I started out by thinking I wanted to do something simple and "safe". I painted 2 coats of General Finishes Milk paint in Millstone. It just wasn't doing it for me. It was lacking something... Some oomph!!!
I bought some Annie Sloan Old Violet a little while ago and remember seeing a piece painted with it and couldn't believe that it was that color!
Problem solved... I painted one thick coat on. The thing about the chalk paint is that it's comes out so different once you apply clear wax and definitely the dark wax. What once was a purple-blue color is now a smoky gray/violet! Absolutely beautiful!!!
Let me back up... After before I applied the old violet, I sanded my piece using 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out nicely. I've learned you get way better results when you sand in between coats!
Sand all the edges and where you would normally have wear! Some areas are sanded down to the wood underneath and some areas show the 1st color! It's to totally random! That's how I like it!!
Once you are happy with the amount of distressing, you need to seal your piece for protection! I've been using Annie Sloan's clear and dark wax but Johnson's paste wax or minwax furniture wax will work too! The dark wax is what gives you the texture and aging look you want! For that I do get the AS dark wax.
I will have to post a separate tutorial on the waxes soon!!
A close up look at the distressing and the different colors coming through!
Amy
