Chalk Spray Paint Review + Farmhouse Coasters

I hate being the bad guy when I review products, but I always want to share the results I get using a product with you, so you are informed before you spent your money.

     Unfortunately, today is a bad guy day.

Since I use paint on a lot of my projects I love to try different types, so I can make the best choices for my projects, so when my husband brought home a can of Valspar Chalky Finish Spray Paint, I was excited to try it, based on my previous great experience with regular Valspar Chalky Paint.

I wasn’t paid to review this product, and was not given the product.  I did it for my own benefit and to share my findings with you.

Valspar Chalky Paint Review

I picked a board that is one of the shelves from my Farmhouse Cabinet.  I’d previously painted the top, but never painted the bottom of the board, and if you look carefully at the cabinet, you can see the unpainted underside (oops!).

I figured I would paint the unfinished side, and see how it looked with a distressed finish.

I painted the board and it dried quickly.  The paint covered it well with just one coat, which I thought was great.

My favorite method of distressing chalk style paint is wet distressing with a rag, so that’s what did.

I rubbed and rubbed, but nothing happened – no distressing at all occurred.

I thought maybe the problem was the slick finish on the wood, and it was no big deal since I can put it back in the cabinet, and it’s finally fully painted.

I picked a much rougher piece of pallet wood, painted it, let it dry, and rubbed sit the same way.

Again – nothing happened.

     Hmm…things weren’t going well.

I pulled out some fine grit sandpaper and tried again.

It showed a bit of distressing, but not nearly what I wanted or expected.

Frustrated, I switched to a much rougher, 60-grit sandpaper, and worked at it.

I started making some progress, but my arm was getting tired and I was still not happy with the look.

I was about ready to give up.  The label on the can said, “the perfect start to a distressed finish”, and I wasn’t seeing it at all.

Rather than throw the board in the burn pile, I decided to give it one last attempt with my palm sander.

Finally – the distressed look I wanted!

    Wait just a minute, here…

I’ve frequently gotten the same look using a sander with regular spray paint that wasn’t promoting a “distressed finish”.

This experiment wasn’t a total flop though.  I did find a project to make with the pallet board, since I’d worked so hard to get it distressed to my liking.

I remembered some coasters I’d bought a few months ago.  I love them, but since they are ceramic, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to make them more durable.

I cut the board into three squares first.

glued the coasters to the cut pieces of wood and I love how the wood frames the coasters like little piece of artwork.

I couldn’t find the exact same coasters online, but they are the same brand and style as these coasters(affiliate link), which I also love.

Conclusion

You may  have guessed already, but I can’t give this paint a raving review, but here’s my thoughts in a nutshell.

1.  This paint was much more like regular spray paint than any any chalky paint I’ve ever used before, including Valspar’s regular Chalky Paint, which I really like.  Regular spray paint is difficult to achieve a naturally distressed look with, and this Valspar spray paint had the same problem.
2. It’s expensive compared to other spray paints – almost double the price, so why spend more money to get the same results?
3. The coverage was okay, but I prefer the coverage and results I get with traditional chalky paints that are applied with a brush.

Well, I didn’t enjoy writing a bad review, but I hope my experience helps you not waste your own money or time.

If you missed my review of Valspar Chalky Finish paint (not spray paint) and waxes, you can read it HERE.  This review was very popular, and fortunately less negative.

You can also ready my review of Valspar Weathered Crackle Glaze HERE.

Vaya con Dios!