DIY - Coastal Style Chest With Voodoo Molly Vintage Paint

One of the fun things about being a blogger is the opportunity to test new products and when it comes to something new in the field of paints, I get really excited. A New Zealand company, Voodoo Molly have created a range of paints for the purpose of decorating furniture and have a gorgeous palette of colours. Keen to put their paints to the test I came up with a makeover for an old Rimu trunk.

Inspired by an image I saw on Houzz, I thought I would turn the vintage trunk into a cool, coastal coffee table for a friend's beach house. Voodoo Molly Vintage kindly sent me three colours of their paint, some chalk paint powder and a tin of their wax. On their arrival my first thoughts were how pretty the tins looked and how generous their sample tins were which contained 250mls of paint each.

The chalk paint powder comes in a bag which you mix into the paint to make it into chalk paint. However, I decided to have a go using the paint direct from the tin as I wanted to test out the durability and ease of use of their vintage paint.

Tools:

• 2  x 3" brushes, I already had my brush, however brushes are available on the Voodoo Molly site
• 1 small brush for fine detail
• 1 x 250ml tin Voodoo Molly Vintage Paint - Duck Egg Blue
• 1 x 250ml tin Voodoo Molly Vintage Paint - Antique White
• 1 x 250ml tin  Voodoo Molly Vintage Paint - Graphite

Technique:

• I first painted the entire chest in antique white and allowed it to dry. I found two coats onto the raw timber with no undercoat worked well. 
• I then used a dry brush technique to apply Duck Egg Blue to areas I selected randomly on the chest (I used a flat edged cutting in brush to do this)
• I allowed the paint to dry, it dries extremely fast so you need to work quite quickly. If you make a mistake it is best to use a damp cloth and wipe off immediately
• Thirdly I repeated the dry brush technique using graphite, again in random areas of the chest, selecting some of the more distressed areas of timber so that it went into the grooves and valleys of the old Rimu
• I brushed sometimes in straight lines, other times I crossed against the grain of the wood as you can see in the image below
• Once the paint was dry I then took a small 1" brush, dipped it into the Graphite and painted along the edges of the chest, along the top of the lid edge and the sides of the chest, this really gave the look of old washed up boat timber and was the icing on the cake so to speak.
• When this had dried, about 2 hours later I was able to sand down in areas to expose some of the Rimu timber. I decided not to distress too much, opting for areas that would have had natural wear and tear such as edges and corners.

Tips:

• When using Voodoo Molly Vintage paint from the tin directly without adding chalk paint powder, it is advisable to sand as soon as it is dry enough as the paint does dry and harden faster than Chalk Paint, being touch dry in 30 minutes.
• There is no need to wax when you use the paint directly from the tin, you only need to wax if you are mixing in the Chalk Paint Powder.
• When 'dry' brushing, don't dip the brush into the paint, pour a little out onto a plastic disposable tray and just touch the edges of the brush maybe up to half a cm.
• To make it easier to clean your brush after painting, before painting dip it in water and then shake it off so you have a damp brush to start with.

Above: The rather ugly before project is an old Rimu chest

Overall, I found Voodoo Molly Vintage paint easy to use, it appears more durable than unwaxed chalk paint. The obvious advantage of using this paint without the chalk powder added was that there was no need for a final coat of wax for protection. The paint dries to a hard, durable finish and still has a low sheen to it. The paint can be applied direct over wood without an undercoat. They do recommend a light sand and removal of loose paint. However, I used it directly over the unprepared Rimu and it worked perfectly. The only negative comment I had with the paint was that my brush was a little hard to clean as the paint dries very quickly and bonds to the bristles so I had to scrape it away with my nails. However, on enquiring Voodoo Molly suggest you wash your brush before painting, shake it out and use it damp and it will be much easier to clean.

I wanted to try the wax as the company had told me that it was a natural product and had a yummy smell. As I said, I didn't wax the piece but opened the tin and most definitely the wax smells good as Voodoo Molly say it does not contain any artificial chemicals. I will certainly be keen to try it out for my next project which I plan to use the Chalk Paint Powder mixed in.

An obvious advantage with the paint if you live in New Zealand, is that it is manufactured here and therefore the cost is less to purchase. I must say I also love their colour palette, the colours are clean and very representable of their colour chart. The Duck Egg Blue was a gorgeous colour and apparently one of their most popular colours. I would definitely use Voodoo Molly's Vintage Paint again and keen to start another project with my left over paint.

Voodoo Molly have put out a video on how to use their chalk paint powder which you might find helpful if using their Chalk Paint Powder.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you attempt any projects with Voodoo Molly Vintage paint, I would love to see your results. I heard from Voodoo Molly they have just launched a new product called, 'Easy Brush', if you want to learn more about it, there is a short video on their Voodoo Molly Facebook Page.

Please note, this is not a 'sponsored post', I requested to try out their product and give my honest opinion and Voodoo Molly kindly sent me samples.

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