Chalk painting carving out a market

In the living room of Harveen Gluf’s home in Sioux Falls, projects sit waiting to be discovered.

An old china cabinet stands against one wall. There’s a buffet doubling as a TV table. Nearby is a miniature china hutch from the 1930s that her mother played with as a child.

All the items, someday, will see the paintbrush of Gluf, who is among Sioux Falls’ growing group of chalk painters.

“I’m obsessed with chalk painting,” she says, looking around the living room at the pending pursuits. “I can’t even think of how many pieces I’ve painted.”

Chalk painting, devotees say, is a trendy way of giving new life to various kinds of older surfaces — from the wood of furniture, floors and kitchen cabinetry to items made of metal, china, plastic, glass and even fabric.

“It’s called chalk paint not because there’s chalk in it but because of the finish. It’s a matte finish,” Gluf says. “But if you don’t seal it with wax or lacquer, it’s like a chalkboard. You can actually write on it with chalk.”

That might seem to make for a product with a tiny niche market, but Jessica Medici, owner of Aviena Vintage in Sioux Falls, says most people who use the paint she carries, the Annie Sloan brand, aren’t looking to turn an old tabletop into a blackboard. They like the paint for other reasons, primarily ease of use, she says.

“What makes it so appealing to the masses is because unlike regular paint where you’d have to strip the current finish off your piece, with chalk painting there’s no sanding and there’s no priming — just wash the piece and you’re ready to go,” Medici says.

The popularity of chalk painting lead her to become an Annie Sloan “stockist” — the British way of referring to a dealer — in early 2013.

“It’s becoming more popular,” she says. “It has to do with Pinterest and word of mouth. People are looking for ways to vary their décor.”

Abbie Jansma began chalk painting a year ago when she started a repurposing business in her town of Inwood, Iowa. “It’s so much easier and far fewer steps involved,” she says.

Recently Jansma used chalk paint to transform an old crib rail she found at an estate sale. “I painted it with white chalk paint, put knobs on it and sold it as a piece of furniture to use in an entry way as a catch-all,” she says.

Chalk paint is porous, making it easy to distress, says Jansma. “Chalk paint is really thick compared to other paint so you can leave it as is or take sand paper and rough up the edges, and then put wax on it to give it a matte, antique finish. It’s really cool.”

The ability to economically redo old furniture got Gluf, an obstetric nurse, into chalk painting. When she decided to paint her grandparents’ dining room table chairs, she was looking for a way to update the look.

The plain brown chairs turned dark red under her paintbrush. “It was easy and fun, and the results were so good it kind of became a relaxing hobby,” she says.

Recently a friend asked her to help with some refinishing projects. One was turning an old wicker dresser from off-white to aqua blue.

“It made the details really pop,” she says of the dresser, adding she and her friend also transformed a coffee table from brown to a bright melon color.

“It really has become very popular,” she says of the technique, adding she never considered herself particularly creative or crafty.

“It’s like a transformation,” she says of chalk painting. “You have this piece of old furniture that you were maybe going to throw away and you turn it into something different and new.”

At Down To Earth Boutique in Tea, owner Danielle McClure makes her own chalk paint, which she calls “Chalky Paint.”

“Biggest reason was I wanted to carry chalk paint in my store but my store is all consignment, so we couldn’t find anyone making it that was consigning it,” McClure says. “Plus it’s so expensive that it keeps it from being accessible to everyone. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is pretty pricey, depending on how many colors you’re using.”

McClure, who says she’s creative but not an artist, has chalk painted everything from canvas to furniture to antlers. She paints flowers or Aztec signs on antlers used as jewelry holders.

“I took a chalk painting class at Aviena Vintage several years ago,” she says. “I love how versatile it is. You can use it for fabric; I’ve even dyed burlap to make fabric flowers.”

Because of the many techniques that can work with chalky finishes, McClure gives workshops at her store.

“We’ll do a ‘make and take’ like a welcome sign or menu board,” she says. “Depending on what you’re doing, if you want to make an item look older, you can make it look antiqued.” Wax or lacquer can make the finish look smoother and somewhat shiny.

With shabby chic and rustic looks in décor continuing to hold and gain ground, Medici sees little abatement in the chalk-painting trend.

“You can take something and make it really nice just by putting on a coat of paint,” she says.