A Cottage Bedroom Makeover, brand new dark oak gets lightened up, or why I will never use chalk paint again

We needed a new mattress. So, headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart to test a few out. While there, my husband spotted a bed filled with drawers underneath and he had to have it.

Now, he is NOT a shopper. We almost ended our marriage once at that same furniture store over a recliner. It is now and forever known as the Crying Chair. Long story, but basically, he hates to shop. He walks in, glances about, buys stuff, and leaves as fast as he can.

He prefers letting me make choices 99% of the time.

When shopping for a mattress, though, he had to go along and approve the fit. and we discussed that it had been a good life together, and if Nebraska Furniture Store succeeded in ending our marriage like it tried to do before, we knew that we'd at least had almost 30 years of happiness together.

Bravely, we decided that we could face the challenge. It was a quick trip for a mattress, right?

Then, he spotted this bed. When he does shop, and sees something he likes, he never hesitates, or looks around. He likes it, he buys it. And when he saw this bed filled with storage options, he thought it would streamline our lives.

I thought it was DARK. And too new. But figured, hey, it's his house too. I wasn't going to let the Crying Chair incident repeat itself. We bought the bed.

I repainted it within minutes of its arrival to our home. And found these great handles (at Hobby Lobby) to replace the heavy ones that came with the drawers.

Everyone raves about chalk paint, so I thought I'd give it a try. Hobby Lobby now carries this brand, it is $8 for a little bitty jar, but I made multiple trips with a 40% off coupon to get enough to tackle the job.

I'd heard that you don't have to prime, it covers well, uses very little paint, and is easy to sand through to see the previous layers of paint.

Hmmm....

Well, yes, I was able to paint without priming. (But a coat of primer and a coat of paint is an equal amount of work as two coats of chalk paint, and cheaper)

But- the coverage was not good. I had to go buy more paint. It took much more than I had planned.

And- I took a lot of care, layering colors, thinking I could sand through them for a varied look. Nope, when I sanded, I hit wood. You could not see the layers of colors underneath. I had to dry brush the colors over the white to get the look I wanted, after doing all those layers, and sanding.

Also, chalk paint simply must be sealed. You either wax it or use a sealer like Polycrylic. And I don't think everyone realizes that wax is not permanent. Just like on floors, it wears off, you need to re-wax. So, I chose the Polycrylic top coat (water based).

If I'd used a bonding primer, painted it gloss white, and drybrushed acrylic craft paint over that, it would have cost much less, I wouldn't have to seal it, and it wouldn't have taken as long.

For the exact same look. Oh well, I'd been wanting to give chalk paint a try. I won't be spending that much on paint again. And I like the bed now, so all is well. Lesson learned, and it still looks pretty.

My Handsome Husband also made another purchase that day. After buying the oak bed, and walking out, he saw this velvet bench and said it would be ideal for the dogs to be able to use to get up and down with.

I think I might just have to take him shopping more often, whether he enjoys it or not. He is pretty good at it! I love the new bed and bench, (after they got lightened up).

I'll show you details of the rest of the room next time. We had to come up with a plan for bedside tables, because what we already had blocked the drawers on the new bed.