Vintage Transformation - Brown & Boring to Blue and Beautiful

Michelle McCaughtry
by Michelle McCaughtry
5 Materials
$10
2 Days
Easy
Plain old brown shelf unit turned into vintage look shabby chic blue beauty with chalk paint and sandpaper.
We have had this boring brown set of shelves forever. When we moved to our new house "up north" to be near the grandbabies I re-decorated with a more beach vibe. Kinda of backwards when you think about it lol. I should have been more woodsy in the woods look but I love blues.
I grabbed my chalk paint recipe and mixed up some white and blue chalk paint using latex paint samples. You can buy calcium carbonate powder on line or at health food stores.
I can't find my can on the white but it was Clark and Kensington Mirage. (Luckily I wrote it on the cool whip container cover lol) The blue is called Swan Sea, also by Clark and Kensington, and I thought it was a good match to Annie Sloan's chalk paint color Provence. You can buy this paint line at Ace Hardware. Samples are not too expensive and a little chalk paint goes a long way.
I started by painting the back and the shelves and the insides in the white.
Then I painted the top and outside in the blue.
When the paint was all dry I "distressed" it with some 220 grit sandpaper and voila! Aged look accomplished.
Last I sealed it with two coats of Varathane water based poly - letting each coat dry over night and then lightly sanding between each coat. Chalk paint needs to be sealed and water based is fine for this.
Puppy pic added for cuteness.....She is about 4 times bigger than this now at almost 6 months old and 54 lbs....
Much better! I have since painted the walls a light blue too. But the entire shelf set has been put in another room for now - until our puppy Ava matures and won't be knocking everything over..
Suggested materials:
  • Old brown shelves   (Garage sale years ago)
  • Calcium carbonate powder   (Health food store)
  • Clark and Kensington paint   (Ace hardware)
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