Chalk Paint for Beginners & Java Gel Stain Tutorial

hi everybody its Christina welcome back to my channel if you're new here I am into painting furniture and repurposing stuff that I already have around the house or stuff that you can get on the cheap versus buying new and today I'm going to be doing a tutorial that's gonna be perfect for beginners we're gonna be working with a nice long chalk paint as well as general finishes Java gel and just doing a really easy beginners guide to doing over a side table if you haven't subscribed to my channel make sure you do that before you leave here if you like what you see please give me a thumbs up or leave a comment in the section and let's get started okay today I'm gonna be redoing this little side table I actually got this from my neighbor she had purchased both of these I think through Craigslist or something didn't leave the second one and everybody knows they can always offer me free furniture you definitely don't let your first project to be something you really care about whether it's your kitchen table or maybe it's like your grandmother's dining set you want to play around with stuff first figure out how to use these products really get your techniques down and then tackle a big project like that's what end table a side table even if it's a dresser if it's something that you get for free that you find on the side of the road or that you get for $5 at Goodwill those are like the best type of things to start off with so today we're gonna be doing really easy beginner techniques know distressing I know which is like very rare for me I just want to help you get your feet wet and just not have a lot of steps today I am gonna do a two-tone finish I'm going to do Java gel on the top and then we're gonna use a nice lone Chuck paint on the apron and the legs of the side table I will put links to all the products I use today in the description box so go check that out if you're just sort of purchasing anything that those are all affiliate links through Amazon so if you do purchase anything through those links I will get a small Commission I really do appreciate it because that helps me keep my channel running helps me keep the blog running so thank you again for your support okay I think I've given you all the info so I'm gonna grab all my stuff and zoom you in and we will get started on this tutorial so the first thing you want to grab is your nitrile gloves these are reusable but I also use disposable ones a lot then you're gonna grab your odorless mineral spirits and pour it in a little Bowl and either have a sponge with a scratchy surface or a scotch pad and you're just going to rub this down over the entire top where you're going to you're not stripping the surface here we're just cleaning it down to get all the dirt and grime off to help with the adhesion of the stain okay the next thing you're gonna do is grab some 220 sanding paper and put that on a sanding block and we're gonna rough up the surface of this top again we're not stripping off the finish that's on the top here we're just roughing up the top to give the stain something to stick to if you have any big gouges or water stains on your tabletop you'll want to put a little extra love into those spots maybe even go down a little bit on your sandpaper and really smooth those areas out before you stain and when you're finished with sanding just grab a tech cloth and wipe up all that dust before we grab our stain all right we're ready to start staining the top so I've grabbed my general finish's gel stain and java this is the darkest color that they have I've used this before on my banister tutorial so I'll link that above if you want to check that out I am gonna be using a different technique with this today we're gonna just be painting it on full strength and not wiping it off at all this is an oil-based stain and it is really concentrated in pigment so you want to give it a big stir just so you mix up everything appropriately and then we're just gonna start painting this on with a foam brush these are really affordable you can pick them up at the hardware store for under a dollar and it is what general finishes uses in all their videos so that's what I'm using today so as you're applying this just make sure that you're going with the grain and you're getting a good amount of stain on there don't make it too thick and don't worry if some of that wood is poking through because this is our first coat and we will cover up everything on our second or third coat okay so I'm gonna speed up the process for you here just a quick tip keep a wet edge as you work in sections and as you're going do one swoop from the bottom to the top to just clear out those brushstrokes so here's a close-up of what it looks like after your first coat as you can see you can still see some of that honey oak color coming through so don't worry about that if you see that and here's a shot of it dry you do want to let this dry for 48 hours before you put your second coat on you can tell if oil based finish is dry if it's no longer tacky cool to the touch and if you can press a cotton ball over the surface and nothing sticks when in doubt wait longer you don't have to sand in between coats so we're just going to go ahead and apply the second just exactly the same way we applied the first and please make sure that you're reading all the safety information that's on your can you want to dry this stuff out after you're done working with that outside it is flammable so please please follow all the instructions on the can so here's what your coverage will look like after the second coat for our top coat you're gonna want to wait 72 hours for it to dry since we are putting a water-based coating on top of oil stain it needs to be completely dry so wait 72 hours and our top coat is the general finishes high performance flat I just really love the finish of this because it doesn't give a super shiny finish before you get started wipe down your top with a tack cloth just to get any dust off that may have accumulated while it's drying you still go ahead and give this a quick stir I do use a foam applicator to put this on if you want you can use a brush I just prefer using the applicator I find it easier and they're really cheap or application of this top coat we're gonna put it on really similarly to the way we put the stain on you just want to do a thin layer keep a wet edge as you're working across again I do that stroke all the way from the bottom to the top just to get a clean stroke do a small section and then move on and don't go back and rework an area that you've already put on and for time sake let's speed this up again and here's a quick tip on this finish you can actually put this