End Table Redo

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A quick little spruce-me-up project to share today.  

In the fall we were helping Justin's parents clean out their garage and came across this beauty:

They didn't want it any longer so we snatched it up and brought it home knowing we would find a place for it one day.  It sat in the garage until last week when I finally decided that it would work in our living room.  I think in its past life it was a night stand but I am repurposing  it as an end table.  

After I begged and pleaded for a few days Justin finally gave in was happy to sand it down for me. I have a thing with sanding - meaning that I absolutely hate it. Even just touching the teeny tiniest corner of sand paper  (or evening thinking about it now) turns all my skin into goosebumps. It's worse than nails on a chalkboard to me. Thank goodness Justin doesn't mind it at all or we wouldn't get much refinishing done.

Here's how she looked after a run in with the palm sander:

I wanted a chippy well used look for this piece so before painting I took my tube of Vaseline and applied it in random spots.  The Vaseline doesn't allow the paint to stick in the areas you apply it to and it bubbles after painting so you can easily see where you applied it. 

In one of my brilliant moments of wisdom I decided that I would use spray paint for this project.  The only problem is that it was way too cold to paint outside.  No problem, I would do it in the basement - where our baby plays. Seriously, it was not one of my shining moments.  I started spray painting and before I knew it the whole can was gone. I looked down the hallway to the couch and could barely make out Justin through the cloud of spray paint.  It wasn't good.  I am sure the dog's olfactory senses must have been burning. Either that or he was completely doggy high. He sure had a weird expression on his face that was a mix of total confusion and anger towards his human mother for disrupting his nap.  At least Justin had the sense to turn the furnace off before the fumes were carried up through the rest of the house.  Yup - learned my lesson there.  

The real kicker though is that the spray paint just didn't cover as well as I had wanted.  I decided to paint the whole thing again but this time with a brush and foam roller. I used Benjamin Moore's Advance paint in Ballet White. Advance is great because it performs like an oil paint but cleans up with water.  Luckily we had a small can of Ballet White around so it didn't even cost me a dime. This is the color we are thinking of painting our cabinets so I figure the more I can paint with it, the easier it will be for me to decide if it's right for our kitchen or not. 

Here's how she looked after another coat of paint:

I called my lovely husband in again to sand some more and give her some character.  The spots with the Vaseline just need a good rub and the paint chips right off. 

I decided since there were quite a few chippy areas, and because it was going to have hot mugs on it that I would Poly the whole piece just to give it some extra durability.  I used Minwax Polycrylic.

After inserting the drawer and screwing the knobs back on she was ready to take a place of prominence in our living room.  

The knobs were old and awesome so I decided not to mess with them.

I have 2 more refinishing projects on the go for the living room and am hoping they will be done soon so that I can finally have a cohesive living room.  Stay tuned.....


Kelly