remember the pair of linen shades I recovered for twin, vintage lamps or this basic lamp shade tutorial I posted on my blog in 2010. Don't forget about these two, linen lamp shades I recovered in 2011. Now, taking you all the way back to my very first blog post with the mini burlap shades I made for a plain little chandelier.  It is nice to take time out from painting and focus on other creative projects.

One of my regular Loot customers brought me a lamp to consign for her.  She also left an old lamp shade and a vintage bridal veil and said I could use the veil to make some kind of shade for the lamp.

I ripped off the old shade covering, exposing the bare, metal frame.  Then, I cut the veil and some pretty, white linen fabric into strips and tied them to the top and bottom of the metal frame.  

This was such an easy way to create a new lampshade!

This shade sold right off the lamp the first weekend I put it for sale at Loot.  Now, I am back to where I started and need to make another shade for this lovely lamp.

This post is linked to the parties on my sidebar.

Whitewashed Farm Table

My brother is a contractor in Sacramento and he does what I do, only on a much larger scale; he fixes up run-down houses to resell.  He found this table in one of the houses he was rehabbing and offered it to me free of charge.  This table is the heaviest, most solid table I have ever had to lift.  I would be very strong, if I had to move a table like this everyday!

The table was in pretty bad shape when I got it.  I forgot a complete before picture of the table, but here is the top after I sanded the old, polyurethane coated finish.  There were a couple of issues with the top, one being that there was a deep stain on one side.  I had originally planned to use a wood stain on the table top, but I was concerned that the dark spot would show through.  

The chunky legs had very chippy, dark blue paint on them.  I wanted this rustic blue paint to be exposed in the final finish of the table base.

I painted one coat of Old White Chalk Paint over the apron and legs and then distressed them heavily, so the old, blue paint underneath was exposed.

Since my idea for a natural wood top was not going to work out, I opted to whitewash the top, so that I could still see some of the wood grain on the top.  I used Old White mixed with water, painted it on, and wiped it off with a rag. After the whitewash dried I used a scouring pad and water to scrub away the white in places, exposing some of the wood grain. It was a little too stark white when I was done, so I mixed some French Linen with water and applied that over the whitewash to tone it down.  

I waxed the entire table with Annie Sloan clear wax.  It looks like a weathered, beachy, farm table now.

This post is linked to the parties on my sidebar.