Although my skills as a blogger are not that great, my craftiness is pretty awesome (if I do say so myself!) I have been so inspired this summer to create new and different things. Over the next couple of days, I plan to up date you on several FINISHED projects. Yes, they are done and just need to be posted for the world to see.
So here's the latest project:
My Craft Table Makeover
Here is a picture of the table that inspired this project. I found it on pinterest.com. You can see my pinboard at
http://re.pn/b/jNed You can also click the photo for a link to the original blog that featured this piece.
I was visiting one of the local "antique" stores in our downtown area. I say "antique" because not everything is antique strictly speaking. I stumbled upon this treasure and had a feeling that it needed to come home with me. I'll been in this cleaning, de-clutter, makeover mode and knew that this table could become something really special.
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| The table in its original state. |
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Next came the hard part: deciding on the perfect color scheme. After a couple of trips to my local Home Depot and my trusty pinboard, I decided on these:
You may be asking yourself, why three colors? Well, let's find out.
The Tutorial:
The look that I wanted to achieve was a rustic, "hey, look at this cool old table that I found" distressed painted look. This works great for those of us that don't have the patient for perfection.
I started by giving the table a good sanding with a palm sander. If you don't have one, they are available for a variety of prices starting at about $30. What could have taken hours with manual labor took about 20 minutes with the electric sander.
Next, clean the table thoroughly with tack cloth. Tack cloth has a slightly sticky texture that picks up all the dirt and sawdust from sanding.
I wanted the table to appear to have several old coats of paint coming through from age and use. So, I began by using a layer of golden leaf yellow. The paint I used was a latex semi-gloss.
Don't worry about brush strokes at this time. I wanted to see the grain of the wood coming through the paint. I did not use a primer either-trying to use the least amount of steps.
Great hint: I think this originally came from real simple magazine. Stretch a rubber band (or two) across the open paint can and use it to wipe of the excess paint from your brush. Works like magic and the paint falls back in the can.
Let the paint dry completely according to the package. I have trouble waiting and live in Texas were the temperature was about 105 degrees in my garage, so that took about 30 minutes.
Next step:
On to my beautiful peacock feather paint color. I gave the table one good coat of the teal blue. Again, I wasn't to concerned with covering all of the yellow paint because I am going to distress the table anyway.
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| peacock feather paint over the golden leaf |
Again, let it dry completely. Now, I began giving my new "old" table that well loved look by using a coarse sandpaper to rub away the blue paint in areas that would get a lot of use over time. Some places the yellow shows through and in others the wood is visible.
Final step, I used a glaze and some of the dark pewter paint over the peacock feather. The gray glaze just adds another layer of depth to the finished table. To apply the glaze: use a chip brush to roughly apply the glaze. Next wipe it away with an old t-shirt. You can purchase paint rags at Home Depot, but I bet you have a drawer full of old stained t-shirts that would be great to recycle. That's it. Check out the finished product.
I'll post pics of the table in it's new home soon, but I have some other things to create before the room is ready for the big blog reveal.
'til later,
Tangy
