I have been getting jiggy with ASCP – Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. In the last 3 weeks, I have painted a fireplace, 4 dining room chairs, a bedside table, and most recently my dining room table. That is a lot of painting, sanding and waxing.
It should have taken me less than 3 weeks to do all of that, but I have had some serious learning curves along the way.
- I should have used less paint. There is no need to go mad with this paint. You only need 2 coats of paint to cover a piece of furniture.
- Keep it simple. I wanted to created a layered painted distressed look. I wasted a lot of time, and paint, in figuring out the best way to do this.
- Do your sanding after the first coat of wax. It keeps the dust down and seals the paint to the furniture.
- Do not be afraid of bright colours. The wax will tone it down.
- Do not be afraid of the dark wax. You can always use clear wax to lift it and tone it down.
So, here is my dining room table before painting:
Dining Table - Before
This is what they call Danish Modern. On one of the leaves it says AM Made in Denmark. I bought it the same time as my G-Plan Chairs. While trying to research this item, I found a link here with the exact same table. Yikes! I only paid £25 for this table and the one on the net is going for over $1000! I almost had second thoughts about painting it! This table was in fairly good condition except for the top. It looks like someone tried to varnish it and there were quite a few scratches on it. The leaves were only slightly scratched.
What I like about this table is that it fits in my dining room. My old table was a solid 8 foot long trestle. With this ‘new’ table, I can extend either one or two leaves depending on how many guests I have. Another cool thing about this table is that the whole thing can be taken apart. The top lifts off and has felt strips underneath to protect the leaves from scratches. The leaves are also easily removable.
To start with, I used ASCP in Antibes green.
Antibes Green
This paint is very green. Do not be afraid of this colour. You can always tone it down with wax or another colour.
I painted the base of the table in this lovely bright green. In Annie Sloan’s book, Quick and Easy Paint Transformations, she paints a table in this exact same colour and tones it down with dark wax. I was going to be clever and do something different. I was going to put a top-coat of Versailles green on top and then distress it to show the bright green underneath. That was going to be my way of toning it down. However, things didn’t go according to plan. I think I applied the top-coat too thickly and it just wasn’t distressing the way I wanted to. So after painting the whole table, including the tops in Versailles, I went back and repainted the base in Antibes. This made 3 coats of paint on the base and legs when I really only needed two!
Because this table is made from extremely smooth wood with very little grain, I needed to apply the paint in a manner to give it some texture. I literally slapped it on to make some interesting brush-strokes. I was going to turn this Danish Modern table into a country farmhouse style table. I used 2 coats of Versailles to the top and leaves. After the first coat of clear wax, I decided to add a bit of dark wax to give the table some character and to age it as the colour was looking a bit flat.
I must admit, I was a bit scared of using the dark wax. I used as little as possible, but it still looked a bit dark to me so I was able to rub some off with the clear wax. Although I like the end result, I might do something a little bit different next time.
Sorry for the poor quality of this picture, but I lost the light and had to use a flash. Hopefully you can get an idea of the texture of the paint and wax. The dark wax settles into the grooves of the paint giving the finish a grain-like texture.
After applying a clear coat of wax, I carried on using the dark wax over the Antibes green on the base and legs of the table in sections. This time I applied the wax from the brush to my cloth and wiped the wax on rather than brushing it all on as I did on the table top. I felt I had more control this way. I left it all to dry and then polished the table the next morning.
Dining Table - After
You can’t even recognise this table anymore! The table top is very shiny due to all the wax I used. I used 3 layers on the top for extra protection and two on the base and legs.
That bright green really perks me up when I walk past my dining room and looks lovely with the pink chairs! 
