How to Paint Over Chalk Paint | No Sanding – Beautiful Results

Chalk-painted furniture is everywhere; but don’t be afraid to give it new life, because it’s easier than you think to paint over chalk paint.

Not too long ago, everything was being painted with chalk paint.

So knowing how to paint over chalk paint is something I needed to learn in order to continue to transform our home.

The best part about it, is that it’s so much easier than I ever imagined!

Watch me complete this DIY on YouTube

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Seriously, I’ve had this armoire for 2 years and didn’t like the color but was afraid it was going to be a tremendous amount of work to change it.

But one day I was sitting in the living room and decided if I can lighten our stained wood coffee table then I can paint over chalk paint on this cabinet.

Now that it’s done I can easily tell you it was one of the easier DIY projects I’ve ever done.

No joke!

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Can you paint over chalk paint without sanding?

Yes, you can, but there’s a catch.

If the furniture doesn’t have wax on top feel free to start painting.

But most chalk-painted pieces will be sealed with a wax topcoat.

Now you don’t have to sand, but you “have to” remove the wax.

(In my research, there is a paint product that claims you don’t have to remove the wax at all. Just paint right over it. To me, that sounds a little too good to be true, but if that’s something that interests you I’ll link to that product HERE and you can check it out and decide.)

It’s all the way at the bottom of that page where it talks about painting over wax.

Now don’t start getting scared, because I said you have to remove the wax

Our armoire had what looked like an antiquing wax on it.

I thought this before I started the project, but once the DIY was underway I was certain of it.

It was a little messy, but it wasn’t hard at all!

How do you know if there is wax?

Typically chalk paint has a beautiful matte finish.

So if the piece of furniture is glossy in any way, that would indicate that it has wax on it.

But the test I used was to scratch my nail on the piece of furniture.

If there is a build-up under your nail after you scratch it and you can see the scratch, then you can be certain it has wax on it.

Truthfully, because I was so nervous I would have treated it like it had wax on it even if my nail test didn’t indicate a wax topcoat.

This step was so much easier than I ever imagined and I know it prepared the surface properly making it ready for the primer and paint later in the project.

How do you remove wax from furniture?

To begin this process you will want to grab a scotch brite scrub pad and some mineral spirits.

With mineral spirits on the scotch brite pad, begin scrubbing the piece of furniture.

Once the furniture has been scrubbed you can wipe it off with a rag.

That is how easy it is!

I wish I would have known this when I sanded the black faux fireplace mantel in our basement.

Sanding that piece was more work than scrubbing mineral spirits on this armoire hands down.

Then the final step to prepare the surface before painting is to give it a good cleaning with something like TPS.

I used a product called Krud Kutter and it worked great.

Paint over Chalk Paint: Supplies

• gloves
• mineral spirits
• scotch brite scrub pads
• primer
• paint (of your choice)
• krud kutter
• rag

Paint over Chalk Paint: Instructions

Step 1.

The first thing we did was take the doors and hardware off the cabinet.

It just makes it so much easier to get the products on the surface evenly.

I know plenty of DIYers don’t do this step, but for me, it takes 20 minutes and makes my life during the project so much easier.

I also made sure that I protected the surrounding surfaces with plastic and cardboard because I know how messy I can be haha!

Step 2.

Next, I took the gloves, scrub pad, and mineral spirits and began to scrub the entire cabinet.

I noticed very clearly when the section was done because the wax that was on this piece was in fact a darker antiquing wax.

The difference between before and after the mineral spirits was huge!

Step 3.

After that was done I applied a TPS product.

The product I chose was krud kutter, and it worked beautifully!

I just sprayed it all over the cabinet and then wiped it off with a soft rag.

The instructions said to wait until it was dry, which I believe was 10 minutes.

I just did this step before bed and then woke up the next morning and started the next step.

Step 4.

The next morning I started priming the cabinet and doors.

I applied 2 coats of primer from the top to the bottom just to be able to wipe away the runs along the way.

I don’t know that this step was absolutely necessary, but I did it anyway, just because I’d rather take one day to complete this step and reduce the likelihood that I get scratches later.

This is out homeschool and game cabinet so we are in and out of it multiple times a day.

It’s a high-traffic piece of furniture so I wanted to do everything possible to prevent scratches.

Step 5.

The final step for this painting over chalk paint project was to paint it with the paint.

Again, I did two coats, working from the top to the bottom.

Muted Sage by Behr was the color I chose for this cabinet and we are all in love with it.

Lessons I Learned

Sponge/Scrub Pads

The first thing I would do differently next time is to use a scrub pad with a sponge on the back side.

The pads I used were just the thin scrub pad and the mineral spirits just went right through them.

I accidentally made a few messes when I was pouring more mineral spirits on the pad.

If I had used a sponge pad with the scrub pad portion on the one side I think the sponge would have absorbed more of the mineral spirits and made less of a mess.

Do Research Before A Project

This is something that I did for this project.

But I didn’t do it until way too late!

I’ve wanted to paint this cabinet for a long time, but was afraid it was going to be too much work.

So I just waited until I felt like I had the energy to tackle a huge sanding project.

But before I started I decided to google “can you paint over chalk paint without sanding?”.

Then guess what?

All kinds of info came pouring in and informed me, that yes, you can paint over chalk paint without sanding.

Now that this project is over I can safely tell you that painting over chalk paint without sanding is one of the easiest diy projects.

Seriously!

So easy!!

The hardest part was the painting part, and I’m not kidding.

So, the lesson I learned here is to not assume I know something and then talk myself out of it without doing my research.

In this specific situation I could have had a cabinet the color I wanted the first week we brought it home, but instead, we lived with it like it was for 2 years.

So if you have a project that you’re thinking of doing, but you’re afraid, do some research and see if those fears are justified.

Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised like me and learn that the project is easier than you imagined!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

It seriously means so much to me.

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Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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