How To Make Chalky Finish Paint With Baking Soda

3 Materials

$10

10 Minutes

Easy

Chalky finished paint gives your surface an aged, matte look that is easily distressed. For me, this is one of my favorite types of paint that matches my home decor. However, chalk paint can get super pricy. I've got the perfect 3 ingredient hack for turning any house paint into chalk paint in 5 minutes!

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First thing first, you'll need baking soda. This recipe will make a little over 1 cup of paint. For a quart of paint, quadruple the amount, but remember that it dries out quickly.

Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda with 1 cup of latex paint. I used a sample size of pant from Home Depot for my desired color but if you have extra paint left over from painting a room or project you can use that!

The last ingredient is 3 tbs of cold water.

Mix your ingredient until they create a thin, non-grainy texture. This takes a bit of time to dissolve all the baking soda.

And that's all it takes! This one cup of paint was more than enough to paint my end table and coffee table. After I was done I stored it in a tightly sealed mason jar. Let me know what you'll be painting with this chalk paint hack!

Here is the finished product!

3 of 170 questions

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Susan Grekso
on Nov 15, 2018
Could this be done on kitchen cabinets?
7
Answer this
- Sheri Vaden
  on Feb 10, 2019
  Does it just look like chalk paint or is it the same as chalk paint? I want to use on kitchen cabinets and I understand no primer is needed with the “real” stuff but it is pretty pricey!
Karrie Jo Simpson
on Nov 16, 2018
Did you wipe it down afterwards?
0
Answer this
Mary
on Nov 20, 2018
Will this home made Milk Paint chip to give the Chippy Finish on your
project?
Mary
1
Answer this
- Kimberly Birch
  on Nov 24, 2018
  It is chalk paint, not milk paint. There's a difference.

3 of 258 comments

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Twyla J Boyer
on Dec 18, 2018
I tried this. I needed to stir a LOT longer than I did, I think. My paint came out kind of grainy. It worked and I'm living with it until I can redo the kitchen cabinets for real (they need to be ripped out and replaced), but I can't say I'm happy with the results. The paint has come off in a couple places when I wiped down the cabinets and even with a coat of wax it stains rather easily.

I think it would work well somewhere other than kitchen cabinets if you stir well enough and use a coat of polycrylic or something over it. I do plan to try it again, but think I will dissolve the baking soda in the water first and then mix with the paint so I can be sure the baking soda is really dissolved.
6
- Twyla J Boyer
  on Jan 3, 2019
  Thanks for the advice. I will admit to being disappointed, but also learned from this article that I hadn't stirred enough. My painting of the cabinet doors was a temporary fix anyway as I want to replace the doors with birch plywood slab doors that I will make. Your advice will be of great help with some other painting projects I have coming up, though!
Shelia
31 minutes ago
I bought a cheap mixer from my Dollar Store just for crafts....helps mix that up just right in a few minutes!