Picture this. You have just finished painting the most amazing piece of furniture. A coffee table that will grow into a much-loved family favourite. Perhaps it’s vintage. Romantic. Even a little shabby chic.
You’re desperate to retain it’s old-world charm, but equally desperate to have a functional piece that resists wear and tear. You want to be able to allow your kids to eat off it, play on it, or for you to put glasses on it, without fear of permanent ring marks, or worse, having to re-paint the piece.
Everything points to you having to seal your coffee table with a liquid finishing coat. At When Shabby Meets Chic, we’re in love with the Frenchic no-chemical, no-odour, no-VOC, all-natural Finishing Coat. It’s durable, long-lasting, self-levelling, water-resistant and easy to clean. It just makes sense to use it. But… and there’s a big But here… you love the feel of wax. A liquid finishing coat or a poly will never feel as vintage as wax does. It’s the waxy feel you remember touching on furniture at your grandparents home all those many years ago. It’s that touch you want back.
So, there lies your dilema. What do you do? Every rule in the book tells you that wax is last. You can not, must not, should not, put anything over wax. Wax will repel all else but itself, right?
Well, what if we told you that you could still have both? Wax and a Finishing Coat on the same piece.
Seriously?
Yes :)
Seriously.
Wax and a liquid top coat/poly can work as a duo, in harmony; providing your piece with it’s much-needed heavy duty protection, AND the silky sheen of wax.
Ready?
Here goes.
Step One
Paint Away to your heart’s desire. If you’re painting with Frenchic chalk & mineral paint, be careful not to buff if you’re using any of the colours from the Lazy Range.
Step Two
Seal your piece with 2 to 3 coats of Frenchic’s Finishing Coat. You can also replace the Finishing Coat with a poly. Don’t skip this step, or cut back on the number of coats. This is your protection layer. The layers that will stop those grubby fingers from leaving life-long memories on your coffee-table.
Step Three
Once the Finishing Coat has totally dried (2 to 4 hours at least); go ahead, add that finishing touch. Bring back those memories. Get out your can of wax.
Step Four
Begin with a layer of clear wax. If that’s all you want, you could stop at one or two layers, with an 8 hour dry time between layers. If however, you want to go the Defining Wax route, apply your darker wax over the clear while it is still fresh. This will give you maneouvrebility and time to wipe back as much of the Defining Wax as you need to, without ruining you masterpiece.
Et voila! There you go. The durability of Finishing Coat; and the velvet smoothness of wax. All in one.
Before you scurry off to you paint brushes, RULE OF THUMB:
Wax over FC/poly. Never FC/poly over Wax.
Wax is last.
Always, always, last.