CHESHIRE — Distressed furniture gives the appearance of aged pieces, a popular trend made easier by local DIY, or do-it-yourself, classes.
The Posh Pear on Route 10 is one local shop that offers a chance to learn how to distress and personalize furniture with a variety of chalk paint workshops.
“We go through all the steps on how to use the chalk paint, how to wax and how to distress the piece so when you go home that piece is re-purposed, re-loved,” said Traci Selinske, owner of the home decor shop and attached studio.
The business moved from Plantsville in 2017 to the bigger space in Cheshire to accommodate more painting workshops.
“You don’t have to sand, prep or prime,” Selinske said of the chalk paint. “People kept asking us how we did it.”
Unlike standard paint, chalk paint is a low odor, eco-friendly paint which leaves furniture with a dull, matte finish. There are 75 different colors of the paint from Vintage Market and Design, the brand the shop carries and uses.
2 Sister’s Design, a local upcycling and consignment business in Plantsville, also re-paints furniture but uses Dixie Belle chalk paint.
Selinske said some use chalk paint to re-do their kitchen cabinets. The most popular colors tend to be blue, gray and green.
“It’s amazing what a coat of paint does,” Selinske said of the process.
Workshops are typically three hours and focus on how to properly paint the furniture and distress or age the piece for a worn-in vintage look.
The classes offered this winter and spring include Paint Your Own Piece of Furniture on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Furniture Painting 101 goes into more detail and techniques and Image Transfer Class is the process of transferring a printed image onto wood, canvas or glass using chalk paint.
A new Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets class will be held on Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m.
“We help people avoid that learning curve,” Selinske said. “We show them right away how to paint it so that they can go home and feel comfortable and be their own expert and paint whatever they want.”
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