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The shabby chic chalk paint ‘look’ is totally on trend at the moment and it’s a fun and easy project to undertake. We’ve been putting Renaissance Chalk Paint which is exclusively available from Ideal World TV through it’s paces. You can watch the Renaissance Chalk Paint TV Show over on Ideal World TV on 30th September at 11.00am.
How to create the shabby chic paint technique
1. Prepare the furniture
Firstly you need to prepare your furniture. Renaissance Chalk Paint can be used without sanding but I think you get a better finish if you sand down your surfaces first and it really doesn’t take a huge amount of time to do. Make sure you put down dust sheets or newspaper to catch the paint dust.
2. Choose colours
When doing the shabby chic paint technique it’s best to choose two coordinating paint colours. We just love the French Grey and Ocean Blue from the Renaissance Paint collection they work together beautifully.
3. Choose the areas you want to appear ‘shabby’
There’s two ways to do the shabby chic technique, you can either paint the furniture entirely in one colour, cover in another colour and then sand down gently over the whole piece of furniture to give a shabby look all over.
Or you can choose to just do the shabby chic technique on areas of the furniture most likely to suffer from wear and tear. We opted for technique two so painted the Ocean Blue Renaissance Paint along the edges of the bookcase.
4. Paint the furniture
Do the first coat of the second paint colour. Allow this to dry. Renaissance Chalk Paint dries quite quickly and it’ll be ready for you to paint the second coat within just an hour or so.
5. Create the shabby chic look
For this step we just need to remove some of the top coat of coloured paint to reveal the colour below and give the furniture a worn, shabby, loved look. We used a coarse sandpaper to do this, simply rubbing along the edges.
You can ‘shabby up’ your furniture as much as you like – we opted for a subtle worn look. Once you’ve finished sanding the paint be sure to vacuum up the paint dust, use the small bristle brush on the vacuum and really get into the nooks and crannies of the furniture so that you can apply the varnish to a smooth paint finish.
6. Apply the varnish
Renaissance make a beautiful wax finish varnish , which you just paint on in 1 or 2 thin coats. It not only protect from chips but provides a heat and water resistant coating. Once the varnish is dry it has a silky smooth feel just like wax.
How to style your furniture
The shabby chic paint technique gives furniture a warm, loved feel which will fit just as happily into a modern home as one filled with rustic charm. We tried out our shabby chic bookcase in a few different locations, which just shows the versatility of the shabby chic look.
in the home office…
It gives the office a warm, homely feel and is super useful for storing files.
in the bedroom…
Used as a night stand it adds a pretty little touch to the room and coordinates beautifully with the bed. The soft French Grey paint shade giving a lovely calm vibe.
for the children…
The shabby chic look will come into it’s own in this room, it looks effortlessly elegant and with two boys zooming around the place it’ll be able to hold it’s own against any knocks and bumps which will no doubt add to it’s charm.
in the kitchen…
Adding a little extra storage to the kitchen is always a good thing! And with the wax finish varnish offering heat and water protection I’d be happy to use it on items of furniture for the kitchen.
Renaissance Paint Review
This paint is a delight to use. It paints like a dream, no stirring necessary, it’s a lovely consistency making it super easy to use and preventing any drips and running.
It covers very well and helps to hide any little lumps, bumps and imperfections your furniture may have.
The varnish covered well and the finish feels beautifully silky soft.
Cleaning the brushes of both paint and the varnish literally takes just a couple of minutes. Just run them under the tap and dot with a little dishwashing liquid.
It’s been a total pleasure to work with and it’s reignited my painting bug!
Don’t forget you can watch the Renaissance Chalk Paint TV Show over on Ideal World TV on 30th September at 11.00am.
Disclaimer – this is a sponsored post for Ideal World TV for full details of my disclosure policy read here.