Upcycling Made Easy

If you love thrifting store shopping, chances are you have done a furniture or home decor flip before. Thrifting is the easiest easy to get what you want or need on an affordable budget, especially when it comes to larger pieces like furniture. For years, Plaid has been your DIY headquarters with our techniques and products. Today, we want to talk about both! First, with how easy our products are to work with and then 5 distress techniques to give you that classic, farmhouse-aged look. Whether it's a desk, a side table, or a picture frame, we've got the techniques and products to make your next thrift store project quick, easy, and fun!

Keep reading to learn about our 5 distress techniques to give your project an aged and weathered look. 

What is FolkArt Home Decor Chalk?

Transform your home decor with the versatility of FolkArt Home Decor Chalk. This ultra-matte chalk finish acrylic paint has a rich, highly pigmented color that provides long-lasting beauty to all your upcycled projects. This paint requires minimal surface prep, is easy to distress, and can be layered and sanded to give your project a weathered look. FolkArt Home Decor Chalk is great for furniture, decorative glass, home decor accessories, metal, and more. This unique home décor paint dries quickly on a variety of surfaces including wood, glass, metal, terra cotta, and much more. Cover all your arts and crafts with the quality color of FolkArt Home Decor Chalk!

What You Need

Before you begin  your next DIY furniture flip, you might want to take inventory of what you will be using to paint, distress, and seal your piece of home decor. We've got everything you need to make chalk painting easy! Start shopping now!

  

  
 

Inspiration

Need some inspiration to get you started on your chalk painting journey? Check out some of our favorite projects below!

  

 

 

5 Ways to Distress

DISTRESSING WITH SANDPAPER

1. Basecoat surface with FolkArt Home Decor Chalk. Allow to dry.
 

2. Sand off paint in areas that would wear off over time.


 

DISTRESSING WITH A CRACKLE MEDIUM

1. Basecoat surface with FolkArt Wicker White Acrylic Paint.


2. Apply FolkArt Crackle Medium to surface over Wicker White.


3. Once Crackle is dry apply FolkArt Navy Blue over Crackle but do not go over any previous brush strokes. The heavier the paint the bigger the cracks. The thinner the paint is applied the smaller the cracks.




 

DISTRESSING WITH CANDLE WAX

1. Basecoat surface with FolkArt Home Decor Chalk. Allow to dry completely.


2. Rub the candle on the surface where normal wear would occur.


3. Paint over your base color with a light color from the same color family. Allow to dry.


4. Sand over where the wax was applied to remove topcoat of paint.




 

DISTRESSING WITH A BLOCK

1. Basecoat with FolkArt Home Decor Chalk. Allow to dry completely.


2. Apply a darker color of FolkArt Home Decor Chalk to a plate. Dip the block into the paint and then remove excess.
 

 




3. Glide the block along the edges and across the surface.
 



 

BARN WOOD TECHNIQUE

1. Apply FolkArt Home Decor Wood Tint to wood.




2. Apply a lighter color of FolkArt Home Decor Chalk as a wash by dipping the brush into the water as you go.
  



3. Once dry, begin to sand off the lighter color until you see the stain underneath. Continue sanding until desired amount of stain is showing.






Wondering how to seal and protect your piece? Check out this informational video on how to wax your upcycled piece of furniture or home decor. 

Make sure you are following us on social media for more inspiration, how-tos, and so much more!
    

How do you distress your furniture? Which technique do you use? Tell us! Use #PlaidCrafts!

Happy Crafting!