The truth about chalk paint – plus see stunning chalk-free makeovers!

If you’ve been using chalk paint for years and you’re completely happy with the results, by all means you should continue to use it. If you’ve got a good thing going, roll with it! Get it – “roll” with it – like a paint roller? Ok, bad pun. Anyways, our experience with chalk paint has not been so positive. At first we thought it was just us, but more and more furniture artists are coming to realize the truth about chalk paint.

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After many tries and different brands, we’ve come to realize the ugly truth about chalk paint…chalk paint is actually MORE work.

We won’t go over all the reasons we prefer not to use chalk paint again, you can read about them here, but we will debunk the biggest chalk paint myth right now – chalk paint is not no prep.

Why is chalk paint more work?

One of the most touted advantages to chalk style paints is that they require no advanced preparation of the piece before painting. We’ve read lots of posts about how great it is not to have to sand or prime furniture.

To be fair, these lovely furniture painters are not wrong. You CAN use chalk paint without first sanding and priming your furniture. However, you will NOT get good coverage or a smooth, even finish if you don’t. It once took us 5 coats of chalk paint to stop the dark shadows from the original finish of a dresser from coming through. And even after all that, the finish was streaky and had visible brush strokes. Not cool chalk paint, not cool.

And then there’s the waxing. You MUST have a top coat of some sort because chalk paint has no durability whatsoever on its own. In fact, you can simply brush it off with a rag if you haven’t sealed it. Waxing is not a process we enjoy, nor do we typically like the look of it on a finished piece. We’ve had better success with a polycryclic top coat, but even that can be absorbed in the chalk paint unevenly and make the finished coat look blotchy.  

If you take the time to prep and seal your furniture like you should before applying chalk paint, then using chalk paint doesn’t save you anything. Not only is it the same or more work, but its cost you a pretty penny more than latex paint.

For these reasons, it comes as no surprise to us that many professional furniture painters, ourselves included, have opted against using chalk paint to refinish furniture.

But what do you do if you love the look of chalk paint? Never fear, we promise you can create the same beautiful matte finish without chalk paint. To prove it, we’ve found 5 different furniture painters that create stunning pieces without chalk paint.

1. Karin from Renovated Faith

This grey hall table is very charming and the color is very similar to the light tones that are popular in many chalk paint lines. 

2. Kristi from Addicted to Decorating

This pretty two-toned credenza in bright green with wood drawers is lovely. The nice smooth finish is easier to achieve with latex paint.

3. Jann from Newton Custom Interiors

This dresser is classic in white with black hardware. To get the same consistent coverage with white chalk paint would take many, many coats.

4. Kala from My Breezy Room

Latex paint can be aged and distressed the same as chalk paint. This cream buffet is looking timeless with slight distressing.

5. Us! Stuart & Iris from Three Coats of Charm

This is one of our pieces finished in Benjamin Moore’s Raspberry with just a little dark wax for aging. I know I said we don’t like wax, and we don’t. However when applied over latex it is much more forgiving and doesn’t seep into the paint and change the color the same way it does with porous paints like chalk paint. Another benefit to latex paint!

We do still, on occasion, use chalk paint. If the project is small and we know we want a shabby chic, distressed look, we sometimes use chalk paint. To be honest, I’m not sure why since almost every time we end up wishing we’d just gone with latex. Maybe I’m an eternal optimist and keep hoping one of these times it’ll knock my socks off. Or maybe I’m just frugal and want to use up our supply!

I hope we’ve convinced you that it is possible to achieve the chalky paint look with latex paint without the extra cost and effort it takes to get a good quality finish using chalk paint.

Have you tried both latex and chalk paint to paint furniture? How do you like working with chalk paint? Do you prep before you paint with chalky paint? We’d love to hear your thoughts – please leave them in the comments below!