Dresser Makeover with Saltwash and Chalk Paint

[Music] hello and welcome to the reclaimed heirloom my name is christina this piece is my own personal dresser that i've chalk painted in the past and i want to create a new finish i'm going to talk you through all the techniques and supplies i use to create a swedish gustavian style and again i'm going to talk you through all the steps that i do i'm going to start with a base coat in the annie salone chalk paint in paris gray as i mentioned this is a dresser that is a personal um furniture piece of mine and i've had a previous paint uh finish on here and i wanted to make sure that i removed all the wax and finish top coat off of it so i just decided to simplify and go ahead and sand it and make sure that all the finish was off and there is still some residual paint on there but it's it's honestly it's not a big deal you don't have to sand to use chalk paint what is really important is any seal protection or varnish top coats or lacquers is to be removed and you can use tsp cleaner you can use mineral spirits but you definitely want to make sure you have that off your piece before applying a new coat i've completed my first coat of the paris gray and i'm going to go ahead and let that dry and i'm going to come back and put a second coat on there i never wash my brushes until the very end and i'm going to explain to you why a little bit later on so using minwax gel stain i'm going to use walnut and i'm also going to use chestnut and i'm going to apply a base in chestnut the reason is with the royal stencil design studios i'm going to do a herringbone pattern on this dresser tabletop the royal design studio stencils are perfect because they give you everything that you need to make a flawless stencil tile print this gel stain is super thick it's not like a regular wood stain it's got a bit more of a putty like feel to it so again it's super thick and a little tiny bit goes a long way you can use a paint brush but i always prefer using the disposable sponge applicators i just it's just a personal preference it really doesn't matter which one you use from brush to the sponge applicator all i'm doing is going ahead and getting this on and it is so easy and at the end i just go in a nice horizontal stroke at the end just to smooth it right out so i'm going to go ahead and let this chestnut gel stain dry and now that my base coat is completely dry i'm going to go ahead and add a second coat of the annie salone paris gray no specific brush stroke involved i'm literally every which way just some random brush strokes to create some textures i didn't have enough french linen or cocoa but i had just enough between the two that i'm just going to kind of combine them together and i'm going to create some really really fun textures with this saltwash medium and i literally only need about two ounces for this entire dresser i'm going to use a natural sea sponge as well as chippy brushes for the two paint colors the french linen and the cocoa and literally all i'm gonna do is just slap on a little bit of both of them and with my moist sea sponge i'm gonna grab a little bit of that salt wash and i'm dapping it into the salt wash container and i'm applying it on top of the paint and dabbing it into the paint as i go i'm just going to keep layering that's all i'm doing adding paint adding salt wash adding paint and this way i can put the textures where i want i can layer it and really what i want to do is create this really old old nostalgic look and to create it it has to be as random as possible so again there's absolutely no specific pattern when it comes to the colors you're literally slapping them on there as well as that salt wash but really what i'm doing at this stage at this point is i'm just creating a base of textures and where i want them and as i mentioned i want them to be very very random i really want to create some old old century history onto this piece salt wash is a super fun texture medium you can use and it's actually just as easy to go ahead and mix your paint and your salt wash 50 50 and do an application like that the reason i want to do it like this is because i can control where i want my textures how thick i want them and i don't want it to be on every square meter of this piece i want it to be very very random i'm using my sea sponge and cleaning it off and off loading any of the extra paint and salt wash and giving it a good ring out i don't mind that there's a bit of water but i only want it very very damp so again at this stage from the base coat of the gray all i'm doing is taking the french linen and that cocoa and i'm creating all these different tones adding that salt wash where i want it with my sea sponge and i'm creating lots and highs and low points which is really important for our next few steps so next thing i'm going to do is i am going to be adding this is a pure white chalk paint by annie salone and this all i'm doing is getting into the low points with this tiny tiny little chip brush and you can use any brushes that you're comfortable with i do recommend with salt wash to use a old chippy brush it can be quite destructive on the brushes so i'm just playing it safe you want to use something that is not highly expensive and chippy brushes for this type of finish and this kind of texture is perfect so again all you're seeing me do here is literally just creating a little bit of highlights in the low points of my texture for the next step that i'm going to do i'm going to use an on