Friday, March 11, 2011

My Little Half Table

BEFORE


DURING



AFTER
I bought this little table at an estate sale months ago. It just called out to me "take me home!" despite the fact that I really didn't need a little table like this (note to self: don't make purchases without really thinking about where the item is going to go in my house). I knew immediately that I wanted to re-stain the top and paint the bottom two shelves white. Jumping ahead -- what did I learn from this project? Here is what I took away:

1) Spindles stink! They were a giant pain to sand and were difficult to paint evenly (I'm not particularly patient). It got better with each coat, but at the beginning I thought "what have I gotten myself into?!" Not an easy project for a beginner.

2) I followed the directions on the back of the stain container and left the walnut stain on the table top for a minimum of 30 minutes. When I wiped down the top, the stain was way too dark. It was practically black. So I re-sanded and wiped the stain on and off in under 5 minutes. The results were dark but not too severe. 

3) Clean, clean, clean! I was lazy (again) and didn't do a very good job of dusting off the piece between coats of white paint (done over several days). Every time this table sat in my garage, dust would settle on the table. If I had been more diligent about cleaning the table very carefully between coats, I wouldn't have had to do so many touch-ups. Lesson learned.

I'm linking this post to:
Furniture Feature Fridays

3 comments:

Jen said...

Awesome! That turned out so GREAT :) I like the dark stained top and painted bottom- it makes the items on display pop more. Nice job!

Lori Deming said...

That looks so good. What a great feeling something turns out so nice.

great job.

Lori

Jodie said...

You did a great job! I can relate. Sometimes in the midst of a project, I wonder what the heck I was thinking but the end product makes it all worthwhile. I'm joining as a new follower. Love to have you stop by for a visit sometime. Jodie