How to Make Chalk Paint: The Best of Four Recipes

I tested four DIY chalk paint recipes and have found the BEST way to make chalk paint! This post compares calcium carbonate, plaster of paris, baking soda, and non-sanded grout recipes and identifies the BEST one.

There are many different benefits to making your own DIY chalk paint and just as many different recipes on how to make chalk paint. I’ve made all of these recipes in the past, but I wanted to compare them side by side, specifically looking at adhesion, leveling (without brush marks) and texture.

how to make chalk paint comparing calcium carbonate, plaster of paris, baking soda and non-sanded grout

I’ll give you the nitty-gritty details on each type of chalk paint, as well as share with you the best DIY chalk paint recipe.

In a nutshell: From now on, I will make my DIY chalk paint using non-sanded grout (jump to review)!

What is DIY chalk paint?

DIY chalk paint is made using store bought “wall paint” and an additive to give the paint a chalky texture. This addition of “chalk” gives the paint excellent adhesion power – it will stick to your piece of furniture much better than regular latex paint or acrylic wall paint.

It’s also perfect for a small projects. You can buy a sample pot of paint in the color of your choice from your local hardware store. Then, mix in the chalky additive and you’ll have a paint that sticks much better to wood, laminate, glass or ceramic.

use a wide mason jar to mix up DIY chalk paint - allows for easy storage, mixing and it fits a paint brush

What type of wall paint is best?

When choosing the type of paint to make chalk paint with, it’s important to consider the sheen of the paint, the paint type, and the price of the paint.

  • Sheen: To make chalk paint, choose a base paint that is flat finish (matte) or eggshell finish. These sheens tend to mix the best with the “ingredients” you’ll add in the next step.
  • Type: Choose an acrylic or latex based paint. Most paint manufacturers list the paint type on the bottom front of the can label. I personally prefer using acrylic paint on furniture, but I have used latex with DIY chalk paint and it works as well.
  • Price: Of course, higher grades of wall paint will be more expensive. If you’re painting on a budget, choosing a lower grade of paint will still work when making your own chalk paint. Just know you may have to add an extra coat for coverage.

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How to Make Chalk Paint

Here are the basic steps to making your own chalk-style paints. You’ll find the exact ratios in the “recipes” section below.

  1. In a small container (I LOVE using wide mouth mason glass jars for this), combine the additive (baking soda, calcium carbonate, plaster of paris, or non-sanded grout) with water and mix ingredients very well. I highly recommend using a small, battery powered mixer with a whisk attachment, although a milk frother will also work. You can also add a marble to the mason jar, put on the lid, and shake well.
  2. Add the wall paint to the container and mix thoroughly. Again, I recommend using a battery powered mixer.
  3. Begin painting right away, and stir the paint during use.
use a mini mixer to mix up homemade chalk paint with calcium carbonate, baking soda, plaster of paris or non sanded grout

Four Different DIY Chalk Paint Recipes

When searching for how to make chalk paint, you’ll find four common “recipes” pop up. I tested out each of these recipes and found the best ratio of paint to additive to water.

Plaster of Paris Recipe – (jump to review)

  • 1 cup wall paint (in flat or matte sheen)
  • 4 tablespoons Plaster of Paris
  • 2-3 tablespoons of water

Mix together Plaster of Paris with water, using a whisk or small blender to thoroughly combine and remove any lumps. Then, add this mixture to your paint and stir/blend well.


Calcium Carbonate Recipe (jump to review)

  • 1 cup of paint (in flat or matte sheen)
  • 4 tablespoons calcium carbonate
  • 2-3 tablespoons of water

Mix together calcium carbonate with water, using a whisk or small blender to thoroughly combine and remove any lumps. Then, add this mixture to your paint and stir/blend well.


Baking Soda Recipe (jump to review)

  • 1 cup wall paint (in flat or matte sheen)
  • 6 tablespoons baking soda
  • 2-3 tablespoons of water

Mix together baking soda with water, using a whisk or small blender until the baking soda dissolves. Then, add this mixture to your paint and stir/blend well.

