From my experience the best paint I’ve used for this is the “Glidden” brand sold at walmart. YEP. I mixed a batch of chalk paint with this paint and after 4 months it was still as good as the the day I mixed it. Other paints will usually harden. If you can’t get a hold of this brand any paint will work it just won’t stay good in storage for to long. In conclusion stay away from paints that come “2-1 prime and paint”.. these will harden the quickest.
I scrubbed the bujeebers out of it. (yes with a toothbrush. haha) Then I sanded it down just to be on the safe side. Now this is totally optional if you use chalk paint, I’m just weird that way. Some of the knobs were missing so I decided to cover up some of the holes. (on the left) The knobs were a specific size and ordering new ones was out of the question. I used plaster of paris for this and it turned out pretty well. Can’t even tell there were ever holes there.
The colors look weird in these pictures because of the direct sunlight but I was going for an olive mint. I dunno if you can tell but I started off with an aqua color and switched over to the green because the aqua looked white. This is why I love mixing my own chalk paint. I can make any color I want. That’s a Biggy for me because I never use the color the store mixes for me. lol . Maybe it’s just me but I’m always tweaking it here and there. My lighting is so different from department stores I had a gray look completely pink at my house. So yehhh. That’s probably why I’m always tweaking it.
After that I decided to line the insides of the cupboards with some fabric I found in my fabric pile. I used regular mod podge. This project probably took me over a week to complete. oh and don’t forget to leave the desk outdoors for drying after you coat it with lacquer those fumes could be harmful. After a year of constant use it’s a keeper. I still love it and used it everyday 😀