...into ...
this?
I recently bought some Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White for my dining room hutch and was inspired to makeover my vanity because the painting and waxing process is so easy for chalk paint! With some chalk paint, a piece of glass, and a new mirror, I was able to completely transform my vanity so that it better suites my current decor and brightens up my office/ makeup room.
The makeover process was actually pretty quick and simple. I started by clearing off the surface of my vanity and emptying out both drawers.
As you can see, any kind of skin-colored powder foundation is extra-visible on black surfaces, which is another reason why I wanted to paint this sucker!
I then wiped down the entire vanity, including its legs, with some all-purpose cleaner. When re-painting any piece of furniture, you want to make sure that your surfaces are clean and free of any dust or dirt. You want to make sure the paint can "stick" to the surface you're painting.
BAM! Look at what a little elbow grease and actual cleaning can do! I could have stopped here and kept on using my vanity as is, but this is a post about a makeover, not cleaning. Silly!
At this point, I screwed the knobs off of each drawer and started painting with the chalk paint. No sanding or priming or stripping needed!...Yeah, do you hear that? That's the sound of angels singing. Singing because Annie Sloan chalk paint is...AMAZING!
This is what the piece looked like after 1 coat of paint:
The coverage was pretty good, but I was a little nervous. The paint is a thicker consistency and I was afraid that after my second coat, I would still have a bunch of streaky patches. I wasn't sure why I was nervous. I mean, nearly everyone who has used Annie Sloan chalk paint has raved about it. This stuff is supposed to be awesome, right? So I waited about 2 hours and applied my next coat.
This is what the vanity looked like after the 2nd coat:
The finish was opaque and there was no need for me to paint on another coat. I was so excited, but nervous at the same time. Is that all? Can it really be this easy?
I let the vanity sit overnight just to make sure all layers of paint were dry. Then I started lightly distressing areas of the vanity where you would normally see signs of wear and tear. Annie Sloan chalk paint is described as a decorative type of paint that is perfect for distressing and creating that shabby-chic, antique-y look.
I lightly sanded the edges of the vanity with a 120-grit sanding block to get a nice worn-out look. I could have gone wild with sanding, but decided to be conservative and keep it to a minimum.
After sanding and wiping down the surface of the vanity to remove any dust, I applied Annie Sloan Soft Wax in Clear. I learned that a very teensy, tiny amount of wax goes a loooonggg way. I used a paint brush to apply my wax then wiped off any excess. The wipe-off process was the trickiest for me. I started with regular ol' kitchen paper towels, but they didn't seem to absorb very much of the wax and the paper towels tore to pieces too quickly. Then, I tried tearing up an old white t-shirt to wipe the wax off, but that sucker had so much lint on it that I started to see little pieces of lint embedded in my wax! Aggghhh! This is when panic and frustration started to set in. Did I just ruin my vanity? Do I have to start over? Nope. Like always, I calmed down and figured it out. My White Rags Paper Cloths by Tool Box Brand were the perfect consistency and had great durability. There was also zero to no lint on these paper cloths so they were perfect!
I let the wax cure for 3 weeks and then had a piece of glass cut down to size at my local hardware store for about $13.99. I bought the mirror on a HomeGoods run and the rest is history!
Please let me know what you think of this before and after! This project is very budget-friendly and totally do-able. You should try it!...I mean, if you want to, that is.
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