a quick fix
I rearrange my room frequently. Not necessarily the whole room, really, but various corners at a time. I’m always trying to store things more effectively, and I love the rush of creative energy that comes from a quick overhaul, the yes, i can get things done here feeling.
Yesterday was one of those rearranging days.
As I shuffled through piles of paper, I unearthed the top of this little table. We salvaged it from the curb of our neighbor, who used it as a table for plants until, presumably, she got sick of the water rings on its surface. When I needed a table for my printer last summer, I got it out of the basement and put it to work, leaving its makeover for a future date. And yesterday was way past that future date… the makeover was a necessity.
I taped very carefully around the bottom lip of the tabletop, and then constructed a newspaper “skirt” to protect the legs as I painted. I got some great pointers from Kristen’s How to Paint Wooden Furniture guide… the spray primer was awesome and saved me a ton of time. I sanded between primer and paint, and I even did some light sanding between coats of paint. After sanding, I wiped the whole piece with a tack cloth. In the end it took 2 coats of primer and 3 thin coats of paint.
Somehow, I never thought really thin coats of paint were a good idea. It always sounded like a waste of time – who likes watching paint dry? I always figured it would be easiest to get a uniform coat if I used lots and lots of paint. Which worked – halfway. I always lost the grain of the wood, but in its place I got to see all my brush strokes.
But this time, I went with thin coats, and it was a very good choice. The top is smooth and uniformly coated, and my brush strokes are invisible. The wood grain peeks through nicely, happy to be sporting color rather than lack-of-coaster rings. It was a good use of an icky, rainy day, and great practice for the refinishing of my desk that will hopefully be commencing shortly! I am also very pleased with my choice to leave the legs natural… it looks super classy!
What about you? Any spring projects planned?
Beautiful!
What kind of paint did you use on the wood? I’m working on a project right now and need to repaint wood, I’m totally lost of what type of paint to use.
The paint I used was Home Depot’s BEHR Interior/Exterior Hi-Gloss Enamel. The can says MEDIUM BASE really big on the front, and it has a reddish label.
I chose high gloss because I wanted the finish to be shiny – I also figured this would make it easier to dust/wipe clean. I’m very pleased with it so far (i mean, it is day 1…), it’s quite glossy but not like, shiny in a bad way. I think it is a very appropriate paint for furniture.
hope that helps!