fleur which is a chocolate brown a graphite which is a dark gray black chalk paint color as well as louis blue i always say lewis but it's louis blue and i have a previous mix i made for my tutorials in the past of greek blue and some graphite which really gives it an aged blue color i'm starting with the brown chalk paint and i'm just in random all i want to do now is on my high points is i would like to create some low lights so i use some highlights with the white now i'm creating some low lights with the brown but on top of creating the low lights i'm going to add even more texture and again it's going to be very very random the one thing i want to make a note with is usually with using chalk paint is you would normally be using a lot of water whereas i'm using salt wash hence the word salt salt is actually eating up the moisture in the paint so it's drying everything very very quickly and that's the exact result i want for this type of finish and i don't want to confuse you so you're relying on the moisture of the paint and you're relying on that little tiny bit of moisture when you're using your sea sponge and that's all you're going to use at this stage you're not going to be using a spray water bottle because you're making so many layers you're actually relying on the salt wash to do a lot of the blending for you rather than water because water would be a number one source with blending i'm using my chippy brush just to feather in those low lights that i've created and again i'm just adding in the low lights adding in that little bit of salt wash very very random in places i want that dark shadowing to start to happen [Music] because the salt and the salt wash is eating up the moisture in the paint everything is drying even quicker than just with chalk paint on its own so no worries about worrying about your layers drying i can guarantee you they'll be dry i promise you as we continue on this will actually make sense to create an authentic mid to early 18th century um historic looks you really really want to create a worn effect from condensation and humidity and storage and all of these wear factors or in order to achieve that that's why you want really really random texture you also want really random high and low toned colors so the colors that i've picked really can give you this historically old look but it's very very authentic looking i have in the past used sandpapers and things like that but i never get it doesn't look as organic as when i do it like this so going back to my gel stain i applied the chestnut minwax gel stain now i'm applying the walnut which is going to be a darker tone and i'm setting up my stencil and i'm going to show you exactly how i do this i wouldn't normally use a roller for a gel stain but for a stencil experiment i didn't really see how else i could do this without lifting that stencil and because those lines are so thin the last thing you want to do with any type of stenciling is bring your stencil up because it's going to allow any type of color achievement you're doing seep under that and i don't want it and gel stain takes a while to dry so i'm just going to use my hot air gun you could use a hair dryer very carefully just to speed that process up but this was a total experiment i had it visioned in my mind the old historic herringbone wood pattern you see in really really old european homes it was very very popular and it would have this two tone to it so i'm just trying to recreate this look for the table top and i don't really even know where i got the inspiration from but i guess it just kind of somehow leaked into my head and it stuck in there and when i saw this i thought i'd pull it together to see how it would turn out and i am loving the results [Music] so i've done this in a previous tutorial where you can actually use gel stain over chalk paint so i've decided with this particular design i'm going to go ahead and actually use it on the legs and i'm going to show you exactly how that works so now i'm going to go ahead and start adding those blue tones that i had picked so i have a louis blue but the one that i'm putting on right now is that mix of a greek blue which is a bit richer it's a bit deeper mixed with that black chalk paint and the course of action and what i'm doing is exactly what i was doing before i apply the paint add the salt wash apply the paint again and you're literally mashing them in together and this is creating very random short thick thin textures as well as fissures and this is again it's just giving it really old old organic age and again because that salt wash is eating up the moisture in the paint i can go back with any chippy brush and i can blend and it's actually very similar to a dry brush so you can blend it as much as you need to and literally start to over overlap your blue tones so again we're making all of these random random textures and all these different tones and as it keeps coming together i just absolutely love it and i really felt that it was giving me that gustanavian swedish style and also the colors that i chose for this particular project also are very popular in the old old swedish looks so to create a smoother transition between all these different color tones i'm actually going back and i'm using that coco french linen and i'm jumping back and forth so it's actually a little bit tricky to try to follow because i'm grabbing a little bit of this i'm grabbing a little bit of that and i'm going back and grabbing some more salt wash and this is where