CeCe Caldwell chalk paint review: baby girl’s room

Can I tell you the relief of hearing we were having a girl after having three boys?  I was sure my destiny was to be the mom of boys.  I grew up with two little brothers, and figured boys was what I knew.  After losing our third son Stephen at 21 weeks, I couldn’t bring myself to work on baby girl’s room, let alone buy much of anything, until she was here with us.

 

So, the week before I was scheduled for an induction, I contacted a contractor to finish the plan I created for the bonus room.  While I was in the hospital, he called to schedule the framing.  The room was on it’s way and it was time to implement the decorating, once I was home from the hospital!

 

I decided I wanted white furniture for baby girl.  But, I had to talk my husband into letting me paint our existing baby furniture, that we had used for the boys.  He is a man, and the furniture was wood; in other words, he was opposed to painting it.  He couldn’t figure out why I would want to paint perfectly good wood.  We finally came to agreement (he saw it my way. Ha!), and I started the crib AFTER I had the baby.  Not my smartest move.

 

The crib was stained a light pecan color.  The color didn’t work in my desired scheme, but I loved the lines and details on the crib and dresser, and I knew they would look great painted white.  I had been reading all about Annie Sloan chalk paint and all of the raves, so figured this was a good time to give it a shot.

 

My mom had come in to help with the kids, so as a treat for her, we headed to Dallas to do some shopping, sans boys.  I guess I had an another motive too…I found a supplier in Frisco that carried Annie Sloan chalk paint.  When we got there, the baby was starting to fuss, so I left mom and the baby in the car and ran in, asked where Annie Sloan paint was and quickly picked out white paint, clear wax and antiquing wax.  My first clue should have been how the color names did not match up to Annie Sloan’s.

 

When I got home and started painting it, I discovered I had bought CeCe Caldwell!  No wonder the names didn’t match up!  (Really I am not an airhead, but do have occasional moments, although, I claim lack of sleep from having a baby!) Evidently, they had booths with both lines, just in different isles!  Before I started painting, I did some sanding with fine sandpaper, then wiped it down to make sure it was clean.

 

When I started painting with CeCe’s paint it was very thick.  Because I am cheap smart, I watered it down a bit.  I was really surprised at the coverage.  It may have been because I watered it down, and I was used to latex, the coverage was not good.  If I brushed the second coat too much, it started to wipe the first coat off.  I tried to limit the paint strokes and lay down as much paint as I could.  Let me tell you painting a crib is HARD!  I found a small 1/2” artist brush that worked well for the rails.  But after the second coat, I could see I was in for a third coat!  Hmmm, maybe the lack of primer for chalk paint doesn’t save so much time?!

 

After the third coat it looked like the original stain color was covered, until I applied the wax.  Talk about disappointed!  I thought I had just ruined all of my HOURS of work!  I went ahead with the waxing, let it dry, then buffed it for shine.  I do have to say I liked the sheen.  Because the crib had great details, I knew I wanted to antique it to accentuate them.  I had bought CeCe Caldwell’s antiquing wax when I purchased the paint.  THAT was the key!  It helped hide the fact that the paint seemed to be transparent in areas.  It added great warmth to the paint and brought out the great details.  I LOVE the antiquing wax!

 

 Now that the crib and dresser are complete, I can say that I don’t hate chalk paint and in fact have grown to like it.  I think it was a learning experience.  All my experience had been with oil and latex paints.  So, that was the finish I expected.  Overall, I think that both pieces turned out really nice.  With the antiquing wax, it really does give it a time worn appearance.

 

Edited:  I was afraid about the durability.  It has held up well, even with a move.  I think I had one scrape in an inconspicuous area when we were reassembling the crib.

 

Anyone else use chalk paint?  What was your experience?  Did it meet your expectations?  Please share!