Have you heard Behr has a new chalk paint line? If you're a regular around here then you know that I predominantly work with chalk paint for my furniture and home decor makeovers. I've used many chalk paint brands over the years and when I heard about this new line, I was itching to give it a try. This post is not sponsored, I just wanted to let you know there is another option available and what I think about it. So I figured I'd start with something small like this square ottoman tray from Goodwill that I've had in my stash for well over a year.

Square Ottoman Tray with Behr Chalk Paint

What started as a quick tray update that shouldn't have taken more than a couple of hours ended up being a three-day ordeal with a lot of hair pulling. Instead of just sharing the pretty tray all finished, I decided to come clean and share what really happened for two reasons. 1) it's a testament that sometimes just a fresh coat of white paint is enough to beautify a piece and 2) if you are someone who is afraid to put paint to a piece of furniture or home decor for fear of ruining it, then my tray makeover is proof that you won't.

But before we get into all of that, this is what the serving tray looked like before.

I paid a whopping 50¢ for it at Goodwill, reduced from $1. Despite the wood chipped in some places and water ring stains, it was the perfect candidate for a makeover with a fresh coat of crisp white paint. Perfect for a summer vignette on a coffee table or ottoman.

And here it is after the final makeover. Big difference, right?

I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble had I stenciled the inside of the tray in the first place. More about that bad decision later.

Here's how I did it...

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. At no cost to you, we receive a small commission if you make a purchase.

Decorative feet

I had these wooden ball knobs in my stash and glued them with E6000 to the bottom of the tray.

Dealing with paint bleed and water ring stains

To prep the tray for paint, first I cleaned it with a solution of warm water, Dawn dish soap, vinegar, and borax.

I planned on painting the tray white and knew the grey stained wood would bleed through the paint. If I were painting the tray a darker color it wouldn't have been an issue. I applied one coat of stain blocker to stop the bleed and cover the water rings on the base of the tray. Once the stain blocker was dry I was ready to give Behr chalk paint a try.

First time using Behr chalk paint

Behr chalk paint is the consistency of heavy cream and dries to a lovely matte finish that you can expect from chalk paint. It has nice self-leveling qualities with no brush strokes. Behr is a low VOC paint and I did notice a slight paint odor akin to painting with latex.

The paint dries quickly but there is a two-hour recommended recoat time. Patience is not one of my virtues and so that part kind of sucks. A lot of chalk paints that I use have a one hour window for recoats. The paint cleans up easily on brushes and your skin with soap and water.

Another thing I like about this paint is that it comes in 45 color choices but can also be tinted to over 500 colors. That's a lot of color potential! My color choice for the ottoman tray is Tin White. Like other chalk paints, it is better to apply several thin coats than fewer thick coats of paint. It took four coats to completely cover my grey stained tray. I'm looking forward to trying the paint in a darker color to see if it requires fewer coats.

How my tray went to hell in a handbasket

Now, this is where my tray went to hell in a handbasket. After I finished painting the tray white I decided it needed a little something-something. Why can't I be satisfied with the beauty and simplicity of white paint?

I decided to try another new to me product by highlighting the raised lattice detail and edges of the tray with Rose Gold Wax. The wax is beautiful but on top of white paint, it looked like I had major paint bleed (when the tannins in the wood turn white paint pink). Not the look I was going for.

So then I had the great idea of making the pink look less paint bleed-esque by decoupaging some pretty pink scrapbook paper onto the bottom of the tray. Unfortunately, I didn't have scrapbook paper large enough to fit the entire base and so I attempted to decoupage the paper in three pieces. Unlike wallpaper, scrapbook paper doesn't have a pattern repeat and it looked absolutely terrible.

Sorry, I deleted those photos from my phone in total frustration and didn't intend on sharing the mishap on the blog at the time. Beyond frustrated at this point, I ripped the paper off and removed the remaining bits of paper with a spray bottle and rubbing it off with my fingers. Then I called it a night and off to bed I went.

Sometimes before throwing in the towel on a project, you just need to walk away. 

What I did to fix the mess and make it tray chic again

Unfortunately, some of the paint went along with the paper and the tray was one hot mess. Back to square one, priming and painting the interior of the tray white again but first I had to remove that rose gold wax.

Wax Tip - Clear wax removes colored wax.

I simply dipped a lint-free rag into clear wax and rubbed off the rose gold wax. Worked like a charm!

First time using Behr Decorative Finish Wax 

Behr also has a Decorative Finish Wax line with clear and color waxes recommended for their chalk paint. Wanting to give it a try I applied the clear wax with a wax brush onto the exterior ONLY of my tray.

