Textured Paint Finish Using SaltWash – Vintage Chair Makeover

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Are you ready to give that old chair a much-needed makeover? In this post, I’ll show you step-by-step how I transformed a vintage chair using a beautiful textured paint finish created with SaltWash powder. From choosing the perfect colors to applying each layer of paint, you’ll learn all the tips and tricks I used to bring new life to this furniture piece. Unleash your creativity and experience the sheer delight of transforming furniture with this inspiring DIY project!

And if you are totally new to furniture painting don’t worry. Check out Chalk Mineral Paint Basics for more tips on getting started.

What Is A SaltWash Textured Paint Finish?

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SaltWash powder is a unique product that adds texture to your paint, giving it a weathered, layered look that is typically associated with coastal decor.

It’s a powder formula that you mix with any brand of paint, ideally chalk mineral paint, to create a sun and salt air soaked finish.

The powder, when mixed with paint, thickens the mixture, resulting in a gritty finish on furniture or decor.

It’s a fun and creative product suitable for any furniture makeover project. And it helps furniture makeover artists turn ordinary items into extraordinary pieces with a rustic, beachy charm.

What Makes SaltWash Powder Special?

So, what exactly is SaltWash made of? SaltWash is a proprietary formula containing real sea salt. You heard right – the main ingredient in SaltWash is actual sea salt!

This magical blend allows you to create an authentic, layered, and sun-soaked look on your furniture that is so unique and creative.

And when mixed with chalk mineral paint, the results are stunning, giving your projects a unique, weathered charm that’s truly one of a kind.

So, let’s dive into this fun chair makeover project. Firstly, we’ll start with the supplies and products I used in this project. A fairly simple project with a small list of supplies.

Product & Supplies Used

• SaltWash Powder
• Chalk Mineral Paints: I used Dixie Belle Metallic Gold, Antebellum Blue, and Vintage Duck Egg
• Plastic Bowl and Spoon for mixing
• Chip Brushes
• Ryobi Multitool with Triangular Sander attached
• Dixie Belle Caviar Paint (for stenciling)
• Stencil Pattern of choice – I used this French Patisserie Stencil
• Chair Cushion Fabric – Faux Burlap Look
• Staple Gun (Ryobi Crown Stapler)
• 4 inch Paint Foam Roller for stenciling
• Dixie Belle Clear Coat (in Sheen of choice) I used Satin

The SaltWash Chair Makeover

Okay, so next let’s go in to a few quick steps I used to give this vintage chair an uplift using SaltWash Powder and chalk mineral paint by Dixie Belle.

SaltWash is such a cool way to add a textured paint finish to any furniture or home décor item! It is such a versatile and fun product.

And the textured paint finish gives your pieces a three dimensional, layered quality that adds such character.

Steps I Used To Create The Textured Paint Finish With SaltWash

Prepping The Chair For The Textured Paint Finish

1. First, as usual you want to clean the furniture piece you are working on. Cleaning is such an important task to remove old dirt, grime and oils. Click this next link to learn more about How To Prep Furniture For Painting.
2. Once cleaned give the piece a good once over with a clean cloth and with clean water to remove any cleaning residue.
3. This chair was teal blue from a prior painting project. So this teal blue was my base color for the layering process.

Layering The Paint & Texture

1. I mixed my first paint color, Dixie Belle Metallic Gold, with the SaltWash powder to create a thick cake batter-like mixture. Honestly, I just eyeballed how much to use. It depends on how thick you want that first layer. There are some instructions on the SaltWash can to help guide you. Or you can just add a little at a time until you get the consistency where you want it.
2. With a chip brush I applied the thick paint mixture onto the chair. It is not important to get full coverage, just stipple it on, dabbing it on to form peaks.
3. Then before the paint is fully dry take another chip brush and smooth out some of the peaks so they are not so pointy. Honestly this is imperfect process. Just kind of do what works for you.
4. I continued to add additional layers of paint mixed with SaltWash to create more depth. Next I did a layer of Dixie Belle Antebellum Blue mixed with SaltWash. Following the same procedure as in step 6 with the chip brush.
5. And the final layer was a mixture of SaltWash and Dixie Belle Vintage Duck Egg. This is a gorgeous lighter bluish color.

Sanding To Expose The Layers On The Textured Paint Finish

1. Finally once the paint was fully dry, I sanded to expose layers, thereby creating depth and a three-dimensional quality to the finish. To sand I used both an electric sander for a bit more aggressive sanding and a hand sanding block. The sander I used was the Ryobi Multitool with the Triangular Sanding Attachment.
2. And lastly, once you have sanded and wiped away Dixie Belle Clear Coat in Satin, but you could also consider a wax. To learn more about sealants and topcoat read, Protect And Seal Painted Furniture.

Stenciling The Upholstery For The Chair

Okay, next up let’s discuss the seat cushion or chair pad as some may call it.

• For this I went with a burlap-look fabric to re-cover the chair seat.
• And I used a cute French Patisserie Stencil design to embellish the seat cushion fabric.
• The stencil was done with Dixie Belle Paint in Caviar and applied with a 4-inch foam paint roller.
• Then the fabric was attached to the seat cushion with an electric stapler. I used my Ryobi Crown Stapler.

Summary: SaltWash & Dixie Belle Paint Chair Makeover

I hope you enjoyed seeing this process of using SaltWash to give your furniture makeovers a fun finish. The finish can be shabby, coastal, weathered but really unique!

And you can use any color paint product with the SaltWash powder.

Also, another really cool feature is that you control the thickness of the mixture thereby controlling the amount of texture you achieve! Don’t be afraid to give SaltWash a try. Here is a final look at this makeover.