From Grandma to Gorgeous - An Endtable Update

This post was originally posted on 4 You With Love.

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Last winter D's grandmother passed away and her apartment at the assisted living facility needed to be cleaned out and everything put into storage.  However, there were some pieces that weren't going to fit into the storage unit and my mother-in-law was going to donate them to Goodwill.

Not wanting to pass up free furniture and wanting D to have some of his grandmother's things in our home, I loaded them into Donnie Durango (yes, I have named my vehicle) and brought them home.  This is one of the end tables. 

Over Labor Day weekend, I was finally able to get around to updating this lovely lady of an end table.  I hate to say it but it does look a bit like a piece of furniture a grandmother would own.  The medium brown stain, the very traditional shape, the doors style...yup, a piece from Grandma.  But as we have seen a million times, a traditional shape with an updated paint job can equal a beautiful piece to be treasured.

First up was a good cleaning.  I wiped her down with a damp rag and then let dry while I got my sanding stuff together.

The top, which was a solid piece of wood got sanded to bare wood.  Thank goodness for my orbital sander.  I used 80 grit first, followed by 120 grit.  A sanding blog took care of the curvy edges.

A wipe down with a microfiber cloth and another with a damp cloth to prep the wood for stain and I was ready to go.  Three coats of water-based espresso stain later, I had a gorgeous deep and dark top.  A couple of coats of clear paste wax and this part was done.  I love the sheen from the wax.  I was surprised how much I love it versus the usual poly I usually use.

 
Once that was done, it was onto the base.  Since I didn't want to sand the whole thing - chalk paint it was the obvious choice.  I was so happy with how my last chalk paint project turned out so I used the same recipe I used before that I found on Elizabeth & Co.  Using leftover light greige paint from the living room, some dark grey oops paint and white flat paint, I created a barely greige color that looked great with the top. 

2 coats of paint, a light sand to smooth the paint out, some light distressing and a coat of the clear paste wax and I was done!

What do you think?

I think she turned out lovely.

Best part, Since I was able to use stain and paints I already had and I was able to use the knobs that were originally on the end table so my cost of this project was $0.00. Can I hear a wahoo?

She looks great in the space and best part, other than the price, is that I am already using the cubby in the middle to store some of the Christmas presents I have already purchased.

Marilyn, thank you so much for letting me share this project with your readers!

And for those that made it all the way to the end of my post, be sure to head over to Claiming Our Space to check out Marilyn's stool project and maybe stay a while to see what we are up too. I would love to have you as a follower.

K

My 1st Chalk Paint Adventure - An End Table Makeover!

I have been seeing chalk paint makeovers everywhere in the blogosphere. Of course there is Annie Sloan, the original, fabulous to be sure but expensive! And limited in color. So the crafty and ingenious women and men of the internet have come up with tons of recipes for DIY chalk paint - some use unsanded grout, some use plaster of paris, some even use baking soda.

For my table makeover, I went with a plaster of paris recipe from Elizabeth & Co. 1 part plaster of paris, mixed with just enough water to make it smooth and 3 parts paint. That's it. Easy peasy! Now according to the info I found online, apparently flat paint is best however, I was planning on using oops paint to get just the right shade of light greenish grey and some of that paint was, well, unknown.

Here I am with all my supplies. I am a messy painter so I usually try to paint outside.

I started with this "lovely" table that I got off Craiglist for free.  I had bought a desk and the seller decided to throw in a couch table and end table for free. Not a  bad deal since I got all three pieces for $15.

While it has these cool finials on the bottom, it also has this so attractive plastic brass. I tried to pry it out and that just didn't work. I was afraid I would damage the wood if I tried to remove it.  That "brass" was part of the reason why I wanted to try the chalk paint. It apparently sticks to everything, even without priming.

You can see from the photo below, it took me a while to get the color just right. Yes, you are counting right, there are 7 different color tries at getting the color just the way I wanted it.   I used white, dark grey, light grey and green paint. Thank goodness I made enough to do the 2 coats because I wouldn't be able to recreate it again.

Once I got the color right, things progressed very quickly.

The first coat went on with great coverage. It was a bit rough but the second coat seemed to even it out.

One of the best parts about this paint is that it dries amazingly fast. I got 2 coats on and dried in less than 3 hours.  It would have been less but I was working on other stuff at the same time. (I love multi-tasking!)

Once the paint was dry, I gave it a light sand with a sanding block. This really smoothed it out.

Here it one spot before sanding. You can see that it is a bit grainy.

Here it is after a light sand. The graininess is gone and it is so smooth.

A couple of coats of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax and the table was ready to go back inside.

It is also the perfect spot to put my foreign coin art while I gather the rest of the pieces for my gallery wall.

One other part of the table makeover - I painted the back of the glass top with liquid gilding paint in platinum, like this.

It adds a subtle shine to the table that I just love.

I think it looks fabulous in its new home! 

The paint color is a lighter version of the grey green in the wall hanging right behind it.

Check out the places I party.