If you’re looking for a smoother paint, pour the paint through a paint strainer or a few layers of cheesecloth before painting.


Non-Sanded Grout Chalk Paint Recipe (jump to review)

  • 1 cup of paint (in flat or matte sheen)
  • 1 tablespoon non-sanded grout (this is the perfect small size!)
  • 2 tablespoons of water

Mix together the unsanded grout with water and stir together well. Add this mixture to your paint and stir well.

Review of Recipes

When comparing all of these homemade chalk paint recipes to a few name brand chalk paints, I focused on how well it adhered to the surface, its ability to level, and the texture of the dried paint.

Paint TypeAdhesionLevelingTextureSimilarity to Name Brand Chalk Paint
Plaster of Paris Chalk Paint++++++velvety, chalky feel+++
Calcium Carbonate Chalk Paint+++++++smooth – does not feel chalky++
Baking Soda Chalk Paint++++bumpy/rough – gritty, chalky feel+
Non-Sanded Grout Chalk Paint++++++velvety, chalky feel++++

Which one is the best recipe?

The best DIY chalk paint recipe does depend on how you plan to use it and for what purpose. However, when comparing these recipes to name brand chalk paints, the non-sanded grout won as the best homemade chalk paint recipe!

Here are my overall takeaways and recommendations for use of each of these versions of chalk paint.

Plaster of paris Chalk Paint

  • Overall: This paint will give a very similar chalky finish texture to regular chalk paint, with only slight brush strokes. Additionally, it distresses very naturally, so this recipe is great if you are looking to create a distressed finish.
  • Recommendations: This paint can create tiny white dots in the paint, even if you mix it very well. To avoid these specks (especially if you’re painting with darker paint), run the paint through a paint strainer or a piece of folded cheesecloth to remove some of those particles. Finally, this paint dries pretty quickly, so it’s best to try to paint fairly quickly and to avoid overbrushing.

Calcium Carbonate Chalk Paint

  • Overall: This paint creates the smoothest finish of all chalk paint recipes, but it does not really give a matte texture, or any texture at all for that matter. It adheres very well to surfaces, so if you are looking for a paint with sticking power, this one is a good option.
  • Recommendations: I’ve heard from readers over the years that they had tiny white dots in the paint. I’ve personally never experienced this, but to avoid this, be sure to mix the calcium carbonate with the water first (very well) and then add it to the paint. You can take another step as well: run the paint through a paint strainer or a piece of folded cheesecloth to remove some of those particles.

Baking Soda CHalk Paint

  • Overall: This paint creates a very texturized paint. It almost gives a gritty texture. It will show some brush strokes and also a lot of tiny bumps. Of course, this works very well if you’re looking for texture, or if you want to create a faux stone look.
  • Recommendations: You can sand the paint down very easily which results in a velvety matte finish that looks variegated under wax. Using this method creates natural variation in the paint without needing to go over with another dry brushed color. Additionally, this paint dries pretty quickly, so it’s best to try to paint fairly quickly and to avoid overbrushing.

non-Sanded Grout Chalk Paint

  • Overall: This paint was the closest match in texture to the name brand chalk paint. It gives a slightly textured, yet velvety matte finish. It adheres very well (better than all the other DIY chalk paints AND better than all three name brand chalk paints I used for comparison purposes).
  • Recommendations: This DIY paint is the best to use if you are looking to create slight texture in your piece with amazing sticking power. I would not recommend using this recipe if you are looking to distress the paint (unless you add a resist first as described in this post: distressing furniture).

Benefits to making your own chalk paint

There are a few benefits to making your own chalk paint instead of buying store-bought chalk paint. First, you have virtually any choice of color, because you choose the color from the paint swatches at home improvement stores.

Additionally, it is quite a bit cheaper to buy a quart of wall paint compared to a quart of brand name chalk paint. Here’s a quick comparison of prices for one quart (32 oz.) of paint in 2024:

Paint Price
Behr Wall Paint (price dependent on paint quality)$16-$28
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint$46
Country Chic Chalk Style Paint$39
Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint$36

As you can see, making your own chalk-style paint is cheaper than buying it, even if you purchase the highest quality of home improvement store brands of paint. When making chalk paint, I usually choose a middle grade level of paint sold at Menards, Home Depot, or Lowes and I’ve found it to work well.

