Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian: I’m addicted to making my own chalky paint

Our house was built in 1908, which means it has loads of character and a dearth of closet space. All the bedrooms have small, one-door closets except the master bedroom. It has none. As in zero, zilch, nil.

No, it’s not because the home was built back when taxes were levied for each closet in a home. That’s a myth. It’s because people back in the day weren’t chronic consumers like we are now.

The previous owner of our home installed a large glass-front Pax wardrobe from Ikea in the master bathroom, which is where my husband stores his clothes. I store mine in an extra large Double Shutter Armoire from Restoration Hardware. But it doesn’t have space for my shoes and boots.

Until recently I had been keeping them in the adjacent sunroom, which was a shame, because the room has creamy white walls and original dark wood-pane windows on three sides, covered by sheer white drapes. It’s light and airy. I tried to artfully arrange my shoes and boots on the floor around the perimeter as though they were part of the decor. But they inevitably ended up in piles and were an eyesore.

So I bought another armoire — this time from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Waldo — for $50. It wasn’t the prettiest thing. Originally intended as a media center, it was scratched and gouged, and had a contemporary shiny oak finish like it had just rolled off the truck from a big-box furniture store. Yawn.

But it was perfect for my first try at using homemade chalky-finish paint. I’d call it Chalk Paint, but that’s a registered trademark for Annie Sloan, the British woman who invented it 25 years ago. She named it that because the paint has a velvety chalklike finish.

You can buy Annie Sloan Chalk Paint online and at local shops such as Bella B Decor for $11.95 for four ounces, or $36.95 for 32 ounces. Several national craft and hardware stores have started selling similar paints at lower prices by brands such as Americana Decor and Folk Art Home Decor. But they come in only a few colors.

I decided to make my own. I doubled a recipe that I found online by mixing 10 tablespoons of DAP Plaster of Paris ($3.94 for 4.4 pounds.) with 10 tablespoons of water, then combining the smooth milky mixture into a quart of latex paint ($12.99 for one quart) that had been tinted bright aqua.

The beauty of this paint is, you don’t have to strip or sand whatever you’re painting. It can go directly on top of glossy surfaces.

I applied one coat of the paint with a brush, which allowed the wood grain to show through. Then I sanded some of the edges of the cabinet, where you’d likely see wear and tear, down to the bare wood.

At this point, Annie Sloan suggests applying a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax followed by a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax ($15 for each four-ounce tin).

That would have been an additional $30. I went a different, more economical route: I rubbed a dark walnut Minwax stain ($4.38 for eight ounces) onto the entire piece with a rag, then rubbed if off and applied one coat of Minwax clear satin-finish polycrylic left over from another project. The dark stain turned the bright aqua a deep teal.

I swapped the basic black knobs that came on the cabinet for red folk-art inspired ones I found on clearance at World Market (four for $10), and voila! For about $80 I have a cabinet that looks like it came from the English countryside. My boots and laundry hampers fit into it perfectly.

Now I’m like a mad scientist with the paint: mixing colors for my Adirondack chairs, a steamer trunk, mirror frame, flower pots, and on and on. I even painted a colorful design onto my fireplace hearth using several colors of the homemade chalk paint.

Organizational workshop

I’d like to apologize to anyone who showed up for Deniece Schofield’s organizational workshops at the American Inn North Kansas City, or the Ramada Inn and Comfort Inn Suites in Overland Park between April 20 and 22 and found her to be a no-show.

According to events managers at each hotel, Schofield appeared for only two of the six workshops that I mentioned in my April 19 column. When reached by phone, her husband and agent, Jim Schofield, said they were experiencing car problems.

This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian: I’m addicted to making my own chalky paint."