Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A coffee table- reborn!

My living room is getting closer to being complete! Over the weekend I finally made up my mind about the coffee table and put the finishing touches on it.

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures for you.





The top was thoroughly sanded and cleaned, then stained with "Special Walnut" by Minwax. I applied 3 coats of wipe-on poly in a satin finish to seal it. The legs got a couple coats of Rust-oleum's "Heirloom White", then a light distressing with my sander.

I really love how this table turned out. I think it's just perfect for my room.

Leaving part of a piece beautifully stained and painting the rest has opened up my eyes to new possibilities for furniture refinishing. I guarantee you I'll be doing this a LOT on future makeovers.

If you have a piece that you want to re-do but are a little hesitant to paint over your wood, consider this as an option. It might make painting less scary if you leave some of the wood alone, and I think it's a good compromise if you have a purist for a spouse who thinks all wood should be left unpainted, but you're convinced that sometimes it's okay to cover it up. With this treatment you can both be satisfied, and end up with a lovely "new" piece of furniture!

P.S. I'll be adding this to the Frugal Friday Linky Party going on at The Shabby Nest (my first time!) so hop over and see the other entries as well!

9 comments:

Jake & Lisa Danes said...

Love, Love, Love it!!! So beautiful! Great job again Sarah!

Unknown said...

PRETTY!!! You did an awesome job. I love it. I just found you from the linky party over at the Shabby Nest. I posted over there too. Stop by some time! I'm a new follower, bloggy friend : ).

Angie said...

It looks awesome! I love the painted bottom with the stained top.

Jeralee said...

Saw this link over at The Shabby Nest. Love how your table turned out! I have a coffee table very similar to this that I was going to do the same thing. Quick question - did you spray paint the legs or brush it on?

stephanie h said...

It's beautiful!! I love the two tone look! Great job!

Unknown said...

I love this! So funny because just last night I had my friend over and was talking about my coffee table and matching end tables and told her how I wanted to paint the maple tables but hubbie thinks I should leave them alone...this I think might be the perfect compromise!!! yay!!! thanks for the post and oh by the way...I love the way your table turned out!!! LOVE it!

Suzanne@Meridian Road said...

It looks so pretty! I really like the two tone look~I'm going to have to do this to something I own.
Great job!

Rory from Tools Are For Women Too! said...

Nice project. I would love it if you would link this up in Modern Craftswoman Monday. Very well done. Rory

Angie said...

Exactly what I want to do to my coffee table, however mine doesn't have a nice walnut color to show through the distressed legs. Should I stain everything first then distress the legs or should I paint the legs and then use walnut stain as a glaze? I just worry about yellowing the white.
Is Heirloom white only a spray can?