side table

I found the coolest table online. I only paid $15.00 for it!!! The minute I saw the molding detail I knew it would look fabulous glazed. The term glazed is one I just started using. For eons I called it “antiquing”. I have been glazing furniture for almost 11 years. (You know. . . cause I started doing it when I was 10, right?) Yikes. I just realized that saying that dated me :) Anyway, whatever you call it, it is awesome.

Check out the before. Can you say dated?

I started out my priming it. It only took one can of spray primer. I didn’t want to bother with painting the inside so I covered it up.

Priming is necessary when there is a shiny finish. The primer sticks to the shiny surface and then the paint can stick to the primer. Kinda tricky eh? If you don’t want to prime then you need to lightly sand it down with a fine grit sand paper (150 or 220).

I always use foam brushes. I don’t like the lines that you get when you use a bristle brush. When you go to paint it, remember that thin coats are much better than thick coats of paint. Thick coats get all gloppy and look messy in the end. Be patient and take the extra time to do several thin coats. The first coat of paint should look terrible and streaky. You should see the primer through it( like the picture below) Let it completely dry before adding another layer. This table took 4 thin coats of paint.

Here is the door with all four coats of paint. Now, you will notice that in the pictures from here on out the yellow looks different in many of the pictures. Yellow is a tricky color to photograph ( at least it is for me) because in different lights it looks so different. In the warm afternoon sun it looks richer and in the evening light it looks lighter. And since I have 4 kids I have to work on things whenever I get a chance which is never at the same time of day. When you scroll down and see the doors with one glazed and one not glazed THAT is the closest to the actual color.

Now you can obviously skip this next step if you want to but I thought I would share how I did the diamond pattern on the top. I measure the table and figured out how many and what size would fit the best. Then I measured and marked the lines with a pencil. I taped it. The way it works out is that you paint every other one and then go back when they dry and re-tape for the other half.

When ever I paint lines or something like that I always go over the tape with the base color. That way if there are any places that the paint seeps through, it is the same paint as underneath and you can’t tell. It seals the tape making the lines nice and crisp.

Then paint the darker color over it. Make sure you paint in the same direction that you painted the whole top. You will be able to tell if your brush strokes are in a different direction especially if you glaze.

Now it is time to glaze. I either add a water based stain (Walnut) or dark brown craft paint. You can also ask the people at the store when you buy the glaze to tint it for you. I love to use brown but you can also use black.

Here is one door glazed and one door without the glaze. You certainly don’t need to glaze your furniture. I think it looks nice without as well. I just happen to have a little addiction when it comes to antiquing things :)

I also changed out the hardware. The knobs were the most dated thing about it! I like the new simple ones much better.

I will try to get a better picture of the table. It deserves to be shown off properly. This was taken in my driveway in the evening when I was loosing daylight fast. I have completely fallen for this table. And you want to know something sad? I have absolutely NO room in my house for it. I don’t know what I am going to do! I might have to find it a good home.

I love things that look old and worn and furniture is no exception. I got this table online for $15.00. I loved the classic lines. It had some water damage and scratches on the top. This before picture actually makes it look better than it really looked.

The places that had water damaged were raised. I needed to sand down the top so it would be smooth.

The next thing I did was prime it. I decided to try Kilz Odorless primer in a spray can. I did NOT like it. It was a weird consistency and it spit out the primer instead of it coming out nice and smooth. I recommend sticking with the original formula in either the can or spray.

I don’t have a picture of it all painted without it sanded down. But I am sure you can use your imagination :)

I used a fine grit sandpaper to distress the table. Either a 150 or 220 grit would work. You are trying to speed up the aging process so think about how it would have naturally been worn down. A flat surface like a table would have worn corners, edges, and legs.