I started using chalk paint last year and it is my new favorite way to paint and complete projects. I find it extremely helpful for moms of young kids because it is a non toxic way to complete lingering painting projects. If you have an old table, chair or shelf that you would like to repurpose for your child’s bedroom or for your own purpose, I highly recommend giving chalk paint a try! It is so much easier than traditional paint and here is why I love it!

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1) Non toxic: As I mentioned before, it is water-based and nontoxic. This was a biggie for me — I wanted to paint furniture for my children’s rooms but we often have babies over for playdates and even though my babies are older now, I wouldn’t want any baby to lick or gnaw on a table painted with heavier toxic paint in my home. Chalk paint is a great solution because it is much safer to be in the rooms of little ones and far less smellier after completion on a project too.

2) Easy cleanup: Chalk paint is really easy to clean up; you can simply wipe it away. I mean this as far as any drips while working with it and any spills on the surface once it is dry. It is very very cleanable which is great for furniture around kids who tend to spill often.

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3) Covers well and is forgiving: The coolest thing about chalk paint is you really don’t have to prep the surface you are working on beforehand. This means, no sanding or priming!! Simple clean the furniture you want to paint and go for it. Chalk paint is thick and forgiving so if you happen to create drips on your surface while working with it, just smooth them out. Generally, it takes about a day for it to dry so if the drips are recent while you’re working you can easily smooth them out. To me, this makes chalk paint really un-intimidating to a novice painter.

4) Can distress: If you want to get fancy you can! There are a lot of chalk paint techniques you can find online using multiple colors and sanding after application. Chalk paint is neat because you can put as little or as much effort into your piece as you want. In the above photos, you see that I added turquoise chalk paint and white to the table after I painted it all over gray. I simply added some swift strokes of each color to give it a more “beachy” feel. After adding the additional colors, I started sanding it to show the original wood in a few places.

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5) Durable for kids: Since chalk paint is thick by nature, it makes it really durable for children’s furniture. I painted several pieces of furniture last year and I haven’t noticed any nicks or scratches on one piece yet. Particularly the kids table in my girls’ bedroom has seen a lot of rough play with blocks and cars and still looks great.

6) Cute colors: You can order almost any color of chalk paint on Amazon and from many other local stores. The color range is really wonderful.

7) Affordable: Chalk paint is now so affordable. Of course you can splurge on Annie Sloan for a high end chalk paint, but large retailers all carry it now and I’ve see it as low as $6 for a 8oz bottle. The great thing is, this paint goes far! One 8oz bottle is plenty to complete a small kids’ table, a large mirror and a few picture frames. I was so surprised at how many projects I could complete with one small bottle of chalk paint.

Have you tried chalk paint?