I am slowly chipping away at a few projects that I have been wanting to get done. I am going to have back surgery soon, so there is a lot I can’t do at the moment, but I thought if I was careful, I could maybe refinish an end table that needed some attention badly.
This is a piece that I have had for years. One of those fabulous thrift store finds somewhere along the way. Such a unique piece and the perfect size to use almost anywhere.
It’s a reproduction of a candlestick table from the Museum Collection by Lane.
As you can see, it was in bad need of a makeover. This poor table was really showing its years of wear.
Huge improvement after.
First thing was to sand it down really good.
I wanted it to compliment my dark walnut and gray pieces in the family room. So I decided on a walnut top with a painted-distressed gray bottom. (Doesn’t everybody refinish furniture in their living room? The weather is too warm to do it outside, so living room it is.) I used General Finishes Walnut Gel Stain. It took two coats to get the really dark finish that I wanted.
After the stain was dry, it was time to paint the bottom. I had some leftover light gray chalk paint, so I elevated the table on a stool and gave it the first coat.
I decided it was too light so I put a small amount of paint in a Tupperware dish, added a little black, and created a darker gray. This time it got turned up right side, so I cleared off the island and used that as my work table. (With the impending back surgery, I can’t bend over, so I am being creative.)
Now it needed some distressing, so I mixed up some different paints, brown, gray and black on a plate and did some dry brushing.
The camera makes the brown look really yellow, but in real life it is brown.
A satin clear coat and it was all done.
It goes so much better in my room with my furniture.
I am loving it.
This is the fabric I have draped over the brown chair. Now that the table is done, I really do like this fabric to recover the chair with. It will have to wait until I recover from back surgery, but I think it will be perfect.
One more thing checked off my to-do list.
So, what do you think?
