How to Refinish Twin Beds with Chalk Paint

Want to change the look of a bedroom? Are you tired of your old furniture? Time to learn how to refinish twin beds with chalk paint!

We’ve had these twin beds for over twenty years!

They are very sturdy and functional, but I never really liked them that much.

You see, I’m not a fan of light wood or the round bed knobs.

However, we needed twin beds that could be bunked, and we loved the storage units that fit underneath.

The fact that they were a clearance sale, sealed the deal so we purchased them.

Over the years I tried to love them, but unfortunately, that never happened.

Well, guess what, now I love them!!

All because of black chalk paint!!!

I don’t know why, but I think they look so much better.

Maybe because they match everything in the room and look cohesive in the space.

Anyway, I’m so excited to show you how to refinish twin beds with black chalk paint!!

Gather

Gather or purchase the following supplies needed for this project:

• drop cloth or plastic
• risers to keep furniture off the floor
• sandpaper/sand block
• vacuum
• tack cloth
• paint-I used Behr chalk paint in Classic Noir
• stir stick
• paint can opener
• pail for paint
• paint roller
• paintbrush
• sealer-I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Lacquer

Prep

Put down a drop cloth. I used a plastic sheet.

Lightly sand all the wood.

One of the side rails had residue from stickers and orange marks on it.

It seemed silly to clean the wood since I was going to sand it.

Glad I did not waste time cleaning, because the sanding block removed all the mess.

See how the light sanding removed all the dirt and marks. Wood looks so much better already!

Next, I used a vacuum to remove the dust.

Right before I painted each piece, I used a tack cloth to remove any remaining dust!

Paint

The prep is done and now I’m ready to paint! I’ll tackle the bed frame first and then the knobs and hole covers!

paint bed frame

Protect your workspace by putting down a drop cloth or plastic sheet. Elevate the piece of furniture off the ground for easy paint application.

Using a brush, paint all edges and any crevices where the paint roller won’t reach.

Use a roller to apply the first coat of paint.

*Tip-don’t be discouraged after the first coat, it always looks horrible!!!

Let dry.

Apply a second coat of paint with the roller. See how much better it looks now! There was no need to worry!!

Let dry.

Paint knobs and hole covers

Items like these can be a challenge to paint. I had to find something that would hold them upright while they dried. After looking around the house, I used an egg carton and a plastic tub that previously held lunch meat.

Next, I used a sharp knife to cut an “X” shape in the plastic. Then I pushed the knobs and hole covers into the plastic.

The egg carton was rather flimsy, but it got the job done.

Putting the hole covers in this plastic from the egg carton made it so easy to paint them!

I found it easier to paint the knobs while holding them. Then I placed them in the carton to dry. Unfortunately, I couldn’t paint them while they were in the carton because they were too close together.

Protect

It’s important to protect your newly painted furniture with a sealant. I decided to use Chalk Paint Lacquer by Annie Sloane.

I don’t want to see any brushmarks, so I decided to apply the lacquer with a foam roller.

Stir the lacquer.

Apply the first coat of lacquer.

The roller did not get lacquer in all of the corners. As you can see in the picture above, it looks dull where the roller did not touch. So, I went back with a small brush to ad lacquer to the inside corners.

Let the lacquer dry for one to two hours. This product does not require sanding between coats.

If you look closely at the bed rails you can see that the lacquer looks splotchy. I decided to put the second coat on with a brush. That was a mistake because it looked even worse! The lacquer was very thick and it showed brush marks. So, I went back to the roller to finish the rest of the pieces. Still not sure what I did wrong, but I was very disappointed with this product.

Next time I will use polyurethane! The good news is, you can’t see how splotchy it looks in the room.

The finished project

The project is done, and I was able to successfully refinish the twin beds with chalk paint. Even though I was not pleased with the lacquer, they still turned out great! I doubt anybody else will even notice.

Every time I do a DIY project I learn something new!

It’s rarely perfect, but that’s the nature of DIY.

If I needed perfection, I would have hired a professional!

I hope you enjoyed this post on how to refinish twin beds with chalk paint!

I know I learned a lot, and can’t wait for my next DIY paint project!

If you missed our post on the complete makeover of this room, click here.

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Blessings, Donna and Rich

More Inspiration

If you’d like to see more DIY paint projects check out the posts below!

• Chalk paint a kitchen table and chairs
• Easy way to paint and stencil French flower pots
• How to paint laminate cabinets to look expensive
• Amazing table set makeover with paint and a stencil
• How to transform ceramic items with spray paint