Decorate with me--chalk paint for furniture

[Harriet Vane]

I am redecorating my dd's bedroom. She's all grown up, living her grown-up life as a real live, official teacher, but I want her room to be awesome so that she feels this is still her home forever and for always. So think of the room as a lovely guest room with a twenty-something vibe.

We painted 3 walls white and one wall dark green. There is a black metal, urban-looking desk and a gray chair. We have a light green cube next to the bed as well. We are planning to frame black and white photos with silver frames. We are also sprinkling about Chicago paraphernalia.

So there is a small, plain bookcase that has seen better days. It's pretty basic. I am thinking of painting it either semigloss black (which I already have) or perhaps venturing into the realm of chalk paint. Wondering if charcoal or black chalk paint will be more muted, matte, and urban looking? OR am I overthinking a small piece of this puzzle and just paint the silly bookcase whatever I've got and be done?

One concern--I know semigloss paint wipes clean pretty well. I am concerned that something more matte might be disastrous for an item that is touched a lot. Years ago we rented an apartment that had been painted with flat paint. The window sills were so filthy from finger prints that just could not be cleaned away. I don't know if that's an issue with chalk paint or not.

I've never painted with chalk paint so I really don't know what I'm talking about. 😆

[EmseB]

I did chalk paint on a dresser and it was dead easy. Even sealing with the wax was not hard at all and it hasn't chipped or had anything that wouldn't wipe off with a damp paper towel despite having five kids around. It is not cheap, though, if you get the brand name chalk paint. I did a dresser in white with a dark gel stain on top and I love it.

[Syllieann]

You can use polyurethane over chalk paint instead of using wax.  You'll get a more durable finish.  I used varathane semi-gloss water based poly over black Rustoleum chalk paint on a frequently-used hutch 7 years ago and it still looks good.  We have a chalked bread box with poly as well.  Obviously that gets frequent use and is exposed to food residue/sticky fingers.

[Pawz4me]

I chalk painted our dining room table a little over a year ago. Then I put about seven or eight coats of wipe on poly on it. It still looks just like it did when I finished the project. If the bookcase isn't used a lot I think wax over chalk paint would be fine. If it's used a lot I'd put some poly on it. But in your shoes I might be inclined to try the paint I already had first, depending on the condition of the bookcase. You'd need to either sand it very, very well and/or use a good primer on it before applying the semi-gloss paint. The glossier regular paint is the less forgiving it is--glossier highlights every imperfection. So you need to do more prep to get a nice finished product. With chalk paint you don't have to be nearly as picky about prep work, since it covers just about anything.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Corraleno]

I think it depends on how much prep work you want to do. Chalk paint sticks to anything and it's thick enough to fill in minor scratches and imperfections (plus the matte texture hides a lot), so you just need to slap on some paint, top with wax or wipe-on poly (matte or satin, I wouldn't use semi-gloss) and you're done. With semi-gloss paint, you should really sand the piece down and fill any major scratches/holes/nicks because the paint will show every imperfection. Chalk paint can be expensive, but you can also just add calcium carbonate and/or plaster of Paris to any water-based paint (there are a zillion recipes online).

Edited May 14, 2020 by Corraleno