Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Dresser Makeover (How I Did It)!

The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is all over the internet, eh? And I, like you, have been sort of dying to try it out. But there were a few obstacles, mainly that I didn't have a piece of furniture I wanted to experiment on, I didn't know where to get the paint, and, oh yes, ASCP is not cheap. But all things can be overcome through persistent obsessing! 


When Marc and I bought Springbrook Ranch the previous owner left a lot of stuff behind. Most of it we sent to the dump but I uncovered this little dresser under a bunch of garbage in the garden room. 

It was super dirty and the top was a real mess. Perfect for a paint makeover! 

With a piece of furniture to work on I decided it was worth the drive to a store in San Jose that carried the paint. I didn't want to order it online because I really wanted to visit the colors in person. The store was ADORABLE. So worth the trip! It's the kind of store that makes my heart beat faster and my stomach kind of hurt because I can't buy everything. Marc really hates those stores. Here is a link, it's called Magpie.


One of the benefits of the ASCP is that you don't need to sand or prime before you use it. Maddie and I did, however, spend a lot of time cleaning it and we had to sand some too because the glue from old contact paper in the drawers wouldn't come off with just washing. Here is a picture of Maddie helping me. Yay Maddie! This is what I call the not fun part of the job.

Her's cute

After we got her (the dresser, not Maddie) all cleaned up we decided to drag her into the entryway to paint so the wind wouldn't blow little leaves and dusty bits onto the paint. Maddie started painting the inside of the drawers, and I started on the main dresser.


So here's the scoop on my experience with the Annie Sloan Paint, first, the color is gorgeous, I used Antibes Green, and I am in love. It reminds me of the green painted master bedroom at Mount Vernon. It goes on really nicely and was easy to work with. Unfortunately you buy it by the quart which cost $32 and although they say it goes a really long way, I used a good 2/3 of the can just to put two coats on this little dresser. On the website they say you can water it down, but I wanted my coverage to be opaque since the dresser was pretty yucky. I don't know what the coverage would have been like if I had thinned it. I didn't have any problems with brush strokes and I used a regular purdy paint brush.

After the paint was dry and I put the drawers back in it was time to use the clear wax. I learned from the "stockist" at Magpie that the process goes 1. paint 2. clear wax 3. distress/sand 4. dark wax 5. clear wax over distressed areas.


I just used a clean rag to rub the clear wax in. I used small circular motions and a fair amount of elbow grease. When I finished with the clear wax the dresser looked like this:

I could have stopped right here.

The next step is distressing. It made me nervous. Everything was so smooth and perfect and now I had to scratch it up. I used a piece of 150 grit sand paper and focused mainly on the edges and corners. I'd do a little, step back to check it out and then do some more.

After that it was time to use the dark wax. I knew I didn't want it very dark, so I only used a tiny bit on the end of my brush. Because I love you enough to embarrass myself on camera I took some video of how I did it. It's not very good; I haven't vlogged before but I spent so much time trying to read everything about how to use the wax that I feel it's only fair to share.

Aaaannnd one more because my kids can't leave me alone. Even the grown up ones.

You can tell my videoing skills are poor since I held the camera sideways. Whoops.


And for the grand finale, pictures of the finished product!

Maddie fancied the photo up with instagram

Here's what it looks like in my room

I really like how it looks distressed and dark waxed. I like it so much that I'm thinking about using the ASCP on my kitchen cabinets. It was a ton of fun using the products. My final observation is that the $50 dark wax will last a long time if I keep using it this sparingly, but the $50 clear wax? Well, I went through a lot of that. So there you have it, fun, pretty, expensive. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck on your project...May the force be with you.