I can honestly say that I was pleased with their wax, a little goes a long way. It goes on like butter and buffs to a nice satin sheen with little effort.

Silver highlights

Normally I would distress the tray but because there wasn't enough of a contrast with the original finish, I only distressed the metallic lattice detail on the sides. I replaced the rose gold highlights with silver gilding wax instead. A little goes a long way with this stuff so I put just a dab on the tip of my finger and lightly rubbed it on.

I like how it ties in with the metallic silver on the distressed lattice and the gray paint color of the stencil.

French stencil

Speaking of the stencil, instead of scrapbook paper I gave the tray that extra something-something with this French stencil and graphite color craft paint.

Water resistant clear coat 

Considering the tray may have water filled flower vases set on it or used as a serving tray, I protected the interior ONLY of the tray with two coats of water repellent clear coat.

Would I use Behr chalk paint and wax again?

Absolutely! I was happy with the product, it has a competitive price point, and I like the convenience of picking it up at my local Home Depot store while shopping for other project supplies.

The project takeaway

I could have thrown my hands in the air and given up on this tray after my mishap. But after walking away for several hours and calming myself down, I was able to come back to it with fresh new eyes and salvage the hot mess. Like I always say, it's just paint! If you don't like the results, sand it back a little with 150-grit sandpaper to give the new paint color some bite and start again.

No worries if you've already waxed the piece. Denatured mineral spirits will remove the wax and not the paint. Even though the wax on my tray hadn't cured yet, I was able to paint right over it because it had been buffed and no longer tacky.


I loved the final results of my square ottoman tray so much that when I placed it on the living room ottoman to take photos, I decided it's a keeper. So you'll be seeing more of this tray staged on future furniture makeover posts.

More tray ideas

Rustic Homestead Blend Coffee Tray

Large Thrift Store Tray Makeover

Photo Tray Turned Farmhouse Coffee Serving Tray

Plastic Tray Updated With Chalk Paint

If you have any questions about this makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.

During your next visit to a thrift store be sure to peruse the book section. Hardcover books are perfect to use for accessorizing a room. Stacked on a coffee table, used to raise decor on bookshelves, set on a dresser wrapped with pretty ribbon - the possibilities are endless. To make them even more eye-catching what about painting them in pretty colors? Here I show you how to paint decorative books in soft pastel colors for Spring and how to make them look old.

DIY Decorative Books For Spring Vignettes

If you're an avid reader like I am, you probably already have stacks of old books you can use for this purpose. I grabbed some self-help books from the '80s that I have no plan on rereading. No one's going to know after they are painted, especially when bound together with a pretty ribbon. 😏

This is such a fun and easy craft project and what a great way to keep those old books from ending up in the landfill. These pretty pastel books will be used for my Spring coffee table vignette but would look pretty on a dresser in a child's room. But the color possibilities are endless for making them work with your home decor.

I chose four books around the same size, one slightly smaller than the other to add visual interest when stacked. I'm one of those people who love things asymmetrical and a little less perfect so my preference is to stagger the books on the stack.

The ends of the book pages are glistening with metallic gold paint and aged along the edges.

Bound together with sisal twine and embellished with a small birds nest, they are ready to be displayed for Easter and the entire Spring season.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience so you can see what products I used or recommend to make this project. See my full disclosure policy.

So here's how I did it...

Paint the book pages

The first thing I did was with the books closed, paint the outside edges of the pages with gold metallic paint. The gold looks so pretty with the pastel colors but we'll be doing more to the gold later in this post.

Paint the book covers

The possibilities for painting the covers are endless - choose colors that work well with your decor. For mine I painted them with soft pastel leftover chalk paint in the colors pink (vintage cupcake), mint (pistachio), yellow (creme brulee), and blue (I think Elegance but the jar wasn't labeled). All from the Country Chic Paint line (not an affiliate just sharing the love).

Two or three thin coats of chalk paint look better than one thick coat. Chalk paint dries quickly so you can apply the second coat within 30 minutes.

Age the painted book covers

Once the chalk paint is dry it's time to have fun by making the books look aged. It's really quite easy and I'll show you how.

If you've never done this before it may seem intimidating but just remember dark wax can always be removed with clear wax while it's still wet. The key is not to get too much dark wax on the rag and don't apply too much pressure with your finger. Also, it's important to age just one book at a time.

First, apply a coat of clear wax without buffing to act as a resist for the dark wax not to stain the books but rather give it some play time for blending. I used white wax to soften the pastel colors even more. You can use a brush to apply it  but my preference is a lint-free rag.

