Chalk painting furniture

This bedroom went from okay to really fun with a little chalk paint

After painting the bedside tables, I got brave enough to paint the new cherry entertainment center.

We have had the bedside tables for about 30 years. They were originally dark oak and about 20 years ago I stripped, sanded, and refinished them in the then popular golden oak. It was a great deal more work than  paint.

I was so happy with the finished look that I took our new entertainment center and finished it to match. I like the cherry wood, but it simply didn't add to the look of the room. It also showed dust badly and scratched easily when moving equipment around.

My daughter-in-law suggested painting the end tables originally. She liked chalk paint but couldn't tell me why. After painting with chalk paint, I see why she recommended it but it is hard to put a finger on why. I'd say it is easier to sand, has more variations in the color, and looks authentically aged. To make chalk paint, I used equal parts of baking soda to paint with a little Floetrol in it to prevent brush strokes. I'm not sure the Floetrol made any differences, but it did go on smoothly. I didn't use a primer first because I wanted the golden oak to show after sanding the edges. I did however, lightly sand the flat parts. It didn't have a high gloss finish on it from last time or I may have needed primer. I sprayed the old original handles with rubbed bronze spray paint. I was glad I kept the original handles and better yet, could find them. I needed two coats of chalk paint, polycrylic finish, dark glaze, and ended with another coat of polycrylic gloss finish. The glaze was made with 1/4 cup paint to 1 cup glaze. It goes a very long way the way I glaze.