Chalk Paint Tips: How to Fix Your Mistakes

August 9, 2025

So I made some mistakes…If you missed them, click to read my post, "Chalk Paint Tips: 6 DIY Mistakes to Avoid".

The beauty of paint - You can always fix it! Here’s how I fixed my chair and created something I was proud of:

Supplies

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1. I sanded, sanded, and sanded some more

I located the parts of the chair that had heavy streak marks or a bumpy/lumpy feel. I sanded with a 220, but in some places realized that wasn’t enough. I used a 240 piece of sandpaper on my electric sander. Obviously electric sanders are stronger than hand sanding, which is why I used the highest grit that I had. I didn’t want to take too much paint off, although I definitely took enough off that I needed to paint again. There were a few spots that I went in with a lower grit. Moral of the story: use whatever grit you need to get your desired finish. Then go over it one more time lightly with a 220.

If you need some help deciding what grit to use, read this article from Better Homes and Garden s. If you want a quick simple guide: the lower the grit, the more abrasive the sandpaper, the higher the number, the finer the sandpaper.

For the record, when I said I “located parts” to fix, I mean entire parts of the chair, like the entire seat or an entire spindle. I did not just do little sections of a whole. For example, the entire seat didn’t need to be refinished, but if I only did a little section of it, it would have just created more brush strokes. It would have looked choppy.

2. I watered down the paint

I still felt like the paint was a little thick, and since I had three layers on to begin with, I decided to thin the paint out with water. I didn’t measure. I just added a little room temperature water and stirred. I kept adding water until I got my desired consistency. You do not need a lot of water! (If I had to guess, I would say ¼ teaspoon.) When adding water start small. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out once the water is in there! (You can also do this from the start if you feel your paint is going on too thick.)

3. I repainted, lightly distressed, then sealed with wax

This time I used a 1.5 inch flat brush. I chose this brush because I didn’t want the paint to go on super thick. Chalk paint brushes hold a lot of paint, so that immediately eliminated that choice. I didn’t want to roll it on because I wanted to be consistent with having brush strokes.

I lightly distressed the chair with 220 grit sandpaper. I purposefully only did places that would naturally distress over time (knowing this chair will get more bumps and bruises in an elementary classroom).

I finished the chair off by waxing with Behr’s clear decorative wax. I applied a layer of wax using my natural bristle chalk paint brush (a little bit of wax goes a long way). After it dried (about 2 hours), I buffed it out with a lint free rag. I applied 3 layers of wax. I let it dry for a weekend before taking it into school.