ORGANIZING
Tips for Tuesday
I feel like I've been behind on everything lately, and at the top of the not-done list was this coffee table I was refinishing for my son's birthday...which occurred two months ago! This project was neither difficult nor time consuming; I just had a terrible time finding opportunities to paint.
It was in pretty rough shape when I started working on it.
One spot had a deep gash so I filled it in with some wood filler, let it dry and sanded it smooth.
I used paint by American Paint Company sold by my friend Shelly at Shizzle Design. She sells sample pots of the paint, which much nicer than having to buy a quart and then having most of it sitting around in the basement forever. Another nice thing about the paint is that you can apply it on finished surfaces without sanding first. Shelly told me it might dry a different shade on the unfinished spots, but since I was going for a variegated look anyway, that was okay with me.
The lighter gray that I used to paint the crevices and corners is "Freedom Road." (I painted the corners because I wanted to rub some of the top coat of paint off there and let this layer show through.) Once that was dry I painted the entire table top with "Lincoln's Hat." I used 2 sample pots of "Lincoln's Hat," the darker of the two, and one pot of "Freedom Road," the accent color.
I heard somewhere to put your wet paintbrush in a zippered bag if you were going to use it again soon, and it worked wonderfully. (Except for the fact that I'm now finished with the table and still haven't rinsed out the brush...)
If I had remembered to take a photo of the tabletop painted solid with the "Lincoln's Hat" you would be seeing it here:
Once the solid coat of the darker color was dry, I used a chipper brush to randomly paint brushstrokes with the "Freedom Road." I thinned some of this lighter paint with water, so a little goes a long way. I found it helpful to paint the first few strokes on the newspaper to get the majority of the paint off before using it on the tabletop. Because I didn't come up with this brilliant idea right away, I had a few big blotches of light gray that I didn't care for...
So I thinned some of the dark gray and put strokes of that over the lighter splotches that I wasn't happy with. This process may have continued forever if not for the fact that my son came over and said he liked it just the way it was. Or did he say he loved it? Yeah, I'm sure that was it! ;)
And here's the finished product - Ta Da! I told Shelly I wanted the table to be black and gray (neutral enough so that maybe one day his future wife will want to keep it) and to be honest; I thought the paint she gave me was too light. As you can see, the polyurethane darkened it considerably. I decided to go with the poly rather than the wax coating Shelly sells because twenty-something single guys are not too delicate when it comes to furniture.
The original metal legs weren't looking too good either, so I spruced them up with some silver Rust-Oleum paint with a hammered finish. I love this paint, and in the past I've also used it on a floor lamp and many of my heat registers.
If you like this type of furniture, you simply MUST go visit my friend Shelly at Shizzle Design. This is nothing compared to some of the things she does!
Lisa
I've been known to link up with: Monday's Reflections, Inspire Me Monday, Living Proverbs 31, The Beauty in His Grip, Playdates With God, Soli Deo Gloria, Unite, Titus 2sdays, Tell Me a Story, Teach Me Tuesdays, Tutorials and Tips, Knick of Time, A Little R&R Wednesdays, Hope in Every Season, Doing You Well Wednesday, Thriving Thursday, The HomeAcre Hop, Think Tank Thursdays, Thrive at Home, Inspire Me Please, Home Sweet Home, Funky Junk Interiors, Friendship Friday, Feathered Nest Friday, Frugal Friday, Thrifty Things Friday, #Fellowship Fridays, Heart-Filled Fridays, Make My Saturday Sweet, What Have You Redone, DIY Sunday Showcase , Think Pink Sundays,
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Great job on the coffee table Lisa! btw, we have Topcoat as well as wax ~ lol. The reason you need to be careful using polyurethanes and polycrylics is because they tend to yellow over paints. Now you just gotta write a little verse along the edge ;)
Love the coffee table. :) Good job. I don't think age matters to guys...even in their 30's and 40's they are still just big kids...lol
Waoo,, seems fun! you have done great job my friend.. too good!
Love this table! What a great gift for your son. I'm sure he loved it. I'll have to check out that paint. I hate sanding and would love to use something that let me skip that step :).
I'm sure you felt such accomplishment when the table was finished. It looks great!
You did an awesome job!! Its always great to complete a project, I have one myself I need to do. Thanks for stopping by to link up today "Mondays Reflections"
Have a great week,
Karren