Use one end of the rag to apply the white (or clear) wax and the opposite end to apply the dark wax. Dab a little dark wax onto your rag and with light pressure feather the wax along the edges and spine of the book (pictured below in Step 1).

Before the wax has time to absorb blend the excess dark wax towards the center of the book in up and down motions, leaving more dark wax around the edges (pictured above in Step 2). Don't panic if you put too much dark wax in some areas. Dab some clear (or white wax) over those spots to remove the excess dark wax.

Age the book pages

With a small artist brush, apply dark wax onto the book pages around the spine of the book (as pictured below). While you still have dark wax on the brush feather some on each end of the book pages as well where they naturally age over time.

That's it, you're done!

To make them even prettier displayed as a set, wrap pretty ribbon, lace, string, twine, or sisal rope, like I did, around the stack of books. Tie pretty embellishments onto the twine like beads, charms, whatever you like.

Embellish painted books with a birds nest

I embellished mine with a tiny birds nest and decoupaged wooden tag for Spring and Easter.

The Easter floral picks, mini foam eggs, feathers, and moss were all purchased from the dollar store.

I used a small nest from the floral pick and removed the blue eggs. Next, I hot glued some moss inside the nest and replaced the blue eggs with green speckled ones that came in a package of 30. I found a bag of assorted craft feathers and glued a couple in the nest. Easy peasy way to embellish the books!

Embellish painted books with a wooden tag

You can buy these wood tags readymade but I made mine with a sheet of craft balsa wood that I had on hand. Easy to make with a straight edge and sharp craft knife. I stained one side with this water-based stain and decoupaged pretty floral scrapbook paper onto the opposite side with Mod Podge and a foam brush. Super easy!

So what do you think? Have I inspired you to go through your old books?

For more DIY Easter and/or Spring ideas press HERE.

If you have any questions about this makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.

Would you bid on this beat up small curio if you saw it posted at an online auction? I've seen them priced anywhere between $99 - $400⁺. Mr. Frugalista's winning bid was a whopping $12! I did a happy dance when he brought it home. So you're probably wondering why I titled this post the quick but not so quick vintage wall curio cabinet.

Vintage Curio Wall Cabinet 

I started working on it back in April and we're almost in November. Which is crazy because it took no time at all to finish this curio. The most time-consuming part of the makeover was waiting for glue to cure.

After removing the glass and the shelves, I gave it a whitewash with Annie Sloan Old White chalk paint. The top shelf split in two when I removed it.

I could have cut a brand new board using the old one as a template but who has time for that. Ahem, evidently I had plenty of time but I digress. Nothing that some wood glue and a couple of clamps couldn't fix.

While the glue was setting I painted the back of the curio cabinet a light grey.

This is the point where I abandoned the project 

My focus turned to our budget-friendly deck makeover and it consumed the entire summer. Then autumn arrived and I was having too much fun making things like these Fall Stenciled Pillow Covers and Painted Dollar Store Pumpkins.

Finally last weekend I got back to the abandoned curio cabinet and things were moving along smoothly until my little oops.

After cleaning and reinstalling the side glass it was time to insert the shelves. Instead of nailing them onto the brackets and trying to fit into the notches inside the cabinet, the brackets were inserted into the notches first. Wood glue was spread onto the top of each bracket and the shelves set in place and secured with clamps until the glue set.

Unfortunately, in the process of installing the shelves, the paint on the back got scratched in a few places. When I went to touch it up with Annie Sloan Paris Grey, because for the life of me that's what I remember painting it back in April, the paint didn't match (see photo above).

I had no idea what color I must have painted the darn thing. My forgetfulness ended up being a blessing in disguise because I dry brush two more colors over top to hide the mistake. First I swiped Paris Grey across the back and then Old White and the new layers added so much charm.

Next, the glass was inserted in the doors but unfortunately, some of the original wood blocks to hold it in place were missing. Using what was on hand, small wooden dowels were cut to size, painted white, and glued in place. One on the top and one on the bottom of each door.

Last but not least the base of the cabinet was nailed on with brads and finally the small curio is finished.

Ready to see what this vintage wall curio cabinet looks like now?

Here's the before...

...and here it is after the makeover.

Here is a side view of the cabinet before...

...and here is the side view after.

This is the cabinet open before the makeover...

...and open after the makeover.

In the photo above you can see the light grey and white paint layers on the back of the cabinet?

Here's a close up of the pretty carved scrollwork on the top of the curio.

I love the arched windows on the sides of the curio cabinet.

Not bad for $12! Mine compares with the French Country and Farmhouse Curio Cabinets I've seen at fine retailers starting at $99.

The moral of this makeover, with a little elbow grease you can get the high end look at bargain prices by thrift shopping.

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.