There are gazillions of You Tube tutorials on how to paint furniture using chalk paint, and I’ll share with you here, how I do it. My way might not be ‘right’, but I promise it works!
I always use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and wax. (Yes you do need the wax) the wax comes in two colours, I use the Clear wax. (The other type is Dark Wax and it gives a more ‘aged’ look)
So to start with, you need:
Orange Pine. Illegal Orange Pine as I call it – Or any furniture you want to paint.

I usually squint a bit, so I can see if I like the shape. The Shape is the important bit. This table cost me £10 in Oxfam
Paint. Have a look online for your nearest stockist and if you are painting something small, a test pot will be fine! (you know my little stool I put the radio on? That’s done with a test pot. You can even paint a small chair with a test pot)
Brush. I have a proper Annie Sloan brush, but a normal paint brush is fine! (you can apply the wax with a brush too if you like)
A jug of water. Sometimes the paint goes really thick – especially of the lid has been off for a while, or if it is a hot day. If it does, pour in some water and give it a stir to loosen it up. You might need to do it more than once.
Preparation. None.  Get rid of any cobwebs or loose flaky bits of paint, and any dust. Apart from that, no sanding is required. (if you google what this stuff can paint over, it’s amazing! I painted a leather topped card table and it came out fine!)
Start painting!Give it all a coat of paint (it dries really fast) If you are apinting a chair, turn it upside down after you have done the first coat and you’ll see all the bits you’ve missed. Chairs are the worst.
(oh yes, and I have an old plastic table cloth that I use to cover the floor – or the table if I am painting on the table)
I usually do at least a couple of coats. Bear in mind that you will be sanding after its painted  so it needs a really good coating. Also, old varnish sometimes grins through – especially if you are painting over old varnished mahogony. So definitely give your piece a few coats.
A note on edges. If you are after a distressed look and want to sand back to a different colour other than wood, I’d paint all the edges in the different colour (saves all the faff of painting the whole thing that colour first) Then take a photo of where you painted, so you know where to sand, otherwise it’ll be lost under the top coat.
When you are happy that you have painted enough, or when you are just bored of painting and losing the will to live, it’s time to sand!Just make sure the paint is totally dry. Have a cuppa.
Sand Paper. Fine to medium. Too coarse and you’ll end up scratching the paint, and the point is to soften the brush marks and gently distress any areas. The areas I go for are natural areas of wear. Edges and corners for instance.But beauty is in the eye of the beholder so if you fancy more, do more! If it’s looking too distressed, paint over it!
You can see how powdery the paint goes. (most tutorials will say ‘paint, wax, sand, wax’ here we differ. I have always done it in this order – paint, sand, wax.  It’s always worked for me, and besides, I HATE painting, waxing and sanding and just want the finished result asap!



After you have given everywhere a light sand, and distressed the parts you want to – or not – you can just have a blanket coverage if shabby chic isn’t for you – it’s time to get rid of all the dust.
I just hoover it with the brush attachment.
Now the last bit! Wax.
You’ll need a clean cotton cloth or two. One for waxing and one for buffing.
Ideally I’d use an old white cotton shirt – but this happens to be a t shirt,
If you use a coloured t shirt, you might end up with coloured fibers from the cloth, buffed in to the wax on whatever you are waxing and you’ll never get them out.
Here’s a pic of the table half waxed so you can see the difference.

Once everywhere is waxed, it’s time to get the elbow grease out and buff to a shine. It really gives a fab result- I concentrated more on buffing the flat surfaces here, and less on the legs as they are fiddly, but everywhere had a good coat of wax. You can easily see any bits you miss as the paint will still look all chalky and dry.
That’s it! I find the wax takes a day or two to really harden off, so if you are thinking it feels a bit tacky after you have buffed, don’t worry, it’ll sort itself out.
And guess what – after that, it’s waterproof!
Here is the best bit of all. You wash the brush in water. Yay! And if you forget for a few hours, it doesn’t matter! Yay again! Left the lid off? Add water and stir.
It’s pretty much fool proof.
Good luck with your project!
love