Just to think, a year ago, I knew nothing about all the wonderful paints used to give furniture a distressed, time-worn and well-loved look. Pinterest opened my eyes to chalk paint and more recently milk paint.

You can follow my collection of painted and distressed furniture ideas on Pinterest here.

I recently gave our hall bathroom a makeover by changing the color scheme from different shades of brown to a combination of turquoise with red accents. It all started with the red Burma Shave sign I made.

I wanted to add another touch of red, so a step stool we’ve kept for the boys to use since they were itty-bitty and too short to see the mirror to brush their teeth seemed like the perfect piece to add that extra bit of red to the room.

Their step stool has been painted five different colors over the years because I never felt like I got the color quite right. It was also glossy and didn’t have the aged and distressed look that I’ve grown to love. That all changed after it met Cerise.

When Shannon of Fox Hollow Cottage posted on Facebook that she was selling a new color of Maison Blanche La Craie paint named Cerise, I knew this paint would be the answer to getting that perfect combination of red with just a hint of the turquoise spray paint peeking through.

“La craie” is the french word for chalk, so this paint contains calcium carbonate just like Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint. They are totally different formulas, but both allow you to give a piece of furniture a time-worn and layered look once sanded.

I am a monthly contributor at Shannon’s blog, so I emailed my friend hoping she would send me a free sample of Cerise from her online store. I may have even shamelessly begged.

Well, it worked and thankfully she said yes!

The base color was Krylon’s Blue Ocean Breeze. Since it was very glossy, I scuffed it up with a little sand paper and wiped it down with a tack cloth, then mineral spirits.

The wonderful thing about using Maison Blanche La Craie paint is that you don’t have to sand or prime before using it, but I at least gave it a quick sanding because I didn’t know how well the paint would take over the high-gloss spray paint.

After one coat of Cerise, I let the paint dry for a few hours. I lightly sanded with steel wool and then used a 220 grit sandpaper where I wanted to distress the edges a little more. You can also see little bits of white peeking through from when the stool was painted the very first time.

I did a dark wash by brushing on some watered-down brownish-black craft paint and wiped it off. To protect the paint finish, I sealed it with a clear wax and buffed it out.

The beautifully distressed step stool now sits in our hall bathroom and holds a laundry bin that waves to our boys and says, “Hey kid, dirty clothes go here!”. Sometimes they listen and sometimes…not so much.

If you’re wanting to make your own step stool, the parts you need are listed in the picture below. All the parts should be under $20.00 from Lowes.

I believe the little red step stool has met his soul mate. Sigh.

You can see the rest of the You can see the details of our vintage-inspired turquoise and red hall bathroom reveal here.

To see all of Maison Blanche La Craie paint colors, visit Shannon’s online store here.

Have any of you tried chalk paint yet? What kind has been your favorite so far? What are your thoughts on the homemade recipes?

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