It’s so hard to try to narrow down my favorite products to my top ten list of chalk mineral paint supplies. But I’m going to do my best to really get down to business! There are so many great supplies for chalk painting furniture and home décor., that it is really difficult to pare down my favorites to just ten items!
I have been painting furniture with chalk mineral paint now for several years, so I have a fairly decent amount of supplies like brushes, paints, embellishments and such. And with so may items, there are certainly chalk painting supplies that are my most used and loved. I’m going to leave out the obvious things like chalk paint and topcoats because those are well, pretty obvious! If you’d like more details on how to choose a topcoat, either wax or poly, then I have a blog post on that topic. You can find that post here.
I’m also going to leave out things like furniture transfers, gilding wax, glazes, and moulds. These things are unique to design and look you are striving for and therefore unique to each makeover project. So, for the purposes of this top ten list I am sticking to items that are more basic.
So here we go!
For all the basics and necessary info on using chalk mineral paint you’ll find more info on my page on all things Chalk Mineral Paint Basics: Tips for Success.
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I also have an Etsy Favorites List with links to all of my favorite supplies that you can check out. Did you know that Etsy sellers carry most any chalk painting supplies you need? And many of these sellers offer fast and free shipping!
Top Ten Chalk Painting Supplies List
And if you don’t want to read through the blog post and just want the quick list:
- A Good Paint Brush
- Spray Misting Bottle
- Good Primer For Taking Dark Pieces to Lighter Colors and Blocking Odors
- Painter’s Tape
- Paint Stir Sticks & Paint Can Opener Tool
- Assorted Grit Sanding Papers
- Orbital Sander
- Lint-Free Cloths/Rags or Shop Towels
- Slick Surface Primer for Glass/Laminate/Other slick surfaces
- White Lightening Cleaner
1. Chalk Mineral Paint Supplies: My Favorite Paint Brushes
So, what brush do I use most? Out of all my brushes the ones I pick up the most are made by Dixie Belle Paint Company.
First – Dixie Belle Synthetic Brushes: Favorite Mini Angle Brush and Next Favorite is the
Oval Medium Brush – perfect sizes, smooth bristles, and they clean up easily! And another great brush is the Flat Medium Brush! Love this one!
Second – Cling On S50 brush – another great brush. Thicker bristles than the Mini Angle but same great easy clean smooth bristles.
There are so many great brushes available that narrowing down which brushes are the best is difficult! And so many people have different opinions about who makes the best chalk paint brushes. The longer you paint furniture the more brushes you will accumulate. Dixie Belle just came out with a couple of new brushes that I am really hoping to order soon. So the wish list for new chalk paint supplies continues to grow. I’ll order a brush or two and think well, this is it. I won’t need anymore brushes for quite some time. And then I see that one of the brands I love comes out with a new brush and I just feel know that I have to have it! So the collection grows!
There are several more brushes that I could recommend, but I’m trying to just really pare down this list to my very top choices for a new chalk painter. And the longer you paint the more brushes you tend to accumulate. I tend to buy chalk painting brushes like some folks buy shoes!
2. Spray Water Misting Bottle
This seems a silly thing to list as number two, but let me tell you that it is such an important supply to have for chalk painting. A misting bottle sprays out a fine mist of water. Which is just enough to dampen your brush. Or use it to mist the surface of your project to help the paint go on smoother and flow easier. It is also useful to aid in blended look painting projects where you want to smooth the lines between two or more colors of paint.
Dixie Belle Spray Misting Bottle
Generic Spray Misting Bottle from Amazon (this is the one I have)
Just remember that when using the Silk Paint version you use a dry brush and no water needed. This is a bit different than tradition chalk mineral paints.
3. Chalk Mineral Paint Supplies: Good Primers
I said I wasn’t going to mention paint and topcoat but I will mention primer. Primers are so important especially for furniture projects. You can use a white primer on old dark furniture or wood that bleeds easy or if you need to cover stains. White primer is best if you are painting your furniture white or light colors like light grays. They also make gray primers now too. And a clear primer is a good choice if you need to cover stains or odors. It will usually take 2-3 coats of primer to cover properly.
Zinsser BIN Shellac Based Primer in White Tint – is my other go-to primer if painting white. I love the way is applies with a roller or brush and coverage is amazing. It is thin and stinky and oil-based so caution must be taken when using.
