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Updated art easel DIY……

Hi everyone, I’m Jamie from So Much Better With Age back to share a fun painting project.

Do you feel like your children’s toys and stuff take over your house? We don’t have a dedicated spot in our house for my children’s art easel. It’s always in the same spot in our dining room.

I’ve tried to move it into the playroom but the room is carpeted and I just don’t feel comfortable with the easel in there. I like it on the hardwood and in a place where I can supervise.

Or else my walls or carpet will end up covered in kids paint and felt markers.

So I’ve decided to just incorporate it into our space. It’s going to stay against this wall in our dining room.

It’s just a regular, old Ikea art easel.

I’ll show you how I painted it to match my decor.

paint your child's art easel somuchbetterwithage.com

 

This is the Ikea art easel before. Plain pine with a red tray. Nothing special.

I was going to stain this first and then paint it white and then distress it.

The thing is, it’s actually sealed, not raw wood and I don’t feel like sanding down an art easel. I wanted a quick fix.

art easel before

So I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in my favourite white, Old Linen.

Here are the rest of the supplies needed…

SUPPLIES:

  • Ikea art easel or one similar
  • any white paint {I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old Linen}
  • brush
  • medium grit sandpaper
  • dark wax {I used Annie Sloan Dark Wax}
  • soft or clear wax {I used Annie Sloan Soft Wax}

TUTORIAL:

1. Apply one to two coats and make sure to get the backside too.

paint easel

2. Lightly distress the paint with sandpaper once the paint is dry.

distress technique

3. Apply the soft wax first to the entire wood area then apply dark wax directly over it. This allows you to wipe excess dark wax off if needed.

apply dark wax somuchbetterwithage.com

{You can tell by this rag that some areas had too much dark wax and I just put more soft wax on my rag and the dark wax just wiped off!}

Annie Sloan soft wax somuchbetterwithage.com

4. Then I got a piece of scrapbook paper and used Mod Podge to glue it into the tray area. Use the Mod Podge directly on the tray and over the paper afterwards.

mod podge scrapbook paper somuchbetterwithage.com

And here is the finished product!

kids' art easel somuchbetterwithage.com

I love that it matches my rustic/vintage dining room.

always be creative somuchbetterwithage.com

 

painted art easel somuchbetterwithage.com

distressed paint technique somuchbetterwithage.com

My large crock became storage as I threw in some painting smocks and a dropcloth.

large crock becomes storage somuchbetterwithage.com

distressed paint technique somuchbetterwithage.com

distressing-details

distressing with dark wax somuchbetterwithage.com

distressing with dark wax somuchbetterwithage.com

I love how it turned out and it’s a nice touch to my dining room makeover that I’ve been slowly working on.

NEW signature

Other DIY Projects You Might Like:

Dining Table Makeover

dining table makeover somuchbetterwithage.com

Butcher Block Makeover & Dark Wax Fail

butcher block island somuchbetterwithage.com

Treasure Box with Pink Chalk Paint

jewelry box somuchbetterwithage.com

Jamie

10 Comments

  1. I have the same. Paid $1.99 at thrift store. I love how it turn out after your transformation!!!

  2. what a great idea!! I love Ikea hacks!!

    you can find me blogging about “Life on the Parsons Farm” : atparsons.blogspot.com

  3. Such a cute idea, Jamie! We got the same easel for Christmas and I had never thought about painting it, but now you’ve got my wheels spinning. I think I’ll give it a try!! And I love the paper liner in the tray. Genius!

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