I have written this entry thinking of my friend Maya who the other day was asking me how she could paint a melamine piece of furniture and give it an aged look. Years ago I bought a melamine chest of drawers for our home office and after the last updates I have made to it, it no longer combined with me too much. The chest of drawers also had a little deteriorated melamine on the top and in the corners, so looking for inspiration I thought why not use homemade chalk paint to give it an industrial look.
The industrial aesthetic in decoration is a trend that is hitting hard in recent years. It combines perfectly with structural elements such as brick walls, pipes, metal beams, etc., so after painting the bookcase in the office and lining the back with brick wallpaper, I thought it would be a good option to pimp up my old chest of drawers and give it a industrial aspect to integrate it better in the new decoration.
The chest of drawers was the Mikael model from Ikea (now discontinued), with a birch-colored body and white drawers. You can see it in the following image:
The materials that I have used to tune this chest of drawers and give it an industrial look are the following:
To paint:
– Homemade chalk paint or homemade blackboard paint (step by step HERE) 200 ml white, 150 ml light gray and 150 ml dark grey.
– A foam roller or a brush.
– A sandpaper.
To wax and protect the paint (you can see the step by step on how to apply the wax HERE):
– A rag.
– Natural wax.
– Tow or steel wool 0000.
For the drawers:
– An old belt.
– Nuts and bolts.
There are those who still do not dare to do homemade chalk paint or homemade blackboard paint (you can see the step by step HERE), but it really is so simple and costs so little to try (and when I say it costs little I mean the cost of the materials), that although I do not rule out buying Annie’s chalk paint one day Sloan to try it out. It is something that I do not consider in the short term in view of the results obtained with the homemade formula.
To give you an idea, a kilo of white carpenter’s glue costs about 5 euros, a kilo of plaster about 2 euros and acrylic paints can be obtained for 1 or 2 euros depending on the size. To tune up this chest of drawers and give it an industrial look, I needed half a kilo of white glue (2.5 euros), 50 grams of plaster (10 cents) and a small amount of white, gray and black acrylic paint (about 50 cents). In other words, for just over 3 euros I have obtained the necessary chalk paint to radically change this chest of drawers.
The steps I’ve taken to achieve this industrial look have been the following:
1º.- Sand (optional) and clean
One of the main advantages of chalk paint is that it adheres to practically any surface and does not need prior sanding, but I did sand the top of the chest of drawers a little because it had some chipping and I wanted to even out the surface.
Whether we have sanded or not, what will be necessary is to clean the surface of the chest of drawers from dust and product remains, for this I usually use methylated spirits.
2º.- Paint with white homemade chalk paint (primer)
Once we have cleaned the chest of drawers and removed the drawer handles, we give it a first coat of white homemade chalk paint with a foam roller or brush. This first layer is going to serve as a primer, so we have to paint both the body of the chest of drawers and the drawers (although they are already white).
For those of you who have never painted a piece of furniture, you will see that the first layer is not uniform, at that moment you may think “why would I get into these scrubs”, but don’t panic, it’s normal. Keep in mind that this first layer is for fixing, it is the foundation for the rest of the layers of paint, it is the one that will act as a bridge between the melamine and the paint.
To make the white chalk paint we will need a small tube of white acrylic paint (12 ml). Once this first layer has dried (approximately an hour or an hour and a half), we will give a second coat of white chalk paint.
3º.- Paint with gray homemade chalk paint
After the two layers of white chalk paint, we will give a coat of light gray chalk paint. To make the light gray chalk paint I used a small tube of aluminum gray acrylic paint.
You must take into account when making the homemade chalk paint and mixing the acrylic paint with the white glue, that in the mixture the color will always seem lighter than it will really be once it dries, since the white glue becomes transparent once once dry.
4º.- Paint the last layer with homemade dark gray chalk paint
When the layer of gray chalk paint is dry, we will give it a coat of gray chalk paint in a darker tone. To achieve this tone, what I have done has been to mix 50% aluminum gray acrylic paint with black acrylic paint (two small tubes of 12 ml each).
This last coat of homemade chalk paint must be applied in a way that is not uniform.that is, if we are using a foam roller we will press more in some areas and less in others and if we are painting with a brush we will brush diagonally, insisting more on some areas than on others.
5º.- Sand
Once the last coat of paint has dried, we sand the entire surface of the chest of drawers since in this way we will smooth out the imperfections that may have remained and we will increase that worn effect of the chest of drawers.
At this moment you will realize the grip that homemade blackboard paint has, since no matter how much you give the sandpaper the paint will not rise.
6º.- Give wax, polish wax
It is not essential to wax or varnish the chalkboard paint, but I like to give it wax as it gives it a satin finish and protects the furniture from stains and daily use. For this we will give three layers of natural wax as follows:
– With a cloth or cotton doll we apply the wax and wait about 30 minutes.
– With tow or steel wool (size 0000) we polish the wax. Tow is cheaper than steel wool and the result is also excellent.
– We let an hour pass before giving a new layer of wax, up to a minimum of three layers of wax.
As I mentioned before, you can see the process with images at this link.
7º.- Change the handles by recycling a broken belt
I could have put the same handles that the chest of drawers already had but a few weeks ago my husband broke a belt and he gave it to me “because I’m sure you’ll get some use out of it”, so I thought they would be very good as handles for the chest of drawers
What I did was cut three pieces of the belt of the same size, then I made some holes and put a screw on each side through the holes that were in the old handles and fixed them with some nuts.
In the following image you can see how the chest of drawers has turned out after painting it with homemade blackboard paint, giving it wax and changing the drawer handles. We may like the final result more or less, but what cannot be denied is that any resemblance between the before and the after is purely coincidental.
The chest of drawers has gone from being a “standard” chest of drawers to an industrial-looking piece of furniture with a lot of personality. The aged look gives it the feel of a very vivid chest of drawers, plus the different shades of gray and the satin finish of the wax give it a metallic look, as if it were tin or unpolished steel. In the following image you can see industrial style furniture that can serve as inspiration.
As you have seen with the homemade chalk paint Not only can melamine furniture be painted, but we can also give it an aged or vintage look in a simple and very economical way. If you are not sure of the results, do the test on some piece of wood or board, you will see how when you get the hang of it, you will want to paint everything.
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