in a ziploc bag and save it and keep reusing it till you're done with the project and dry time for that top coat is two to four hours so while it's curing we are going to go ahead and start painting the apron with our a nice loan chalk paint and old white first we need to prep the piece and while we're doing that I'm gonna just flip my truck paint upside down and just set it down beat right beside the piece we're gonna grab some hot water and just a little dish soap and a sponge and wipe down the portion that we are gonna paint don't underestimate this step look how dirty it is so go back over with just a wet clean sponge and wipe off any of that soap residue and then you're gonna let this dry and while it's drying we can go ahead and tape off any areas that we don't want the paint getting on so I'm just taping underneath the tabletop and go ahead and take any of your drawers out and remove your hardware okay we're ready to start painting so I have grabbed my natural-bristle purty sash brush it's one of my favorite brushes to paint with has been well loved so grab any kind of container for your paint to go in I have this glass jar because I can put a lid on it and close it up and save it for later pour your paint in there grab a spray bottle with some water put about five squirts in there and then you're gonna stir that up just to just thin it out a little bit I have your spray bottle again and give your paintbrush a little spritz and then we're going to start painting on because we are going for a smooth finish and a distressed look I want you to paint with the grain and making smooth strokes and keep spraying that paint brush with that water bottle if your paint thickens up on you it's just gonna help it keep it nice and smooth and kind of get rid of some of those brush marks so again work in small sections and once you're finished with that section do that long stroke from one end all the way to the other just to smooth out those brush strokes watch out for drip marks you're going to want to clean those up as you're going along just so you don't have to go back and say in them later and Here I am painting the drawer front and I'm just speeding this up into double time just to move it along but again you see I'm using the same technique going with the grain and at the end I'm gonna smooth everything out from side to side the dry time for this paint is about one to two hours so we're going to hop back and put the second coat of high-performance topcoat on our table top so I am grabbing some super fine steel wool just to sand a little bit in between coats you can also use a really broken in 220 sanding pad or 400 sandpaper I just prefer using the steel wool because I feel like it doesn't break down my stain at all so I'm just going to take the Sun lightly buff the surface as you can see it's kind of dusting up a little bit we're not taking off finish we're just roughing it up a little bit to give the second coat something to stick to the process for putting on the topcoat is exactly the same as we did it the first time so follow all those steps and again once this is completely dried again for another two to four hours you can go ahead and put that third coat on general finish's recommends doing three coats minimum you can add more if you want to based on wear of your piece and before you add that third coat don't forget to rough with that steel well a little bit clean off your dust with your tack cloth and then add that third coat and now back to painting our apron we're gonna grab our Chuck pain again put it in our container this time you're going to thin it out just a little bit more than the first coat probably do about 10 to 15 sprays with your water bottle stir that up so this is the consistency you're going for a little bit thinner than that first coat we're going to spray down our brush and then just paint this on the same way we did the first coat going in the direction of the grain and really smoothing out those brushstrokes now once the chalk paint is dry you're gonna want to seal that and today we're gonna be using the general finish's high performance flat I just did a video comparing this with using a nice loan wax and clear so I'm gonna link that up above if you want to check that out I thought this would be easier just to do the same process you're used to doing on the tabletop instead of using the wax today and it will give you a little bit more of a durable finish so this is the exact same process that we used on the tabletop you just want to be a little bit more careful and use a really thin layer again because when you're working on a vertical surface like this it will tend to drip and run on you so you definitely want to use a thin amount of product watch for those drip marks and really smooth those out when you go to sand in between coats here I'm gonna recommend you using the 220 sanding pad or if it's brand new a 400 sanding pad versus the steel wool just because of the shedding factor with the white one more thing I want to show you guys you will get these little tiny hairs especially when you're working with white you're not in a static free environment please don't freak out about these take a step back from your piece you're not gonna be able to see them no one's ever gonna notice them you have to let your inner perfectionist go so again you're gonna do three coats just like we did on the top I am replacing my Hardware today so I had a little funky piece of hardware so I'm actually drilling some extra holes to put on a little cup pull that I found at the hardware store sometimes a new piece of hardware can really make a big difference and I'm a sucker for a couple we are finally done here is the before and here is what we look like now completed and just for a little bit of fun I styled it up for you I hope you guys liked this beginners tutorial I hope you can try it out let me know how it goes for you send me your before-and-afters I love seeing those if you like this video please give me a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe before you leave turn on those notifications and I will see you guys next time

Channel: Christina Muscari

Views: 2,887,584

Rating: 4.9217892 out of 5

Keywords: chalk paint, annie sloan, painting furniture, general finishes, java gel, chalk paint for beginners, java gel stain tutorial, poly over chalk paint, annie sloan chalk paint, diy, how to, stain, end table makeover, end table diy, pretty distressed, makeover, farmhouse decor, christina muscari, tutorial, chalk paint tutorial, general finishes stain, staining furniture, how to chalk paint furniture, annie sloan chalk paint tutorial

Id: W9uCc6SXq4E

Length: 11min 19sec (679 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2018