You can also choose the cheapest quality of paint, but just know you will probably need to give your piece an extra coat of paint, as this quality of paint doesn’t cover as well as higher quality paints. (Here’s a full post comparing the different levels of wall paint.)

comparison of different ways to make chalk paint comparing calcium carbonate chalk paint, baking soda chalk paint, plaster of paris chalk paint and non sanded grout chalk paint

I also have a comprehensive post about everything you could want to know about chalk paint and how to apply it.

Plus, I just finished a new post comparing the 13 top chalk paint brands in a side by side test. If you prefer to buy instead of DIY your chalk paint, you might be surprised to learn one of the cheapest brands was one of the best chalk paints!

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Jenny at Refresh Living (dev.refreshliving.com)

Post by Jenny Leads

Jenny is the voice behind Refresh Living. She has a passion for helping people to create a home they love without spending a lot of money.

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58 Comments

  1. I’ve been wanting to try DIY chalk paint for awhile but was overwhelmed by all the different recipes! You are awesome for doing this!

  2. Thanks so much for sharing this! I love chalk paint, but have a hard time parting ways with how much $$ most of it costs!

  3. Thanks for this. I used the calcium with a satin paint and it didn’t adhere. I hope the flat will make the difference. Most recipes don’t tell you a paint type.

    1. Yeah, I could see that it might not adhere well, but I’ve never tried it with satin before. I’ve used flat and eggshell with success, but I prefer flat paint. I hope it works out for you!

      1. Hi Jenny, I use the calcium carbonate as well but find the mixture leaves little tiny dots of powder. U don’t notice them until the paint is dry. This causes it to have a rough finish. Help Nancy
        nsoup@sbcglobal.net

        1. Hi Nancy. Thanks so much for letting me know. Another reader said something similar, and my only suggestion was to make sure it was thoroughly mixed in the water before adding it to the paint. I’m actually going to whip up a batch with a dark color this weekend and see what I can observe. Can some brands of Calcium Carbonate be more chunky than others, I wonder? Sounds a little crazy to me though.

          1. Hi Jenny; As far as the mixing using the Carbonate; When I mixed mine when I first came across using this vs. the Plaster method, I mixed my Carbonate and water by using an old electric hand mixer with the whisk attachment. I mixed it really good and to “just make sure there would be no lumps, I used a little metal hand strainer/sifter/colander lol; and if any lumps, I smashed them through the sifter. Worked great and then I blended the paint slowly into the carbonate water using the hand mixer again. It came out PERFECT. Was not even time consuming time wise either considering the outcome of a project that’s been prepped for the painting process. Hope this can help others out is all. ~ Lisa M.

          2. I love this tip to run it through a strainer first. What a great idea to be sure there were no lumps. Thanks so much for sharing!

  4. Thanks for your blog. I used your prep tips and recommended chalk paint recipe to revive a $20 dresser from a resale shop. So far so good–just need new knobs.

    1. Hi Ann – I’m so glad to here you gave it a try and you like the new look! Nothing beats a $20 dresser that now probably looks 100 times better!

  5. If you use the plaster if Paris what is the recipe? Does it work with satin paints? Latex and acrylic?

    1. Thanks for your questions, Becky. If I use Plaster of Paris I use the same ratio as the calcium carbonate. I have used it with satin finish paints, but you just won’t get quite as much of a flat sheen as chalk paint usually gives. As for acrylic paint, I’ve actually never tried it. I’ve only used latex for it. I hope this helps!

    1. Yes, you can double, triple, whatever you’d like and still achieve the same results. I usually just use a different flat paint color and it will change the color your chalk paint once you add the calcium carbonate/plaster.

  6. I’ going to try the calcium carbonate recipe on an old coffee table and a credenza. You can buy the calcium carbonate 8 oz. size in Walmart. Thanks for the tips.

