Ghosts of Furniture Past™ – Writing Desk with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Transforming a Writing Desk  with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

by Barbara B. Nocco, Bella Casa Decorative Finishes. Find her on Facebook.

The writing desk is a piece I picked up about a year ago in a local antique shop near my home in Englishtown, New Jersey. It was time to freshen it up as I have just recently plastered my master bedroom and changed color schemes.

I decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) for the project.  I wanted an old world feel for the charming desk, since that is the standard de’cor for my home.

Here’s What I Did

I started out by lightly sanding the piece, although with ASCP this is not necessary.  See several tutorials for using ASCP by clicking here.

I basecoated the piece with Modern Masters Antique Bronze metallic paint. I let this dry and then proceeded to use ASCP in old white. I applied the paint in a manner which I describe as ‘patting it on a little thick,’ in short overlapping strokes about 2 to 3 inches in width. I purposely left some small areas of the basecoat showing to add to the distressed old world feel.

I applied the old white with a 2″ chip brush, only on the areas I wanted to crackle. Now you can let this dry naturally and it will crack, but to help it along I used a heat gun to gently dry and speed up the process. [Editor’s Note: See short video below that I created from Barbs’ awesome clips and photos.]

I finished all of the areas that I wanted to crackle first. Then I proceeded to just paint the rest of the desk with the old white. When the desk was completely dry, I lightly sanded it in some areas that I wanted to distress.

The first coat of Clear ASCP Wax was applied with a wax brush, then buffed in with a rag and with 600 grit sand paper. I then distressed a few more areas with a coarser sanding paper block, on the edges primarily. A final coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint dark wax was applied over the entire desk in the same manner and buffed with a rag to a nice luster.

The final touches were done with some ASCP gilding creme in gold around the edge of the desk. I also applied it to the handles and leg detail as well.

I love these kind of transformations…from trash to treasure.