Easy chalk paint recipe made with three ingredients. Make your own chalk style paint right at home. Plus an easy tip to mix paint.
It seems like this was the year to paint everything. We’ve painted the living room, dining room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. All this fresh paint made our home shine, but the hand me down furniture was doing us very little favors.
Instead of starting from scratch we decided we wanted to fall in love with the furniture we already had. So that meant a lot of sanding and making our own chalk style paint right at home.
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Table of Contents:
- What is chalk paint
- Chalk style paint with just three ingredients
- How to make one quart of chalk paint
- Perfect tool for mixing paint
- 1 Pint chalk paint recipe
- 1 Cup chalk paint recipe
- Can I save leftover homemade chalk paint for later
- Is this the exact same as chalk paint bought in stores
- Do I need to use wax to seal my project
WHAT IS CHALK PAINT
You may already know that the chalk paint brand was made by Annie Sloan. I would love to tell you that I’ve tried her amazing paint, but I haven’t.
Like most other people I usually buy what’s readily available to me and that meant other brands with their own chalk style paint like Behr, Rust-Olem and Kilts. Throw a little milk paint in there and we have our tested and loved paints.
What makes chalk paint so popular is its matte chalky finish and ability to paint over just about anything without much prep involved.
But when our local store didn’t have the color chalk paint I wanted for all this furniture we were about to paint, I decided it was time to make our own.
CHALK PAINT RECIPE
I was looking for our a specific colors and an easy recipe to get the chalk style look we were going for. Matte finish with a chalky feel,d all with little prep work.
- Latex Paint
- Water
- Calcium Carbonate
Calcium Carbonate is the main component found in chalk and can be found fairly easily on Amazon.
CHALK PAINT MEASUREMENTS
One quart chalk paint
We used one quart of matte latex paint in superior blue.
- 1 quart matte latex paint
- 16 TBS Calcium Carbonate
- 8-10 TBS water
We decided to use a 48oz glass jar that was once holding our dill pickles. It was the perfect size for adding the other ingredients with a little extra room to mix the paint.
Add a couple TBS of calcium carbonate at a time mixing in between to make sure not to get any lumps.
How to mix paint without lumps
I needed an easy way to mix this paint without maxing a mess. Something I had on hand that could easily be cleaned and used again. So we decided to use a kitchen hand mixer attachment.
We attached one of the ends to our drill and voila, perfect tool for mixing chalk paint with something most people have on hand.
1 Pint Chalk Paint Recipe
- 2 cups latex paint
- 8 TBS calcium carbonate
- 4-6 TBS water
1 Cup Chalk Paint Recipe
- 1 cup latex paint
- 4 TBS calcium carbonate
- 1-2 TBS water
Why don’t you have an exact measurement for the water?
It’s going to depend on what you’re painting. For this project we painted an old bookcase. The first coat I applied covered everything but was a tad thick. After adding another 2 TBS of water it was easier to apply.
However, there are different factors to consider. One of being the brand of paint you buy. If you’ve ever painted your entire house, then you know that not all paint is the same. You begin to find brands that tend to go on a bit more smooth with better coverage.
Start with the lesser amount for the water and adjust from there.
Can I save leftover homemade chalk paint
Yes you can. Make sure to mix and store any extra paint in an air tight container in a cool dry place.
Is it exactly the same as other chalk style paint?
No, I would’t say it is. It gives a chalky texture and a chalky feel but it’s not an exact match. For us, we wanted the color we were looking for while trying to stick to a budget. This was a good compromise and I’m happy with the results.
Do I need to seal it with a wax?
Yes, you should. Since this is a bookcase it will get a lot of use with books sliding in and out. We used a clear wax for this project but we have also used a sealer/wax spray paintin other projects.
The wax you apply yourself was a tad easier to keep track of where you had already gone over and where you haven’t.
What’s so amazing about painting old furniture is that you stop looking at what it is, and start looking at what it could become.Before this bookcase was tired, worn, and really not much to look at. Now it’s a vibrant color that is perfect for our children’s bedroom.
It’s always been a solid piece of furniture, it just needed a bit of updating and a little DIY chalk style paint.
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