My Review of "Designer in You" Furniture and Wall Paint
What kind of furniture paint do you use? I've been painting
furniture for about
4 years and until recently, I've been using a very basic craft store bought chalk style paint, like the kind you'd buy at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. This paint is fine if you want to do a basic job on your own pieces, but given that I paint furniture professionally, I needed something more professional and higher quality. That said, I set out to choose a paint line for my business - one that I could confidentially use and recommend to my customers.
I'm part of a Facebook group for furniture painters and asked their opinion. Many, many fellow artists recommended "Designer in You" paints. After looking at their site I decided to contact them for a few samples. Much to my delight and surprise, I met two wonderful people - the CEO Francine Melder and her colleague Alena Lara.
Not only is their paint great, but they are absolutely the nicest people ever. I've actually begun a friendship with these ladies over our common faith, support of charities and love of everything DIY!
Francine gladly obliged my sample request and sent me a few paints and waxes. I tried both the "Little Black Dress" and "Gray by the Bay". In a previous post called "How to Create an Antique Mirror", I used their "Little Black Dress" paint to outline the already fabulous walnut on my china cabinet turned game closest. After two coats pf paint I finished it off with their clear wax. I just LOVE how it turned out, don't you?
After this piece was finished, I decided to try her gray paint called "Gray by the Bay" with a stencil on a pair of side tables I wanted to flip. While the stencil work was long (because of the detail work), I was able to use just two coats of paint to get the thickness and coverage I wanted. I am SUPER pleased with how these tables turned out. You like?
Ok, so now for the actual review of the paint. Obviously, I love the paint and I love the gals who make it, but here are a few detailed observations on the paint and wax for your review:
The paint consistency was not too thick or too thin. I've tried some that are super thick and get "globby". This was the perfect consistency. If it was too thin, it would have "run" under my stencil and left blurry lines, which it did not. Also, the paint was not grainy or clumpy.
The pigment was good: the colors were dark and true to the swatch on the outside of the paint can.
It dried quickly! Some paints have a longer dry time especially if they are latex based, but because its acrylic based, this paint dried in about 15-30 minutes. Happy about that...
Adhesion - this has got to be one of the most important features for me. That's why we use chalk paint, right? The paint cures well and does not scratch off easily. It does, however, sand nicely for distressing.
It did not smell! If you haven't already, take a "wiff" sometime of the cheap stuff. Yuck! Its sometimes hard to even paint in a closed room with that stuff! This paint doesn't smell like that and doesn't have a bad VOC smell.
The Wax was nice and thick just like it should be. It cured well and made my piece super beautiful.
So overall, I give this paint a A+ rating. The only thing I would suggest would be to include a better digital representation of the paint on their individual product pages. If you would like to try her paints, you can order them here. They come in 40 colors
and she can custom match just about anything - a swatch or another color of paint. Be sure to also check out her waxes, other finishes and brushes.They're the bomb! Finally, her prices are great! No nearly as expensive as Annie Sloan, but a little more than store bought stuff. They are well worth the price though.
Designer in You also sells IOD stamps, Moulds and rub on transfers. I LOVE these, so having them at her store make shopping really easy for me. You can check out ideas for these products on my Pinterest Board and them buy them here from her store (Disclosure, I am an affiliate so I get a small % of these sales)
So, are you ready to try their paint? If so, check out all of their paint colors and other products at their website. If you do, you can also feel really good about your purchase because their paint is all low VOC, their packaging is made from recycled cardboard and they recycle their paint cans too! And finally, the best part?? They give a portion of their proceeds to non profits just like I do. This is yet another reason God brought our two companies together. I hope you love their products just as much as I do.
Thanks for reading!
- Heidi