4. Painter’s Tape
This may seem a silly object to add to a top ten list, but there are so many uses for painter’s tape! I use it on most furniture projects at some point. It’s great of course for protecting areas that you don’t want paint to get on and great for making straight lines when doing a geometric pattern design or stripes. And painter’s tape comes in several sizes, from very thin to thick. I always have a few rolls on hand in different sizes.
Delicate Surface Painter’s Tape
5. Paint Stir Sticks And Paint Can Opener
I like to keep paint stir sticks on hand along with one of those handy little paint can openers. You can buy paint stir sticks on Amazon but I also find that plastic utensils, particularly knives, work great for smaller cans of paint and stain. And having a paint can opener tool on hand to get the lid off metal cans of paint and stain is helpful. But in a pinch a flat head screw driver also works fine.
6. Sanding Pads or Papers
While you don’t always need to sand before painting with chalk type paints, sanding can go a long way to give you an extra smooth finish. I like to keep assorted grit sandpapers on hand. My favorite grits are 80, 120, 220, 320, 400 and 1000. The finer the grit the smoother the finish. Coarse or low grit numbers like 80 and 120 are best for sanding out scratches or uneven surfaces. I also keep 0000 steel wool pads to help smooth out finishes when needed I will take a sheet of the sanding paper and wrap around a used foam sanding block to make a handle for holding the sandpaper sheets. I like this method better than the sand paper block holders I’ve found.
Steel Wool Pads (Quadruple zero fine)
7. Orbital Sander
An orbital sander or other type of electric sander is just the bomb when it comes to major sanding. Now in this case, I’m not talking about a little light sanding to smooth a finish. With an orbital sander you can really get down to business and remove old finishes to sand to bare wood. This is perfect before staining tabletops and such. And, you’d be surprised to find out that decent orbital sanders are not expensive! And there is the option of using generic refill sanding discs which may be cheaper than brand specific.
8. Cloths and Towels
It pays to have some lint-free painting or staining rags on hand. They are great for cleaning, applying stains or waxes, and buffing among other uses. Also great for wiping stain off brushes when blending. Another alternative is blue shop towels, which are like paper towels but thicker and lint-free. These work well for many of the same purposes.
9. Another Great Chalk Mineral Paint Supplies List Item: White Lightening Cleaner
White Lightening is my favorite pre-paint cleaner. It comes in granulated form and is very affordable. You mix a measured amount of the cleaner with hot water. You spray and then rinse with clear water. This cleaner removes so much dirt and grime. It also seems to de-gloss which is helpful. It is perfect for furniture and home décor objects.
Spray Bottle for Mixing the Cleaner with Water
10. Primer For Slick Surfaces
I mentioned Primer above, but I didn’t mention a special type of primer made for slick surfaces. My favorite primer for this is Slick Stick by Dixie Belle. Slick Stick comes in white but you can tint it with color if you need it to be darker. It is a bonding primer that works great on slick surfaces such as laminate and glass, to help the paint adhere well. A good example of slick furniture is Ikea furniture. It almost always is slick and while chalk type paint adheres well, this primer will really go a long way to ensure your paint adheres good and maintains a good strong bond. This impacts positively the durability of your hard work!
Summary: Top Ten Chalk Mineral Paint Supplies List Recommendations
While this list of my top ten recommended chalk painting supplies isn’t exhaustive, it is a good starting point especially for beginner chalk furniture painters. I can think of a few more basic things that most people have around that I didn’t add to the list above. One of those is drop cloths or some way to protect your surface. You can buy cheap drop cloths on Amazon or at your local hardware store. And for smaller furniture or objects I often use old sheets or blankets or even cut up paper or plastic trash bags. And another useful item would be a screwdriver set, with flat head and Philips head screw drivers. You’ll need these for tightening screws and removing and replacing hardware when refinishing furniture.
I hope this list helps you get ready to paint your first piece of furniture! You have to start somewhere and I will go ahead and warn you that once you start, you just might get addicted to furniture refinishing!
Other Blog Posts That You Might Find Helpful!
- How to Choose A Topcoat/sealer for your chalk mineral painted furniture
- Highly recommend you check out Silk Paint by Dixie Belle! All about Silk Paint Basics: How to Use Silk Paint by Dixie Belle.
I’d love to see your projects so feel free to post in the comments below or tag me in an Instagram story or post! I’m on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/simplyrefinishedfurniture/. And I’d love to have you follow me on Pinterest too!
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