Grey Driftwood Table Makeover

I love a good furniture refresh with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! Check out this transformation from old country farmhouse to modern urban farmhouse. I was so delighted to work with my client who inherited this set from her parents. The pedestal table is super solid and well-constructed. The rush chairs had seen better days, with chipped paint and missing wood slats along some of the backs. But we saw the potential in giving them another run before kicking them to the curb.

We decided on a 3:1 Graphite:Pure White mixture for the chairs and the table base. The color is a phenomenal dark grey! Really!

Graphite and Pure White Dilutions

Pedestal base with some light distressing to pull in the light color of the rush chair seats.

Painted Chairs

Painting chairs is a labor of love!  

These beauties are the result of hours of sawing, filling, sanding, painting, more sanding, more painting, finding missed areas, painting again, finding more missed areas, painting again, then finally waxing. Phew! I am passing on chair projects until further notice. Some of the chairs had these lateral slats missing on one or both sides. To create continuity, I removed the outer most slat on either side, both above and below that cross piece.  Adjustments were made to nearly all of the chairs.  My trusty mini hacksaw did a nice job. I refined the work with sanding the area, then evening holes out with wood filler. 

Sawing off chair slats with my mini hacksaw. And soaking up the sun at the same time.

Time for the fun stuff...  

For the tabletop, I created a grey driftwood effect using layered paint. As the table had a painted and heavily shellacked surface to begin with, doing a grey wash over bare wood wasn't an option for this project. I experimented with various paint layers.  Here are few different painted wood approaches. 

Driftwood looks with Annie Sloan.
Also shown at the top are some ASCP greys (Paris Grey, 2:1 Graphite:P.White, 3:1 Graphite:P.White, Graphite).

This sample board was one I had painted the brown driftwood color during a chalk paint course I took long ago in Lucketts. For the brown, base was Old White followed by Coco wet wash and French Linen dry brush.  For the darker grey driftwood, I followed the steps below, but instead of Steps 1 & 2, I painted the base 1:1 Graphite: Pure White, then proceeded to step 3. This provided a darker base.  The paint stick at the top of the photo is one when I compared some Annie Sloan greys.  From left to right...  Paris Grey, 2:1 Graphite:Pure White, 3:1 Graphite:Pure White, Graphite. The background is Pure White.   

We ultimately opted for the lighter grey driftwood look shown in the center of the photo. 

To achieve the light grey driftwood, follow these steps: 

1. Paris Grey (I only needed one coat)

2. 1:1 Graphite:Pure White Dry brush

3. Graphite dry brush

4. Pure White dry brush

5. Lightly sand to reduce texture (careful to not smudge!)

6. Paris Grey wash

This is the table top before the Paris Grey wash. The wash tones down the highlights & lowlights.

To wax or not to wax...

Since this table would see much use by a growing family, the decision was clear that I would seal the table top with three coats of water-based crystal clear Polycrylic. This definitely changes the appearance of the paint surface, especially as you may be accustomed to the silky smooth matte finish achieved normally by Annie Sloan's clear wax... but function sometimes trumps fashion! For the pedestal base, I did some very careful sanding along some of the stacked turns in the wood and then sealed with two layers of the ASCP Clear Wax.

This is the finished product.  Paris Grey wash applied, top sealed with 3 coats Polycrylic, and pedestal base sealed with ASCP clear wax. 

Before and Afters 

Before -- Old Country Farmhouse

After - Modern Urban Farmhouse