A couple of weeks before we decided to go full force into replacing our floors, Brandon and I were watching YouTube videos on how to paint kitchen cabinets. After watching the video and seeing the entire kitchen transformed in oh, about three minutes, Brandon asked, “How hard could it be?”. He told me to try it out on our kitchen island as a test run to see how it turned out.

So I went to Home Depot and found a $17 can of chalk paint, grabbed a couple of rollers and came home to get started. Here’s what our island looked like before when we bought the house. It had this tuscan/shabby finish with a green tint that always looked dirty.

I started with the base of the kitchen island and then did the doors last. It took about three coats total to get good coverage and I was able to do it with just one can of paint.

Here’s what it looks like after.

Would I use chalk paint again? Maybe. It definitely made a big difference for under $20. But, it isn’t easy to clean. You can’t just wipe the cabinet when there’s a coffee drip (not naming names but I don’t drink hot coffee) or scratch. It won’t come off. You have to touch up the paint and when you do that, you can definitely see the streaking.

That said, I’m only speaking based on my experience with using the Rust-Oleum brand of paint. I have heard amazing things about the Annie Sloan chalk paint line, which I think uses a sealer on top so that you can clean it?

Like I said, I’m happy I painted it. I’d recommend a quick and easy update like this to hold you over to a bigger renovation. Have you used chalk paint before?

Sources: Chalk Paint, Linen | Barstools