Recipe courtesy of No Minimalist Here
I love chalk paint; it adheres to practically everything. I’ve used it on plastic, metal, glass, and wood. You do not have to prime anything, there is no bad odor, and it dries fairly quickly. I love the Annie Sloan brand, her website is where I first learned about how versatile chalk paint is. Her colors are historical, European, classic, and oh so gorgeous. I’ve used her paint on numerous projects ( living room furniture, bedroom furniture, picture frames, clay pots, shelves, mantle, my desk, lamps, etc.) and I love how smooth it goes on and how easy the clean-up is (water-based). What I don’t love is how expensive it is.
Our mantle- AS Chalk Paint- Old White
When I painted the bedroom furniture, I wanted the desk drawers to each have a different color inside; a nice surprise each time you reached for something. However, the small bottles of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint run about $8 each and I wanted to use 4 different colors. That is a little too extravagant for me, so I went in search of a DIY chalk paint recipe.
DIY Chalk Paint- Blush, Rain, Linen, Butter
After searching all over the internet, I found one here that seemed easy enough to make and use. Be sure to check out her website, she’s got lots of great ideas about how to decorate on a budget. Okay, so this DIY version of chalk paint is not as smooth as the Annie Sloan paint, but it is just as thick, dries even quicker than the AS paint, is easy to clean up, and is very versatile because you can make whatever color you want. Plus, I have enough supplies to make 10 times the amount of paint (at least) for the price of one can of AS paint. That being said, I will still buy the AS paint for large projects because it is difficult to ensure that you get the color exact all the way through with a large amount of DIY paint (unless it is just white). Also, if you run out of a bucket of AS paint mid project (like I did with the living room furniture), you can pick another one up at the store with the confidence that it is the exact same color that you have been using.
DIY Chalk Paint- Rain
Mark cut some scraps of wood into plant markers for me
Easter Basket- DIY Chalk Paint- Blush
Easter Basket- DIY Chalk Paint- Butter, Rain
I did not take “before” pictures on these projects…sorry! Some of these items were purchased at a thrift store, they were very cheap ( the Easter baskets were .29 cents with a 25 % discount) and purchased for the sole purpose of being painted. I’m very happy with the results. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup latex paint ( I like Behr Premium) it is usually on sale Memorial Day and Labor Day. The base color you choose will determine what colors you can make. I prefer pastels, so I chose pure white, if you like darker colors you will want to choose a darker base.
1/4 cup chalk (Calcium Carbonate powder) I bought mine at Swanson Vitamins for about $4 for a 12 oz. container, with free shipping. I’ve made a ton of chalk paint and I still have over half of a container left.
1 Tablespoon hot water
acrylic paints- to tint your base
glass jars-I used pint sized Mason jars
Tin-DIY Chalk Paint-Rain, antiquing (dark brown) wax, and bronze gilding wax
This tin was a solid dark brown before I painted it. Now it is so cute that I’m putting it in my bathroom.
Directions
- Mix this all together and then start adding acrylic paint until you reach the color you desire. Be smart and notate the color combination you use, so that you can replicate it later if need be ( I learned that the hard way).
- Give your colors a name and mark the jars with pretty and/or functional labels.
- After your paint sits for a few months, it may be somewhat thicker than you would like. Simply add some hot water to the jar and stir.
The Wicker Chicken 