How to Prepare Furniture for Chalk Paint - Chantel's Custom Creations

I wish I had these tips when I started chalk painting! I made so many costly and timely mistakes on my early projects.

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Tip 1, Cleaning

You will want to clean your surface very well with a surface cleaner. You can use a furniture surface cleaner or some dish soap with water and a rag. If you are interested in using a furniture surface cleaner, here is a link to one!

Be very thorough on this step. If any dirt or grime is left on the piece, the paint will not adhere to the surface properly.

Tip 2, Repair

Next you will need to use wood filler to fill in any holes or if you are switching out hardware, be sure to fill the holes now.

You will want to make sure the wood filler has had time to completely dry before you sand this area down.

If you are replacing the hardware to a new set, you can drill the new holes after you have sanded your piece down after filling the old holes.

Tip 3, Sanding

You will need to assess what type of furniture you are dealing with before you begin. This is a very important step as well.

If you are painting a laminate type of particle board, you will need to absolutely make sure you sand and I would recommend not using a hand sander as those are too harsh and if you rip of pieces of particle board, and then try to paint, you will see the difference after you have painted.

If you are painting a shiny wood or a laminate wood, be sure to lightly sand otherwise your paint will not adhere properly. I made this mistake on the first table I painted! It was a shiny cherry wood table and I skipped this step as I did not know better! It made it so difficult to paint my piece as the paint has a hard time adhering to a shiny surface.

Tip 4, Priming

Next you will need to prime the piece. I still recommend this step even if you are using a chalk paint/primer combo. It is just a better result!

It is not necessary to use any one brand of primer but I usually use this primer as its a white primer which helps me attain the lighter paint jobs easier and with less coats. Here is a link for a great primer if you are looking for one!

The primer I am recommending also blocks odors, stains, and helps with some bleed through and even helps hide some smoke odors and gives something for the paint to adhere to.

You will want to do this especially if you are starting from a dark wood and wanting a lighter paint job.

I made this mistake as well and did not prime! I went from a dark cherry wood to white! The result will be having to paint many more coats than necessary, wasting time and precious chalk paint!

I also recommend painting at least a couple of coats before you attempt to use your chalk paint.