    1. Thanks for the tip, Ruth! Sometimes I like to just pick something up that day rather than wait for it to be shipped, so knowing it’s at Walmart is great!

    2. I tried making chalk paint out of my dental tech brother’s hydro-cal, which he said was like Plaster of Paris, but it was too grainy, then tried the baking soda recipe, but that was still too grainy. After returning to the regular eggshell paint for the projects, I discovered that the kitchen cleanser, Bon Ami, is mostly calcium carbonate when I used it on my sink. It also has baking soda in. So it may be the cheapest way to buy calcium carbonate
      Will try it for my next project.

    3. What dept in Walmart is the CC? I couldn’t find it and neither could a WM associate.

    1. Hi Karen. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I have used furniture wax as a topcoat (specialty paint companies have their own types, but they also sell it at the hardware store), but recently I prefer to use a matte or flat acrylic topcoat. I find it to have less upkeep than wax. Hope that helps!

  7. About how much does this cost in comparison to buying chalk paint at Lowe’s or somewhere like that?

    1. Hi Sarah. The nice thing about making your own is that you can make a small batch with a custom paint color in a sample size (usually around $3). Of course, you’ll also need to buy the calcium carbonate too. In that case I find it to be cheaper. However, if I need a quart, or it’s a color that I’ll use over and over, I just buy the chalk paint that is already made. When I wrote this post, they didn’t offer chalk paint in the hardware stores at the prices they do, and the only option was the more expensive name brand ones. Obviously, things have changed and there are so many more options for chalk paint. Hopefully this was helpful!

      1. I’m not sure what the calcium carbonate does for the paint besides a texture…it’s just refined limestone (according to Google) I looked in my garden shed looking for lime or powder . I found I had left over non sanded grout from a glass tile project( it was powery). I added it in the mix seems great and it does not dry like plaster and it gets rid of leftovers.

    1. I’ve used eggshell, too, but haven’t tried a higher sheen than that. I think it would still work, it just won’t be as similar to that matte finish as chalk paint.

  8. Thank you for experimenting. I have been wanting to paint my kitchen cabinets but the cost of chalk paint was too costly for the 41 doors and drawers that I have to do. I will probably sand a bit and will apply a poly top coat. After all this I will not want to do them again because I didn’t top coat. Thanks for the info of buying the calcium carbonate at Walmart.

    1. Hi Kris. I think sanding a bit beforehand and making your own chalk paint should work well. Like you said, you’ll definitely want to apply at least two coats of a polyacrylic topcoat so the finish lasts. Best of luck!

  9. I use the Calcium Carbonate as well. However, I’m finding that I have tiny little white spots. Not a good look. I’m not sure why that is happening.
    Any thoughts on that?

    1. You’re right; definitely not a good look. Did you mix the calcium carbonate in water first really well before adding the paint? That’s the only thing I can think of. I’ve made this DIY paint in a slate gray/blue color, so fairly dark, and didn’t get the white spots, so I’m not totally sure. Sorry I’m not of much help!

  10. Would this work best with flat paint like the recipe says, or latex paint like you mentioned in your other article? I’m going to use it to repaint an old dresser.

    1. Hi Erica. Thanks for the question. Latex paint comes in a variety of sheens (flat, matte, eggshell, satin, gloss, semi-gloss), so you’ll want to get a latex paint in either flat or matte sheen to make the chalk paint. I’ll make sure to clarify that in my post, because they do sound contradictory right now. Thanks for reading!

  11. Jenny. I was reading to see what I had done wrong in making chalk paint with calcium carbonate and flat paint. I also was getting little chunky white specks. In reading this I learned what I was doing wrong. I wasn’t mixing the cal. Carbonate with water before adding the paint.
    Thank you all for helping solve my problem.

    1. Hi Wanda. I’m so glad you commented here, because I have been meaning to make a batch of it and see if I could replicate the problem some people were encountering. So I think the trick might be to really whisk together the calcium carbonate in the water before ever mixing it into the paint. Thanks for the tip!

