Creating A Washed Distressed Black Paint Finish With Chalk Paint

I picked up this antique Lane cedar chest from Facebook Marketplace and knew right away it needed a neutral finish. It was in pretty good shape given it’s age. It had these gorgeous round antique legs and I knew immediately that I wanted to strip them and leave them natural. So I chose to compliment them with a washed, distressed black finish using Dixie Belle (DB) Chalk Mineral Paint in the color Caviar (black).

We started by stripping the legs of the old finish using a chemical stripper called Klean Strip (available at Home Depot) and sanding them smooth. Two of the legs had areas that were rebuilt at some point and the coloring was a little different. Be sure and check out my YouTube video to see how I disguised those areas.

Next, I cleaned the whole piece using Dixie Belle’s White Lightning. It’s a cleaning and degreasing agent that comes in granule form that you mix with warm water to create a liquid cleaner. You spray this on your furniture or cabinets and them wipe back with cloths or paper towels until clean. Rinse with clean water afterwards.

For the finish, I painted in Caviar Chalk Mineral Paint and wiped back with a paper towel to show the underlying wood finish. I sealed the whole piece using black wax from DB.

I cleaned the inside of the chest and refreshed and nourished the cedar using Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.

You can get all your Dixie Belle products here.

You can watch my YouTube video on the process here.