Upcycled Artist's Stool and Brush box

Hi all

I felt it was time to have a go at using the DecoArt Chalky Finish paints. I was slightly nervous about it so I went onto a local social media site and looked for itemes that were free.  I found a couple of bits someone was going to throw away if not collected, and that's where the fun started. This pic shows two of the finished items.  Easy tutorial below with a picture of the products used. Go on, give it a try!

This stool as you can see was looking a bit 'well loved' so that was a 'no risk' start to playing. I gave it a good clean then sanded down the seat as it had lots of bumpy paint splatters and the edges were splintering then cleaned it again to get the dust off.

I turned the stool upside down and painted the legs and underneath of the stool and all sides/ bottom of the box with a coat of DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint in a minty green ('Refreshing') and it's quite a bright colour so I mixed in a little white ('everlasting'). The white paint was a little thicker so I added just a few drops of water to get a buttery consistency that glided on beautifully and the flat 2inch brush was brill for getting into the nooks and crannies!
Once this was dry and I'd got a feel for the paint I painted the seat itself and the reverse of the sliding box lid as it was flat and I didn't want the brand name showing. I wanted to jazz it up a little AND to try out all the colours I had in the laziest way possible! And as most of the artists I know are a bit dotty that was the answer.

 The polka dots were added with 3 foam stencil brushes (which come in packs of 12 and in 4 sizes).

Finally, once all the paint was dry I coated with the cream finishing wax and tadaaaa!
Love how cheerful these bits now look!
Happy upcycling.
Suz