Make Your Own Chalk Paint? Oh Hellllz to the Yes!

Can you tell I am excited about my latest project?

The moment I visited one my of favorite blogs, you are {talking} too much, and saw Rebecca's post, in which she shared Sherry at No Minimalist Here's guidance on making your own chalk paint, I was anxious to give it a try.  And by anxious I mean, perched on the edge of my seat, fidgeting my way through the work day, and rushing home to drag out the plaster of paris and choose the perfect shades of oops paint before the kids were even fed, much less in bed.

It was a little sad, really.

But the verdict?  So far...pretty freakin' awesome!  Here's a poorly lit, shot-with-a-misbehaving-camera-at-night sneak peek of my pilot project:

Underwhelming, yes?  But I promise that I can already tell, great things will come of this eventually!  I could have held out for the stunning final reveal, but I was just too darned excited not to share along the way.

Now, my opinion is probably less-than-totally-informed because I never did muster the guts to plunk down the cash-o-la required to try out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, so I can't offer a head-to-head comparison.  But I can say that my "Kristybelle Chalk Paint" (henceforth known as KbCP) went on like a dream, with fantastic coverage and a most pleasant feel to the paint. Best of all, I decided to dig right in and throw this paint a real challenge -- the piece pictured above started out as a dark reddish brown laminate freebie that I did not sand or prime first. Because being able to skip those steps was the main reason I was interested in the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I wanted a hard core test of this mixture's sticking power. All I can say so far is WOW -- once dry, it showed no signs of budging. 

I cannot wait to finish this piece and see how it turns out...I'm thinking of maybe adding a second color of greenish blue KbCP, similar to the dresser I redid and put in my living room (but haven't posted about yet -- shamey shamey) and of course some distressing and wax.  Arrrrghhhh....curse you, drying time and my real job for putting me on hold until tomorrow night! (Note to self:  lotto tickets...because I can't win if I don't play!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you Sherry for being brave enough to experiment, and generous enough to share your instructions with the blog world....and thank you Rebecca for leading me to her!!!