There’s nothing like entertaining a large group to get you motivated to tackle those DIY projects that you have been procrastinating to complete. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and will be here before you know it. I’m having a big group again this year; it’s looking like 14, maybe 16, will be at the table breaking bread with us.
Are you entertaining for Thanksgiving? I love to entertain and Thanksgiving gives me the opportunity to pull out all the stops! The scrumptious food, setting a beautiful table, the scrumptious food, the seasonal fall décor, the scrumptious food, surrounded by all the fabulous rich autumn tones of the season, the scrumptious food; it is one of my favorite holidays! Did I mention the scrumptious food? LOL!
We have been in our new home for a few months now and I have slowly tackled updating and refinishing some of my favorite pieces of furniture from our previous home. You may be in a similar situation where you purchased items for a specific spot in your previous home because it worked with the décor and fit the space, but now in your new home, it just isn’t working.
Don’t get rid of old pieces, update them so that they work in your new space! Not only will it save a ton of money reusing existing furniture, it’s also exciting creating unique pieces for your home that you won’t find in anyone else’s house. Anyone can take a trip to the furniture store and pick up something for their home; there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you take the time to refinish existing pieces you will have something that is uniquely yours.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, I’m sure you have noticed that I am not part of the all-white farmhouse crowd. Don’t get me wrong, I love a neutral color pallet but having everything white, on white, on white, feels cold and antiseptic to me. I crave a little more color and a warmer, cozier, and relaxing environment.
I encourage you to create your own style; go for a more eclectic look, mixing pieces to curate a look that is uniquely yours. The juxtaposition of placing something masculine, industrial and modern next to something more rustic, feminine and refined looks so appealing. The high/low contrast is unexpected and very appealing and interesting.
You may be the proud owner of a china hutch very much like the one I have. I can still remember back in the 80’s when I found this piece at a furniture shop. My heart did a little pitter-patter when I saw it and I just had to have it. I had the perfect spot for it and it worked perfectly with my dining room table and chairs.
I love the lines of the piece and for me it is such a useful piece for storage and a great way to display all my favorite pieces of china and silver. I know that hutches like this have fallen out of favor over the years and I see them at my local thrift store all the time. If you have a china hutch and you love it, don’t get rid of it, give it a new life with some paint instead!
I’m keeping mine because I LOVE it, but the color is all wrong. The yellow oak just doesn’t work in my new house. After doing a bunch of research, I finally decided to try something different and give it a new life by chalk painting it.
I considered refinishing this piece with stain and varnish, but the thought of sanding the entire piece down to bare wood was not something I wanted to tackle. Getting into all those nooks and crannies? Pass!
I recently refinished my dining room table and even though it was primarily a flat surface, it was still a HUGE undertaking. Sanding anything down to bare wood is a laborious job and not a lot of fun! In the end, it was well worth the effort. I love how it turned out, but I just couldn’t muster the energy to sand this entire piece, so I decided to only refinish the top of the buffet and chalk paint the rest of the piece.
If you are considering refinishing a wood piece of furniture with stain and sealing it with Polyurethane, it’s really not all that hard to do. It just takes time, requires a lot of sanding, and patience to do it correctly. You can’t rush a project like this if you want a professional looking finish. It is definitely an elbow grease kind of project.
If you are considering such a project, be sure to read my blog post for detailed step-by-step instructions on how to do it correctly to get a flawless, professional looking finish here. Knowing what it will entail to do it right will help you to decide if you want to go this route. Refinishing your existing wood furniture will update your pieces for a fraction of what it will cost you to purchase new pieces.
Before: Golden Oak 
After: English Chestnut
Because I have a lot of wood finishes in my house I decided to paint most of the china hutch instead of staining and refinishing the entire piece. The wall behind where it will go, is a darker accent wall and I knew painting the piece white would create a nice contrast against the darker wall behind it.
The dining room accent wall is painted in an eggshell finish (wipeable and easy to clean), in the color “Siene” (6005-2B) by Valspar. It is a beautiful neutral taupe, brown/gray color with the tiniest hint of green undertones; what some call a greige color. It’s rich and warm, dramatic, but not too dark. I love this neutral color!
If you are struggling to decide on what paint colors to use in your home, read my post for tips on picking the perfect paint color for your home here. I walk you through the process so you can pick the perfect colors for your home without the usual stress and uncertainty. You got this!
Back to painting furniture, after doing a bit of research I decided to use chalk paint for this piece. If you like painted wood pieces of furniture you will love how easy it is to use this type of paint. The very best thing about chalk paint? No sanding is required!!! Yes, you read that right, no sanding is needed to prepare the surface for paint.
Chalk paint is a magical substance. It will stick to almost any surface. I have to admit, after all the sanding I did on my dining room table, the thought of not having to do the same on the hutch sounded very appealing indeed!
Supplies you will need to chalk paint wood furniture:
- Screwdriver or drill to remove knobs, handles, hinges.
- TSP or Simple Green degreaser.
