Stop wood stain bleed-through with Annie Sloan Chalk paint

I found this fantastic vintage Mersman corner table to paint. Vintage pieces are so much fun to transform with ASCP.

When I got it I could see that someone had started to sand it down in some spots so I had a feeling this was going to cause some bleed through because the stain wasn’t sealed anymore. Because I Pinterest waayyy more than I should, I had seen others post about this problem. I already had a can of Shellac on hand and had used it a few times with other projects. I started by shellacking a few spots I could tell where going to be problem area’s, but it turned out that much more of this table would need it.

My can of Shellac was mostly full when I started this project but was almost empty when I ended. Any place where the protective coat has been sanded away, worn away or scratched can cause the wood stain to bleed through ASCP. Especially if you are using a light color paint. Chalk paint works much better on wood that hasn’t been stained or that is sealed. Here are a few pictures of what came through after a coat of paint.

Can you see the pink area’s? You can also see the shiny are’s where I used the Shellac to seal it. In more than one place I had to paint it several times and Shellac it several times to finally get the stain to stop seeping through. Usually when I have had this problem a quick, light spray works but because there where so many places on this table where the stain was not sealed it took me a few tries to get everything. This piece took me a little longer to paint than I was expecting but eventually the Old White stayed white! I distressed it using a sandpaper block and then waxed it. Then added just a little bit of dark wax to bring out the accents on the arms and edges.