Table UpCycle

I have never been known as an early riser. But I had… wait for it….an idea! I had been inspired by a blogger I had seen on the Nate Burkus show, www.sweetpickins.com. She refinished furniture and makes it look fabulous. I can do that too I thought. So I made my first garage sale run a few weeks ago. Now I know that true garage sale divas have a plan, cash on hand and a 6 am alarm clocks. Not this lady. But I did know to go to the good neighborhoods to find the best stuff. So en route to Costco I detoured to a neighborhood garage sale. (I don’t think I ever ended up getting to Costco that day!)  My first stop I found a pedestal table and chairs set and a dresser that were screaming to be loved again. But I didn’t have any cash on me! So a frantic check of my gas finder app also led me to the nearest atm. Back with cash on hand I bought the table. I have not yet mastered the art of negotiating price so I probably paid too much. But I didn’t care. I was just more excited that it all fit in my van! I drove home with the wheels in my mind spinning about I would refinish these finds and sell them. The table was my first DIY project. Here’s a look at the before. My original plan was to paint this set white and distress it with black showing through. After I got a few coats of the black paint though I liked it so much I decided to just leave well enough alone. Here the steps I used to get this table into tip top shape.

  First I washed down the table with some TSP. It actually took away a lot of the sheen and it prevented me from having to sand the table. But there was some kind of sticky substance on the table, not sure if it was the finish melting off after so many years or what. So I used some Liquid sandpaper as well. I used my hand dandy paint sprayer and used Silhouette Black by Martha Stewart for Home Depot. It turned out to be a really cool shade with a bit of grey in it. I used a semi-gloss. In between coats I wet sanded it to make it as smooth as possible. Then I sprayed it with a water based poly in satin. It turned out really well. I was a little worried that it would turn out too shiny. I really liked the semi-gloss but I will probably experiment with flat finishes in the future. So it is folks….  Sold it in just a few days on Craigslist.