Behold, chalk paint awesomeness!

Chalk paint is pretty much my BFF right now, and here are some reasons why:

NO MORE SANDING, NO MORE PRIMER! (UM, hello - this is reason alone. period.)

You can take the most ridiculous looking, FREE piece of crap from Craig's List, slap some chalk paint on it and miraculously make it an awesome looking piece of furniture.

It is easy to use, dries quickly and produces the most amazingly quirky finish.

One quart of the stuff goes a LONG way. You could honestly paint pretty much everything in your entire house with a quart or two. Better pick a color you like!

The finish holds up. I've painted pieces before with a combo of primer and outdoor latex and the results ended up being a wee bit underwhelming. Our most recent project (desk and desk chair - see below! Done by the amazingly fab Andrew Dylewski) is painted with chalk paint and the finish is holding up like a CHAMP. I put glasses with ice on the top of this desk, no issue!

My favorite chalk paint is made by Annie Sloan. She offers a wide array of colors, and the paint is really high quality (http://www.anniesloan.com/)

You can also make your own chalk paint (http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-i-make-chalk-paint.html) ....side note, this blog is AWESOME!).....and she also LOVES Annie Sloan ;)

Behold, our most recent chalk paint project!

Budget Breakdown:
The hubs found this bad boy FOR FREE on the good 'old CL (Craig's List). The chair I bought for $5.00 bucks at an antique shop......

Project total (hardware, chalk paint, chair, fabric for chair = $60.00!)

DESK BEFORE: (sorry this picture is fuzzy and saving weird, I give....). You get the idea though - it's fugly and VERY beat up.