Katie Phillips
This easy blue chalk paint coffee table makeover is something anyone can do, and it’s budget-friendly too! My sister gave me this massive, dark coffee table when she was done with it. Supplies Used For Blue Chalk Paint Coffee Table Makeover
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I cleaned the table with Krud Kutter and an old damp rag, trying to remove all of the oil, grime, and dirt that could be on it. But, the top of the coffee table had a lot of blemishes and scratches in the old finish, so I wanted to remove those before painting… or else you can still see them after you paint.
I recently learned about a carbide scraper and how you can use it to scrape off stain or paint to get to the wood underneath. The worst thing about it is that it takes a lot of muscle and energy. I’m starting to think that using a carbide scraper to get most of the finish off and then using a sander lightly after that is the way to go!
Then I scuff sanded the legs to help the paint stick to them.
Learn more about the importance of Sanding Before Painting Furniture in this post. I used a coarse grit foam sponge with a squishy interface pad and my sander to get into most of the curves on those legs.
Man, I love this SurfPrep sander and those foam sponges! Some of the crevices were too small to get the sander into, so I had to do a little by hand with the coarse grit foam sponge, but I’m so grateful to have this sander so I didn’t have to do it all by hand! I planned to use a lighter color of paint, and I was really worried there would be bleed-through staining issues. Check out how we use clear shellac to paint laminate furniture without sanding here!
I turned it into homemade chalk paint by mixing calcium carbonate powder with some water and then mixing that into the latex paint. I tested my sprayer’s settings, and then I sprayed a coat of paint on the table.
When the paint was dry, I found a couple of spots that needed to be filled with wood filler. We considered our options and decided to take it back outside and spray more shellac all over. When we came back to it, I sprayed another coat of paint, and guess what… there was still bleedthrough.
So I brushed some BIN shellac primer onto that spot again.
The BIN shellac primer is tinted white, so you can tell if bleedthrough is blocked or not usually. I used my favorite water-based polyurethane to seal the chalk paint.
I adjusted my sprayer’s settings and sprayed a coat of polyurethane on it. It seemed like it was coming through a crack, so I put some caulk on it, let it dry, and then I brushed some BIN shellac primer onto it. While that dried, I sanded the rest of the coffee table by hand with a fine grit foam sponge to make everything feel smooth. It’s still a pretty big coffee table, but it doesn’t feel so heavy, and it totally brightens up the space.
Once it has cured, we’ll be listing it for sale locally. Or share your project with us on our Facebook Group and be part of our community.
