Ugly Kitchen Cart Makeover Using Chalk Paint as a Primer

domesticallyupcycled
Jul 11, 2015
3 min read

I spotted an ugly, brown, worn out kitchen cart for a steal ($30) on a local Facebook Yardsale site & my spider senses went crazy and jumped on it immediately. It's the perfect small size for our kitchen, and had SO much potential.

I found a simple recipe to make my own chalk paint with Plaster of Paris, and chose to use it as a primer on this piece.

See how this cart easily went from "Old & Busted" to "New Hotness!" (Men In Black 2 reference FTW)

Products used:

Power sander
White latex paint & Plaster of Paris to make the chalkpaint primer (mix 1 cup paint, 2 tbs. Plaster of Paris, 4 tsp. water)
Watco Butcher Block Oil & Finish
Fine grit sand paper
Screwdriver to remove hardware
Foam cabinet roller
Paint brush (used a 2" Purdy for applying clearcoat. Always nice to use a good brand like this one so your piece doesn't show brush strokes as easily)
Sherwin Williams HGTV Paint (From Lowes!) in the color "Watery" (I purchased a quart size, which was their sample size, & that was more than enough...will have plenty left over for another project)
Satin Polycrylic

First things first, we needed to sanitize and fix the top. This was really easy to remove, as the previous owner didn't have it secured into place. We just simply lifted it off of the base.

After removing the top, my handy husband went to work sanding it with a power sander

(ahh, so much nicer!)

After sanding, I began to apply the 'Watco Butcher Block Oil & Finish.' This product ensures that your butcher block is food safe, and also adds a little bit of color & shine. Make sure you wear plastic gloves, & wear sunglasses or eye protection in case it splashes. Simply apply by wiping on a lint-free cloth on the butcher block.

Ultimately, I wiped on 3 coats, which you do have to wait 6 hours between each coat. After 3 days of curing, the butcher block was ready to use.

I mixed the chalkpaint recipe using a white Valspar ceiling paint that I had lying around, which worked fine to use as a chalkpaint, but I would mainly suggest using regular white latex satin-colored paint for your chalkpaint mixture, as the ceiling paint was a bit thin.

I was determined to start a little priming before I went to bed, so I first primed the insides before I removed the hardware and doors.

It took about 2 coats to prime. The foam cabinet roller made priming very quick.

Removing the hardware was very easy, and thankfully there wasn't much to take off. I always put my removed hardware in a ziplock bag so it doesn't get lost and stays together.

It's also sometimes a good idea to take pictures of your hardware before removing, so you know exactly how it goes back on.

After rolling on my chalkpaint primer, I lightly sanded everything just to smooth it out before painting. When I say lightly, I do meant lightly! I basically "wiped" the sandpaper on it & it took about 10 minutes to do this.

Once smoothed out after priming, I used the same foam roller to apply my paint. (I LOVE this color, and I really love that Lowes carries the HGTV paint!)

To get into the creases that the roller couldn't reach, I simply used a small soft-bristled paint brush.