Sunday Challenge! Shabby to Chic Vintage Makeover and DIY Chalk Paint Recipe

So I had a moment at the junk store and bought this bad boy for little to nothing. It was wobbly, tarnished and was missing pieces. My fiancé thought I was CRAZY when I said I wanted to fix it up. He offered to pay for a furniture piece that I would love and didn't need a miracle but I saw the potential in this little guy. So after the gal rang me up, he was mine! I loaded him into the car and drove him home. He sat in my garage for a few weeks. My fiancé was cleaning out the garage and asked if I wanted to toss it. That is when I decided to take things into action, reserve a day to finish it (today) and complete the challenge.

Now my mom is amazing at repurposing and selling vintage furniture as well as her  business partner, Sandy. In fact they have their own stores as well as an amazing Vintage Show called Wild Women's Vintage in Spokane, Wa! I had some direction and guidance from my mom but being 3 1/2 hours away from there I thought I'd just give it a go on my own.

Here's the Before and After:

I purchased my own ingredients to make chalkpaint for a fraction of the cost for the Annie Sloan kind (which is absolutely amazing but being in a small town far away from a retailer I had to make due!). 

I bought sand less grout, primer+paint (all -in-one) behr custom colored some cheap brushes, sandpaper, a large bucket and trewax (a soft furniture wax to seal in the color as well as protect the paint from water, dings and dents). 

In case you are wondering. Here's how to make your own chalk paint:

2 Cups Behr Primer + Paint Flat Paint in the color of your choice

1 Cup Sand Less Grout

1 Cup Water

Step 1: In a large bucket, mix 1 cup water and 1 cup sand less grout. 

Step 2:Mix until smooth. 

Step 3: Add in your 2 cups paint and mix together.

Step 4: Paint! 

Here's the after photo with detail shot as well....

I sanded off some of the paint to make it smooth and sanded the edges to give it a shabby chic vintage look and applied my wax over the top. 

I don't know about all of you but it felt really good to push myself doing something new and creative! I was tired, hot (100 degrees today!) and there were times I wanted to give up but I am happy I didn't. I even finished a few other pieces to sell at the vintage show coming up. I hope this inspires others to push themselves as well and encourage others to do some shabby to chic adventures as well! Try it, you just might love the end result like me!