Redoing our Table and Chairs - honest review of Chalk Paint

After our move, our table and chairs just did not go with our new house. I decided they needed a face lift. I painted the chairs and base of the table with chalk paint and wax from JoAnn's and stained the top of the table and seat of the chairs with gel stain. It was fairly simple, but very time consuming. 

***As a side note, DO NOT EVER use the chalk paint from JoAnn's for anything you want to look like a professional piece of work. This paint was horrible!! I would never, ever use this paint again. It is thin and just does not cover well at all. The wax is the same. Just not quality products at all. I have used a couple different chalk paints since then, however, my favorite is Lillian's No Wax Chock Paint. Not only is it the most reasonably priced out there, you also do not need to wax afterwards like you do with other Chalk paints! For prolonged use, they do recommend you use a glaze or like I used an acrylic polyurethane. I gave my other projects three thin coats of poly and have had no issues with scratches or gouges (and this is on something I use every day). 

The only before picture I have. I completely forgot to take a "good" before picture.

Since we continued to use the table while I was re-purposing it (and it was freezing cold outside), I did paint inside. It's simple and you do not need to be precise in your brush strokes. It did take a LOT to cover this area. If I had used a better brand of Chalk/Chock paint, this would not have been the case.  After 4 coats, I did apply the wax. With this piece, I just used a rag and wiped on the wax and used a separate wax to rub the excess off after I was completely done. This was messy and I should have worn gloves. 

First coat on the table. You will need to lightly sand before hand and lightly sand after each additional coat of gel stain. **Be careful on this step. The poly has a horrible smell and can give you massive headaches if you do not do this in a properly vented area.

The chairs....oh the chairs. I would have just done away with staining the seat and just painted them. It was a pain! I had to tape around each spindle and then the stain was so hard to get in between the spindles. Just save yourself the step! :)

All in all, it took a lot of time and did not turn out quite like what I wanted, but it was nice to look at as long as you didn't look really close at the workman ship. Quality products make all the difference in the amount of time and effort you put in the product. I did end up selling this set after I was done with the project.