How to Make Chalk Paint?

Chalk paint is a very useful type of paint because it can actually be used on any surface, you can use it indoors or outdoors on any type of furniture, or you can even use it on your ceilings or walls if you want to. It’s actually a fairly new paint as Annie Sloan developed it just 25 years ago. Another amazing factor about chalk paint is the fact that you won’t have to prepare the area you want to paint before; for instance, you won’t need to sand or prime it at all.

If you can’t find a color in chalk paint that you overly like then you can always mix it yourself until you find the perfect shade for you. Best of Machinery have told you everything you need to know about chalk paint and how you can make it yourself too.

What will you need to be able to Make Chalk Paint?

You may think that you can just purchase chalk paint from your local DIY stores and you can quite easily do this, but you can also make it yourself as well, and this will be a lot cheaper for you too. To be able to do this you will need:

• Plastic paint buckets
• Flat latex paint
• Stir sticks
• Plaster of Paris
• Cool water
• Plastic measuring cups
• Paste wax

It’s important to note that if you do add Plaster of Paris to your chalk paint, then it will make the color lighter compared to the color that it suggests on the side of the tin.

How to make Chalk Paint?

There are several different ways that you can actually make chalk paint, so we’re going to give you guides to a couple of them to give you more of a variety about how you want to make it.

Option 1

First of all, you will need to mix one-third of a cup of Plaster of Paris and one-third of a cup of cool water together. It’s important that you stir the mixture until it is smooth. Then you will need to mix a cup of the latex paint and make sure that you stir it a lot, and then you will need to combine everything and make sure that you mix it until it is smooth.

This amount of paint will be able to cover an entire chest of draws, so if you need to paint more then try and double the supplies. One thing that you must note with this option is that you cannot save this paint, so you can’t reuse it at a later date, it must be thrown away once you have used it for what you need it for.

Option 2

Another method to make chalk paint is by using baking soda, and you will need 2/3 cup paint and, 1/3 cup of baking soda. To do this method, you will need to measure out the correct measurements into two different pots. Then you will need to mix these together very well, so they become very smooth. You may notice with this method that the paint will have a bit more grain in it and it is a little more noticeable.

If you want to mix the colors of the paint, you will need to do this before you combine it with the baking soda to create the color that you desire. You can mix them all together if you want to, but it’s just best to experiment with the color beforehand just in case you have to add more paint.

How is Chalk Paint Different from Other Paints?

Chalk paint is actually a latex based paint that has a fine powder which has been added to it. When the paint dries the grains will be able to create a matte finish, this means that brush strokes and little mistakes will become part of the appearance of the chalk paintwork. If you want the piece of furniture or a wall that you’re painting to have more of an old and aged look, then you can also use sandpaper to create this. Not only this but if you want a certain shade, then you can also mix the colors to create this too.

Usual paint won’t be able to give whatever your painting this grain effect like chalk paint can. Not only this but if you sand down normal paint it probably won’t create an old or aged look it, and it won’t look attractive when you do do this. Therefore it’s best to use chalk paint if this is the look you’re looking for.

Conclusion

There are quite a lot of different ways that you can make chalk paint, and most of them are quite straightforward to do and won’t take up much of your time at all. Not only this, but they don’t require a lot of extra tools either, so you won’t have to purchase a whole load of extra things to be able to make it.

Chalk paint is a really great type of paint if you want a piece of furniture to look a little distressed or you’re looking to give it an aging type of look. It will certainly deliver this result, and it can really give a piece of furniture a new modern look. However, it doesn’t just have to be used on pieces of furniture, as it can also be used on a whole range of things like your walls and ceilings too.