Transforming a table with Chalk Paint

Giving a table a new lease of life by Refovi Studio.

The girls at Refovi Studio in Glasgow, Anna and Susan, are transforming a table with Chalk Paint. Here’s what they did…

• As you can see our vintage table was well used, it had a number of marks from its past life. As we wanted some wood exposed on the top, we used a Black and Decker Mouse Sander to remove any visible wear.

• We remove any dirt or old polish to give us a clean surface to paint on, using Sugar Soap.
• Once completely dry the fun can begin. We created a simple geometric pattern using multi-purpose frog tape, the green one. Using the masking tape, we block out areas we still want wood to be visible, on the top of the table. Be sure the tape is well secured as you don’t want any paint seeping under the tape and ruining the sharp lines of your pattern.
• Now time to get painting, we went for a statement red, Vintro’s ‘Valentine’ Chalk Paint, we love the texture and great coverage. For the first coat we try not to overload the furniture, lightly covering, don’t worry if it looks patchy as the first coat is just a base to build on. You don’t want to be overworking the paint as this can give it a grainy texture. We used a small 30 mm flat brush on the legs and fiddly areas and a Medium, 50 mm pure bristle brush for the top.

• Because this was an older piece of furniture, we did notice some bleed through on our first coat, if this happens don’t worry just apply anti knotting to the areas of concern and leave to dry before continuing to paint. For this piece we did 3 coats of chalk paint in all.  Leave time in between coats for paint to properly dry, usually 1- 1.5 hours is enough.
• Once you have finished painting and it is all dry you can remove the masking tape, this is where you start to see your ideas come to life, it is very satisfying.
• After all the tape is removed you can give it a very light sand if required just to smooth out any areas you aren’t happy with, but this should be done with a fine sandpaper by hand as you want to smooth, not remove, as texture is the whole point of chalk paint so don’t go overboard. Dust off any paint dust before the next stage.
• Now to seal, we used waterproof beeswax on the exposed wood only, applied using a microfiber cloth. For painted areas we firstly apply a layer of clear wax all over. Then work in a combination of clear and dark wax, to emphasise the texture from the chalk paint, working in more dark wax in any ridges or areas of character, again using microfiber cloths. Once you are happy with the appearance buff to desired finish. Wax will usually take around 7 days to fully cure so be aware of this.
• Now sit back and enjoy your beautiful one of a kind creation!