- Painters tape to protect any areas you won’t be painting.
- Lint free rags.
- Chalk paint in the color of your choice.
- Paint brush.
- Clear wax.
- Brush to apply clear wax.
- Dark wax.
- Brush to apply dark wax.
The first thing you need to decide is what color you want to use. I strongly recommend obtaining paint samples to take home and placing them where the piece will live in your house. I placed paint samples along the accent wall in my dining room so I could see what the colors would actually look like with the light in my home. It’s amazing how much different a paint sample will look at the store versus your home. I selected an Annie Sloan paint in the color “Original”. It’s an almost exact match to the baseboard trim in my dining room.
Once you have a color picked out, it’s time to prep the piece for paint. Remove the doors, drawers and all the hardware; the knobs, hinges, drawer handles, and any glass inserts that can be easily removed.
Although no sanding is required to prepare the surface for paint, you will want to use either a product such as TSP or Simple Green to degrease and clean the surface before you paint it. Dilute the product with water in a spray bottle according to the product instructions. Spray the degreaser onto the wood and use a clean rag to wipe off any grease or grime.
Tape off any sections that you don’t want to paint. I decided not to paint the mirrored back inside the cabinet, and the glass shelf was proving just too difficult to remove so I taped that off and painted around it.
Because I love seasonal decorating and changing things up all the time, I have some fun idea’s for what I want to do with the mirrored back. Stay tuned for some creative ideas that I will share with you in an upcoming blog post.
Once you have removed the hardware, cleaned/de-greased, and taped off the piece it is now ready to paint.
There are many different brands of chalk paint on the market. Since this piece is one of the first things you see when you come into the house, I wanted to make sure to use the very best paint so I would be guaranteed a beautiful finish. I used Annie Sloan chalk paint. She is the creator of chalk paint and all the reviews I read give her paints the highest ratings. It’s a bit more costly than other brands of chalk paints but I wanted to be sure to get a beautiful finish.
If you have never used chalk paint before, just be aware that it is much thicker than the latex paint you may be accustomed to using; a lot thicker actually, and a little goes a long way! The first coat will look streaky and you may worry that it is not going to look good. Let the first coat dry and apply a second coat. Once you get a second coat on your piece, it will look so much better!
I’m not a huge fan of overly distressed furniture. A little character is fine but a piece that looks all beat up, like it was dragged down the road behind your cousins pick up truck, isn’t my cup of tea. Chalk paint produces a matte finish, and up close, you will notice the brush marks. If the brush marks bother you, take a 220 fine grit sand paper, add a few drops of water to it and lightly sand the piece by hand for a smooth finish. This step is not required, it just depends on the finish you are after.
I ended up doing three coats of paint. I wanted a nice even finish and I wasn’t getting it after the second coat.
Even though sanding the piece to prepare it for paint is not needed, one of the big differences with using chalk paint is that you need to seal it with wax. When you apply the wax it will even out the finish and give it just a tiny little bit of sheen. Once the wax has dried it will form a durable protective coating to the paint.
I was fortunate to find a local antique store that carries the line of Annie Sloan chalk paints and received some expert first hand advice on the chalk painting process and how to achieve the best results. A big shout out to Peggy at The Red Door in old town Elk Grove! She spent quite a bit of time answering all my questions and explaining the best techniques to use to get the best results.
Painting the piece is pretty straight forward. It was the waxing part that I had questions about. She recommended applying the dark wax while the clear wax is still wet. It will help “move the wax” and allow you to blend the dark wax. The goal is to highlight features subtly to enhance them.
I painted my piece and then applied a coat of clear wax and dark wax to the areas where I wanted to enhance some of the lines of the piece. The dark wax was just what the piece needed. I felt the piece was a bit flat and didn’t have enough dimension without the addition of the dark wax.
Using a small brush I applied it in the crevices and then blended it with a lint free rag until I liked the way it looked. I took my time with this step and started with just a little dark wax and blended it till I achieved the look that I liked.
Once the wax has dried buff the piece with a lint free rag to give it just the tiniest sheen.
Before 
After
It’s amazing how paint can completely transform a piece of furniture. The addition of new handles and knobs is relatively inexpensive and totally updates the piece.
Changing out the leaded glass inserts with clear glass also gives the piece a much cleaner, updated look.
I am so pleased with how this piece turned out. It doesn’t even look like the same piece of furniture!
Before 
After
I encourage you to paint a piece of furniture in your home if you are tired of the finish and want to change up the look. It’s easy to do and will completely transform it. Don’t get rid of it…paint it!
Let me know if you have questions about using chalk paint in the comments and I will do my best to answer any questions you have.
I am so pleased with the results I achieved with this project. It’s hard to believe just how different it looks painted versus the golden oak finish I started with. Don’t buy a new piece of furniture, paint it instead. You may end up loving it again and save yourself a boatload of money refinishing it instead of replacing it.
Give it a try, you can do it!
Did You Try This?
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