Sunday, June 8, 2014

Before and After: Dark and Modern to Light and Bright Farmhouse Coffee Table

So I may be getting a hang of/becoming obsessed with this whole DIY chalk paint thing. I spent a solid 30 minutes after finishing the dresser just wandering the house looking for something else to tackle with chalk paint.

Funny enough a few days later I saw Shaun hauling our old chunky coffee table up the stairs from storage to stick it in the truck and donate it. There were a few reasons this wouldn't work. 1. The truck was already packed full of clothes and furniture to donate and 2. I immediately saw my next chalk-painted piece.




We had gone through about 3 coffee tables in the living room and either Shaun or I or both of us weren't happy with all of them. This was a modern coffee table we got from West Elm when we lived in the condo. Shaun actually hated this table because it had some scuffs and marks on it. No matter though, I was going to make it even more scuffed! But purposely scuffed! Which is better than accidentally scuffed (funny how that works, isn't it?)




So I went to Lowes and picked up a couple $3 cans of someones "accidental" paint color they didn't like. They were both off white and perfect for what I wanted. One was more of a grayish white and one was more cream. I picked the grayish white one for this because I knew the wax was going to make it a warmer color anyway.  I also picked up some sanding blocks so I could scuff up my project and make it look less modern and more lived in.

I have never been a fan of picking up and moving things and buying extra things I don't need so I ended up just throwing down some old towels around the table in the office while I painted it. Here is what it looked like after it was painted and I scuffed it up a little bit with the sandpaper. Since there were so many angles and varying surfaces on this table it took a bit longer to scuff and wax. Luckily I've been blessed with daily Law & Order: SVU marathons to keep me company so I end up sanding while entranced watching detectives Benson and Stabler hunt down bad guys.




I was so happy with the light scuffed up/worn look that resulted from just sanding down the edges gently with a coarse sandpaper. I also took a lighter grit and smoothed out the top since I had a few uneven surfaces from the paint being a bit too thick. Whoops!

Waxing was more of a pain in the butt than anything.  But once it was done and I was able to polish it into a nice lustery finish it was all worth it.








Not too shabby for the 2nd ever piece of experimental chalk painted furniture! I obviously learn things every time I paint a piece and this was no different.  But I am thrilled with the way it came out. I think I might start painting the bedroom furniture when Shaun is at work. Just don't tell him, ok?

You can tell Bear was pretty over me working on this table by the time I was done. Luckily I finished just in the nick of time! I can't wait to paint more pieces. I have a few small decorative things to work on that I am super excited about too! Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go snuggle this Bear and eat this charcuterie plate and enjoy my Law & Order marathons. Have a great day! 






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