Painted Shelving Unit Before and After with Chalk Paint

One of my biggest to-do items this summer was to go through our storage units (after our house fire) and start purging stuff we no longer need, or bring it back to our house.

One of the items I found over in one of our storage units was a three-shelf shelving unit. I was given these back in college by my favorite family I babysat for. These shelves have been moved from Ohio to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and now Wisconsin. I really love them because they aren’t too tall, so they fit perfectly in a closet or in the attic where the walls are angled.

Shelving Unit before being painted with chalk paint

While we were in our temporary living space after the fire, I actually redid one of the shelving units so we could use it for a dresser (because we didn’t have any of our belongings). However, that particular shelving unit had burn marks, water stains and smelled like smoke! So I had to clean and seal that one before being able to use it. I shared all about How To Seal Smoke Smells & Stains on Furniture in this post.

Check out: Before & After Projects Using Dixie Belle Chalk Paint

How To Clean Furniture Before Painting with Chalk Paint

Before painting a piece of furniture, it’s most important to make sure that your piece of furniture is clean.

Over the years, I’ve painted A LOT of furniture and I’ve only found one cleaner to actually clean my pieces properly. It’s a product called White Lightning by Dixie Belle Paint Company. If you’ve been a reader of my furniture makeovers in the past, you know that I swear by this product. It’s the most amazing furniture cleaner in my opinion.

White Lightning cleans the debris, grime, grease, and even help diminishes mild stains. It also works amazing at removing smells – such as cigarette smoke and fire smoke! Believe me, I know!

To see how to use White Lightning, check out this blog post where I completely made over my dining room hutch! *note: always make sure you wash down your piece of furniture with a clean rag and water to make sure all of the White Lightning has been removed.

How to clean furniture before painting with chalk paint  | Dixie Belle White Lightning Cleaner

What Brush Should I Use To Paint Furniture?

I used to use “The Belle Brush” all of the time. However, in the more recent years, I love using this Mini Angled brush, also by Dixie Belle. Oddly, I had never been a fan of short handled brushes – mainly because I was always using my brushes for painting walls and cutting in – but for furniture, I absolutely love the short handled brushes because it fits so nicely in the corners and drawers.

Dixie Belle Mini Angle Paint Brush | The best paint brush to paint furniture with

What Is Terra Clay Paint?

I was recently given a jar of Dixie Belle’s new Terra Clay paint and I was anxious to try it out. (Disclosure: I am a brand ambassador, but I had personally used and bought the products before ever becoming an ambassador. I truly just love Dixie Belle’s paint and products).

The color I decided to try was called Blue Moon. On the jar, the paint color looked like a dark navy blue, similar to this Nightstand Painted in Dixie Belle Bunker Hill Blue I did a while back.

To find out more about what Terra Clay paint is, I would recommend checking out my friend Sara’s blog post about it. She goes into great detail on what it is and how to properly use it.

Dixie Belle Terra Clay Paint - Blue Moon

After my shelf was cleaned and wiped down, I began painting. The Terra Clay paint went on a beautiful dark navy color, but as it dried, it lightened up and was a much lighter blue than I expected.

In this photo, you can see what I mean. The dark blue = wet. The light blue = dry. (This is after only one coat, you can still see the wood peeking through on the bottom shelf)

Terra Clay Paint Blue Moon

I ended up only doing one coat of the Terra Clay paint because I asked my son if he liked the paint color since this shelf was going in his closet. To my dismay, he did not like the color and wanted me to paint it a much lighter (almost baby blue-like) to match his bedroom.

So, once this paint had dried, I gave it a coat with Dixie Belle’s Silk All-In-One Paint in the color of Serenity. A line I ABSOLUTELY LOVE! (I literally love this so much that I painted the trim in my house using it!) p.s. I super duper love this paint because you don’t need to seal it! One less step to worry about! Yay!!

Dixie Belle Silk Paint | Gathered In The Kitchen

Once the paint had dried, I added felt sliders to the bottom of the shelf to ensure that our hardwood floors do not get scratched. The only carpet we have in our entire house is in the basement, so needless to say, we have a LOT of felt sliders in this house! haha

Adding felt sliders to furniture | Gathered In The Kitchen

Before & After

I love a good side-by-side comparison! It’s amazing what a little bit of paint and effort can do!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.

Before and After Painted Shelf with Chalk Paint

As always, I’m super happy with how the furniture turns out after painting it. In an effort to not belabor the point, I sincerely love this paint. It holds up amazing, is easy to clean, and looks always so pretty! I truly never recommend something that I don’t personally use and love, so when I brag about this paint, I truly mean it!

Happy painting my friends!

Dixie Belle Silk All-In One Paint  | Gathered In The Kitchen

Love a good furniture flip? Check out these projects!

Click each photo below for the tutorial!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.