Upcycled steamer trunk painted with chalk paint and topcoated with clear and dark wax

Chalk paint is a water-based, decorative paint invented by Annie Sloan which may be applied over almost any surface. It requires very little preparation and needs a topcoat to avoid flaking. Chalk paints are also used by utility companies to mark road surfaces.

Description

Chalk paint is a water-based, decorative paint that results in a chalky, matte finish. The paint consists of a fine powder such as

plaster of Paris Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

or calcium carbonate, mixed with water. Commercial acrylic paint is added as a colorant.

Origins

Artist Annie Sloan invented chalk paint in 1990 and registered chalk paint as a trademark. There are similar products on the retail market and many online recipes.

Uses

This paint is intended for use on furniture and other home

décor Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

to achieve a specific result, such as

shabby chic Shabby chic is a style of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or where new items are distressing, distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique. At the sa ...

, and

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

. When applying chalk paint, an item's surface should be clean, and

priming Priming may refer to: * Priming (agriculture), a form of seed planting preparation, in which seeds are soaked before planting * Priming (immunology), a process occurring when a specific antigen is presented to naive lymphocytes causing them to di ...

is only advised when working with a white chalk paint. It is also advised to use two coats of lacquer to make sure the intended material for painting gets full coverage. Sanding or stripping previous layers is not needed. Interior and exterior surfaces including metal, wood, glass, concrete, plaster, and fabric, may be painted with chalk paint. Chalk paint may be applied with a brush, roller, or spray gun. The paint should be applied in thin layers and will typically dry within two hours. A topcoat sealer, such as wax or lacquer be applied to avoid the flaking of the chalk paint. The topcoats may enhance the decorative characteristics. Sprayable chalk paint is used by

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

engineers to mark the location of utility pipes and cables on sidewalks, as an environmentally safe substance which can be easily removed when the work is complete. Others have used it to mark

potholes A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water ...

in roads, and to spray

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

that can be washed off.{{cite news , title=Extinction Rebellion activist has chalk message case thrown out by Perth magistrate , url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/12/extinction-rebellion-activist-has-chalk-message-case-thrown-out-by-perth-magistrate , work=the Guardian , date=12 January 2022 , language=en

References

Paints

Paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...