  12. I have made my own chalk paint before numerous times but now I find myself living in SE Asia where plaster of paris is difficult to find (maybe impossible). I stumbled across this blog in my quest for alternatives, and have just one concern/question. My understanding was that the beauty of chalk paint was that you were not required to do any (or very minimal) prep to the surface before beginning, eliminating time and money spent on priming and sanding. I thought that you could do this because the POP contributed a significant adhesion factor that enabled the paint (regardless of the sheen you chose) to stick to already smooth and finished surfaces. Does the calcium carbonate recipe compare in terms of adhesive durability? The POP recipes I used to use would be easy to scratch off with the fingernail test within the first 24 hours or so but after they cured completely were super hard.

    1. Thanks for the question. Yes, Calcium Carbonate gives it that improved adhesion similar to Plaster of Paris. I always lightly sand my surfaces, even when I’m painting with the best of the best chalk paints, but that’s just personal preference. As for the comparison to durability, I have never tried to scratch it after it cured to test. I usually finish mine with wax, which adds that protective layer, but I honestly don’t know how hard the finish becomes with the CC without a topcoat. I hope that helps at least a little. Thanks!

  13. Hello, Thank you so much for all tje info you share. I came across your page in doing some research for a painting project. I painted a dining room with latex but even after all the prepping, the paint still chipped so Im trying to find some other type of paint that wont chip and csme across this chalk paint. But im not too crazy about a matte finish with flat paint. Will semi gloss work? Or will doing a final top coat of acrylic work for some shine? Im confused! Please help.

    1. Hi Gigi. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. The holidays made it a crazy time of year! Making chalk paint with semi gloss paint does not work very well, but you could definitely give it a top coat with acrylic for shine! Have you read this post of mine yet? It goes through all these different types of paint for furniture, and I think it should be helpful for you. Let me know if you have any other questions.

  14. I’m fairly new to using chalk paint and have mainly used the Annie Sloan paint although I did make my own using plaster of paris. I used the Annie Sloan wax to seal my projects but after reading so many different different posts I now am wondering about using the poly. However, from what I’ve read, you can’t use poly over wax. Do you know why you can’t do that?

    1. Hi Marsha. That’s a good question, and I’m not sure if I totally know the answer, I can share what I know from my experience. I’ve used furniture wax on a couple of pieces as well, and I really do like the finish it creates. I’ve found it to be very durable once it cures. I do know that once the wax cures, it can be painted over without a problem. This makes me wonder if you could actually go over cured wax with an acrylic topcoat? Maybe you could test it out in an inconspicuous spot? I do know that wax takes a least a full month to cure completely, just FYI. If you do end up giving it a try, will you let me know? I’m curious!

    1. Hi Hope. That’s a great question, and I honestly don’t have a specific square footage for you. I do know it will cover two coats on a side/end table, if that helps at all. Sorry I can’t be more specific!

  15. Hi Jenny! My question is, why or what is the the purpose in using chalk paint?
    just for prep convenience, durability, or to chip the piece easily? beside de flat or dry finish

    1. Hi Bertha. That’s a great question, because chalk paint has definitely become very popular in the last few years. My thought is that it’s because the prep is very minimal? I always use a topcoat over chalkpaint, because if not, the finish is not very durable at all.

  16. Have you ever tried half plaster of paris and half c.c.? The gal who got me started gave me the recipe….2T CC and 2 T PofP and 2T water. I haven’t tried any other recipe yet, but curious to try it with just c.c.

    1. Hi! I haven’t tried it with a combination, but I’m sure it will work! Both Plaster of Paris and Calcium Carbonate work individually, so I’m sure they’d work together. Maybe I’ll try that out for my next DIY chalk paint project. Thanks for sharing!

  17. This may be a crazy question. I chalk (pardon the pun) it up to being a newbie with all this. How do you get the color you need for the chalk paint? Do I purchase different colors of eggshell finish and add the additives to it?

    1. Hi Tanya! You got it – just buy a quart (or whatever size) of normal paint in the color you’d like. Then, combine the “mix-in” and water and then add that to the paint. I don’t find that the additives really change the color at all. I had quite a few different colors because I bought some of the sample pints on clearance in the “ooops” paint section.