you just really honestly just play have fun with it you can't go wrong because if you have too much of a color here or you're not happy with the shading there just keep overlapping them and if anything you're just creating even more beautiful old world texture and tones it's gorgeous [Music] and as i mentioned before what i really love about doing the salt wash in this particular style or technique is because it's literally sucking all of the moisture out and drying things right away so i can go back with any of my chippy brushes and keep feathering so at certain points that's what you're seeing me do is i'm just feathering so i'm bringing my lighter and darker tones and just feathering them in together so the paint colors don't chop out so much so again i don't have a particular pattern on which i'm trying to achieve i'm literally putting it on shading around and stepping back and creating my highs and low points where i like them i went ahead and finished our entire table top and i just love it again i wanted to try to get up a little bit more close and personal here so you can see exactly how i'm adding the paint adding the salt wash then adding some more paint and i'm grabbing all of these colors between the french linen coco the louis blue as well as the greek blue and i'm just going around constant and random creating my highlights and my low lights and i'm just having a blast and you just gotta pull that artistic character out of yourself and sit down and play with it you can always put all of your supplies into a zip lock walk away and come back you don't have to sit down all at the same time to do it and at any given time you can grab your brushes you use for that base color the paris gray and you can start adding that back in on top again you're just creating layer after layer and it looks fantastic so here's where i'm going to use that gel stain in the walnut on top of chalk paint because i wanted to create the legs and the base of this back to a very refined wood and i think in between these very rich wood tones it gives a really nice regal look to the piece again you can use a paint brush if you prefer but if you want to use the disposable sponge applicators you as you can see they it works both ways now that i have completed my finishes i'm going to go ahead and put a lacquer finish on this and i find it a little bit easier with a lacquer just because it um being a liquid it just flows especially with all the texture a little bit easier than applying with a wax and a cloth so it's going to seal and protect all of the chalk paint and salt wash finish we completed with now i'm going to use dark wax white wax and black wax to do shadowing using decorative waxes it's always super handy to have separate wax brushes for each of your colors this is a previous mix i've done it's clear wax and dark wax which is going to make it a little bit more translucent as well as easier to apply and remove and again because i already have the clear matte lacquer finish on here my chalk paint finish is completely protected so anything that i'm doing with any of these decorative waxes it will literally wipe right off i just recommend to to maybe have a lint-free cloth if you need so that way if you are you know in a mistake position you've added too much and you want to take it off it will just wipe off so all that craziness and layering and highlights and low lights and more layering all of that craziness actually does make sense and you can see here now that i'm adding in some more shadowing with the dark wax the black wax as well as just little hints of the white wax and again play with it have fun with it don't feel that it has to be exact and you have to do it you know in only certain areas you play with your design and your style how you want to see it but the one thing about dark wax and black wax very very tiny amounts it will go a long way here's a quick shot with the waxing and without the waxing now for this last step it's totally optional i absolutely love it i'm using this fresco i flip the piece onto its back i sprinkle it around and again i'm just adding in another layer i'm adding more highlights to it on top of the low lights i've already created and again enriching that organic aged appearance to seal the fresco i've just applied i'm going to go ahead and put a clear matte finish by russolium on there and that's going to seal it off just make sure when you're using those things that you have a good ventilated area and all of the supplies that i've used for this project are available in the description box below and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment in the comment box below i would love to hear from you and most of all looking forward to sharing another chalk paint decorative finish with you next saturday and don't forget to hit that subscribe button and share thanks so much for watching [Music] um

Channel: The Reclaimed Heirloom

Views: 20,267

Keywords: saltwash furniture, saltwash tutorial, salt wash chalk paint, saltwash, salt wash, salt wash paint technique, saltwash diy, saltwash paint, saltwash paint additive, saltwash powder, saltwash video, chalk paint faded, chalk paint faded stencilling, chalk paint stencil, chalk paint stenciling, chalk paint stencilling, old world stencil chalk paint, stencil chalk paint furniture, stencil tutorial, stenciling chalk paint furniture, Stenciling furniture with chalk paint

Id: 3FbSFY2Pe3o

Length: 19min 30sec (1170 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 18 2020