Transformations and Annie Sloan Paint

My boys would get excited at the first part of that title.  Their minds would immediately flip to transformers.  But I'm talking about a different transformation.

Bunk bed.  $100 on Craigslist.  Notice the shiny spots on the top bunk--dinosaur stickers peeled off but the sticky stuff left.

Side view.  Please disregard the garage mess.

Ugly rail on top.  Uglier rail (metal) on bottom.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  One quart = two coats on this bed.  No sanding or priming. They advertise that it will even go over lacquer and polyurethane with no problem.

After one coat.  This had me sweating.  You can see right through it.

And here are some crackled dinosaur spots.

Two coats!  What a difference.

I did three coats on the panels but only because I'm picky.  The brush strokes didn't totally disappear, but definitely smoothed out as they dried.

Then I took a sanding block to the whole thing and distressed the edges.  Lightly sanding the panels really made a glassy surface.

Distressing is something I've never done before, but I found that I liked the result and even had fun building some history into the piece by wearing it down more in some places. 

 Finally, I went over the whole piece twice with Minwax furniture wax to seal it.  Could have done poly, but the paint manufacturer recommends the wax so I went that direction.  Gem helped.

I'll show the final reveal when I place it inside and dress it up a bit.  The dinosaur spots did stay crackled, but considering that I distressed the whole thing, it doesn't matter much.  Overall, I'm happy with the Annie Sloan paint even though it did cost $34/quart.  Not having to prime or sand saved me so much time and energy.  I love that feature about this paint.

The other day, a friend was over and commented that it looked like something from Pottery Barn.  YEA!!!  We'll see what you think when I do a final reveal.  I'll wait until I move it inside and dress it up a bit.  I have to paint Gem's room when we get her queen size bed out of there.  

The bunk will move in and Gem will be sharing with Sugar.  We're almost ready for #6 to make her appearance.  Still tossing around names.  I'll have to take a family survey for her blog name.