Getting That Country Walnut Finish!

I rambled on a bit about painting with chalk paints, facebooked about painting the old orange-y finish oak chairs, but never mentioned what I was doing with the table.  Not that this is anything new in the land of furniture refurbishers (is that a word?), but I wanted the table top to be a nice deep walnut finish with gray undertones, the table base white.

And, tada! 

Before:   Orange-y 80's oak finish. 

After:  Farmhouse Style Walnut and White

But I seriously questioned how to get those gray undertones.  I didn't just want brown. But I didn't want gray either. 

After stripping the table top (thank you Citrasolve -- and sandpaper), hate stripping furniture. But anyway, after the table top was devoid of it's original finish, I applied a wash of gray paint.  That is, one part Annie Sloan Graphite to one part water, mix and apply loosely with a brush, wait a couple minutes  (but not long enough for any paint to dry!) and wipe off with a soft clean cloth. 

Work in small-ish sections so the paint doesn't get away from you and begin to dry.  What you want is for the gray to begin to seep into the pores of the wood grain, not dry on the surface.  If it's not gray enough for your liking, you can always go over it again. 

Now at this point, you could go with the weathered gray look by adding a wax finish.  You could also add a spot of white paint to some wax which creates a gorgeous soft weathered look.  I thought about doing this, but it just didn't seem to suit this table. 

Once I was done with the gray wash, I let the wood dry for several hours and then applied one layer of Minwax Dark Walnut stain.  Again working in small-ish sections, going with the grain of the wood. The stain needs to sit for eight hours before applying a protective finish, so early this morning I did the first of three coats of Minwax Matte Finish Polymer.  Three coats, cuz its a kitchen table and it's going to get used--heavily.  It did turn out pretty, I think.  Hard to notice the gray undertones in my crappy photos, but they are there. 

Since I couldn't work on the table top anymore last night, I painted the base.  At first thought I was going to go with solid white---both on kitchen cabinets, chairs and table base.  (The white on the cabinets is Annie Sloan Pure White, the white on the chairs and table base is Valspar's Chalk Finish Paint in a white color called Her Dainties (um yeah, who made up that name?).  But having lived with the pantry cabinets for several weeks now, I believe I will apply the Annie Sloan Dark Wax, which will soften the white a bit and antique the edges, creases and corners lightly. 

Why antique it?  I like the solid white, but a little antiquing hides a lot.  It's a kitchen, stuff gets dirty.  I live in the country, stuff gets dirty.  I have a husband, stuff gets dirty.   You get the theme here. 

 Next, another trip to the specialty store to get me some Annie Sloan Dark Wax....

About Chalk Paint (learning as I go)

Just going to post my thoughts as I learn more about chalk paints (and distressing).  After seeing the results on loads of pinterest photos and after feeling and seeing the results of its application on several pieces up close and personal, I am utterly in love with this paint.  It has a soft matte finish which I just adore. 

My first endeavor with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint are/were these shelf supports.  I am learning as I go so I tried several different techniques for distressing till I fell upon the one that suits me the best. 





At first I tried the application of Vaseline in the spots where I thought distressing should occur.  This does work, although I found it a bit messy and not as controlled as I would have liked.  (Yes, ever the control freak...) Plus, sanding through the Vaseline just gobbled up the sandpaper.  






Then I went with a soft sanding after the applying the wax and buffing using a fine, fine grit.  Took lots of sanding and was a bit hard on this gal's RA ridden fingers.  It worked with much more control though.  






Finally tried sanding before I waxed, and found this to be the easiest and still allowed the control I tend to crave.  


Of course at this point, the husband is asking, "Why am I putting stain and paint on, just to remove it?"  Which might be a good question, unless of course you are living under a decorating rock and have never heard of or seen the HGTV show Fixer Upper.  I mean, duh, we just gotta have some distressed farmhouse-y feelin' shelves (and end tables, and kitchen table and chairs, oh, yeah and maybe a buffet-turned media table....)   

OK, I digress.  Back to distressing 101.  Truth be told, when I line all the shelf supports up together, it's hard to tell which one received what treatment, so how one goes about distressing is going to be purely a personal choice.  Like most things, there is no one perfect way to get that lovely, worn, distressed look, there is only what works the best for you. 

And now I have some shelves (from the dismantled shed in the back)  to color wash, stain, and wax....   husband is shaking his head again, asking if I am sure I want this much rustic.  Uh, yeah. 

Before and Almost After, the story of a table...

So here is the sorry little dumplin' of a table before. 

Here she is sporting her new two coats of paint.  

And here she is "almost" after being painted, distressed and waxed.  I touched up a couple of spots where I was a bit overzealous with the sanding block and it needs another coat of wax.  But she is "almost" an after... 

It's funny, as much as I am loving the look of painted cabinets and painted dressers, etc.  I have such a hard time lifting a paintbrush to a pretty piece of wood.  Not so much the problem here.  This beauty was totally covered in chocolate brown paint when we got her from the Salvation Army shop. Had no qualms what-so-ever about covering this with white Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! 


This little table will fit in between the two wing back chairs in the living room.  The wing back chairs will make for an interesting project...picked those up at St. Vincent de Paul in Wisconsin and hauled them back down here to Kentucky.  They are dirty, and the fabric is dated.  So, I am going to try painting those too!  I'll be sure to post about that be it a success or a whopping failure!  Can't hurt them, all that can happen is we decide to have them reupholstered anyway.