From Freecycle to Fabulous Lamp

As I was scrolling through my Google Reader this post from Copy Cat Chic caught my eye. (I love that site! Reichel Broussard does the comparison shopping for you on home decor items. You should go check it out for yourself.)

The post in question white versions of these lamps.

The one on the left, the Robert Abbey Rico Espinet Fuzo Koffi Table Lamp, is a bit over $200. The copy cat, on the right, the Ashanti Table Lamp, is almost $100.

This is where it gets interesting…

Take a look at these ridges.

Don’t they look similar to the ridges on the lamps above? I thought so too.

More Paint Decisions - This Time, the Living Room

I hate the colors in our living room.  The walls, the baseboards and ceiling are an awful yellow-y greenish tan.  The woodwork around the fireplace is a yellowish cream.  The carpets are a lovely sculpted light gray.  I know I am describing the room is such a vivid way. 

The room has many lovely features. The triple slider leading to the backyard.  The gas fireplace (once it is repaired and made functional).  The built ins with glass shelves.  The antique mantle (complete with secret compartment). The large size of the room.

But all are overwhelmed by poor paint choices and bad flooring.

Since we aren't tackling the flooring just yet, we are going to paint. The only problem, we have trouble picking paint.  It is a problem we have dealt with before in the office.  After perusing Ace, Sherwin Williams, Home Depot and Lowes paint sections, we decided to paint a number of swatches on the wall. 

Yes, I did tape the flooring sample to the wall for the photo.  I will admit I am a bit odd.

Unfortunately, none of these made Hubs or I say,"Yes!  These are the ones."  So back to the chips we went.

And added more colors to the mix.

 

With this last batch of samples, we had two strong contenders for the fireplace wall.  The two dark colors in the second column from the far right. 

Again, we were at a loss for wall color.  That meant another trip to the paint store where I picked out three possibilities that worked with the accent colors.  To make our final decision, I painted both accent colors on the wall, with the white trim, a sample of the flooring and a piece of our furniture.

 Using this technique, we had a winner (thank goodness!).

Accent color (to be used above the fireplace and in the back of the bookcases) Behr Ultra Perfect Taupe - the darker color found above the white in the photo on the left.

Wall color:  Behr Ultra Mineral - the light color on the far right under the Perfect Taupe sample

Ceiling color: White ceiling paint

Trim, baseboards, bookcases and mantle:  Semi-gloss white

And even better, Behr paint has a rebate at Home Depot this weekend.  

Now that we have a color decision, I better get to the store to buy the paint before we change our mind.  Then we just have to find the time to paint.  That is an even bigger challenge than picking the colors.

We also have a plan for the darker accent color we did not end up choosing (Behr Ultra Elephant Skin, in case you were wondering).  It will still show up in the room.  Keep following to see what I mean.

A Desk for the Kid's Computer - Another Craigslist Find

A short time after we moved in, we realized that with all our extra space, we needed quite a bit more furniture. One piece that we needed was a desk for the extra computer that the kids will use for their games to be placed in the basment rec room which also houses the television.

I searched my local Craigslist for an inexpensive desk and found just what I needed for $15.  She wasn't pretty, but she was just what we needed for the space.  And the seller even threw in a couch table and a glass topped end table for free.  Watch for redos of those pieces in the future.

It is amazing what a good sanding, my favorite oil based primer Kilz and a can of paint will do to dress up a piece of furniture.

The hardware which I thought was a lost cause, cleaned up quite nicely with Brasso and a lot of elbow grease.  While I wouldn't normally put brass hardware back on a piece of furniture, since I don't like brass, the basement has golden walls and carpet so the hardware just seems to work. 

I love the rope detail on the edge of the desk.

The total cost for the piece was less than $30.00.

$ 15.00 for the desk

     0.00 for the brown paint (I used paint left over from our previous home)

     2.50 for the part of the gallon of Kilz

     2.50 for a 1/2 can of poly spray to protect the surfaces

     1.00  for the amount of Brasso used to clean the hardware

     7.00 for the brush I didn't clean well enough where the bristles turned hard as a rock (figured that it should be counted in the cost of the project). 

$28.00 Total Cost for the desk redo

I think it looks quite nice in its new home.

Please note:  The chair next to the desk is NOT the chair that will ultimately be used with the desk.  That chair is in my garage waiting to be repainted the same brown and recovered with a coordinating fabric.  The chair pictured next to the desk is Hubs' old office chair.  Lovely isn't it?

I am linking this post to The DIY Show Off:  Fabulous Furniture Show & Tell.  Check to see what others have linked up. 

Picking a Paint Color - Such a Dilemma

This is what most of the walls in our house look like right now.  (This is in our office.)  Paint swatches taped up, samples painted on the walls.  Trying to pick just the right shade of blue, green, tan, brown, cream, greige, whatever. 

Luckily, we have made and/or are close to making some decisions related to our paint colors.  Phew.

Unfortunately, that means the hard work of actually painting is about to begin.  

Wish us luck!

Tip of the Project:  Use painters tape to tape paint swatches to the wall to avoid damaging the paint already on the walls.