3 Shades Of Grey

If you have been very observant, you may have already noticed that we have a new addition in our living room.

A while ago we told you about some tables that we found on eBay. You can read more about it here. Well, we have finally managed to get round to updating them.

Having heard so much about chalk paint, we thought it was about time to give it a try ourselves. After all, the promise of no sanding is pretty much irresistible.

This is what the table looked like before starting work. We love the style of the table; the legs in particular have an amazing shape. The colour of the wood is just a bit too orange for our tastes.

After hundreds (yep, I’m not exaggerating, hundreds!) of hours sanding the staircase, I just really couldn’t face any more for a while. Luckily the chalk paint was easy to work with and there really was no sanding involved!

The paint covers really well, but I have to admit that I found it really difficult to achieve a smooth and brush stroke free finish. Mixing the paint with a little bit of water helped achieve a smoother result, but this also meant that more coats of paint were necessary. I also lightly sanded the painted table top to make sure that it’s completely smooth.

This is the table after painting the legs.

At first we decided to paint the tops of the tables white, but it just seemed a bit too boring, so we decided to paint the tops of the tables in different shades of grey.

The largest, top table is the lightest grey (2 parts white to 1 part graphite) followed by a slightly darker grey (1 part white to 1 part graphite) for the middle table and the smallest table is darkest colour (pure graphite). After painting the tables we gave them two coats of clear wax to make the paint finish more durable. The wax changed the colour of the paint finish slightly. The colours actually now look almost the same as they did when the paint was still wet.

And here they are in the living room.

It’s really handy to have a few extra tables around the room, and we’re really happy new painted finish. Grey may be a slightly boring choice, but we like to add splashes of colour through art and accessories, so we’re happy with them being neutral.

Have you used chalk paint before? Do you have any tips for achieving a smooth finish?