DIY makeover: Coffee Table

I can't tell you how excited I am to announce that this week I will be kicking off my first venture into my new love/business.   

I have fallen completely in love with redoing furniture.  It started slowly.  A few years ago my then neighbor and good friend Sharon introduced me to thrift shops as a way to occupy me and watch over me while I was rehabbing from surgery.  During that time I purchase my very first DIY furniture project a piece I still have in my home today.   

My current project is an old coffee table that had seen better days.  When I first got it, from a friend of mine who found it at a thrift store, I thought it looked like it was in ok shape but when I started sanding it, I could see there were a few areas that I hadn't noticed on initial inspection.  The table needed new life and a new finish on top.  That's ok, it is the kind of CPR I am becoming really good at and love doing. 

Beat Up Before 

I have always been crafty but I have begun taking classes on different mediums of paint and I have learned what works for me.  I love using chalk paint,(I am thinking of venturing into the milk paint arena on my next piece) but I do not love antiquing it with wax.  I therefore make a paint glaze.  Actually, I have brown and black paint glazes that I have already made so I am using those.   They are a little more tricky to get subtle but I work at it.  

Top sanded to reveal the beautiful wood!

It sanded down beautifully and I could instantly see how to make this table shine and I have to tell you, I absolutely love it.  I am actually sad that I don't get to keep it but it will find a good home.  So after many hours of careful staining the top, painting the legs with chalk paint, glaze and and lots of careful distressing (AKA Sanding),  the piece is drying with a satin poly protective coat the only thing keeping this from resale. 

Finished distressed detail

I adore this piece so much!  Can you believe it is the same table? I want to use it in my house but that original piece of furniture that started it all is, ironically, a coffee table and if you read my DIY blogs, you already know about my other coffee table.   No, I am not specializing in coffee tables.  I just so happened to have found this one after redoing two of my own.   

Finished except for two more coats of poly

Forgive me if I occasionally plug my furniture Facebook page and latest projects on the blog.  I just love working on this stuff so much. 

Link to my Home Decor Facebook page. I just started this Sunday so it is a work in progress and there will be updates of finished pieces as they become availalble with pricing and photos.  You don't have to buy from me to like it.  Just go in there and get some ideas and inspiration.   I can't possibly do blog posts on each and every piece of furniture I re-love.  Can I?

https://www.facebook.com/turnbacktimetakingtrashtotreasure

DIY Day: The Crackled Coffee Table.

Oh my gosh this coffee table has been a beating! 

the many faces of this stupid table

It started out stained but what you can't see is all the stains and scratches.  So I sanded it and sprayed it an amazing dark metallic and started the process of a stencil pattern and then it went wheels off.  I debated sanding it and starting over but after messing with it for about 3 days I realized as much as I loved the way the table looked, it does not go with the rustic, hunters paradise room I am using it in. This is the family room and my hubby is the hunter and fisherman. Those are his trophies. I wanted soemthing that would look good with the theme of the room and that sectional which I paid a fortune for!

  As in this: 

I hate the carpet and that is a future project, give me time!

So while I love the metalic paint it is something I think I will use in my bedroom instead, romantic and classy!  

glue everyhere 

So I did what I always do when I am stuck... Searched Pinterest for ideas and I found out you can crackle paint with Elmer's Glue.   I ran to Wally World and bought a bunch of the white stuff and got to painting glue all over the table.   

Now you have to do it thick.  Then I took some home made chalk paint in a cream color and started painting.  One direction only on top of the not yet dried glue.  

Let the cracking begin 

It started crackling almost immediately! I mean I didn't finish the whole table before I could see it was working! 

I can't believe it is working 

It's still crackling and drying in this photo.  I decided to do this on a cold day and it took forever to dry! FOREVER!

That is blue and green showing through 

As much as I like loved the silver stencil thing I had going I have to admit this is going to match the room much better and as I sit here waiting for it to dry, I am excited that after all the trials and screw ups, I am drying time and spray polyacrylic away from having my table back!  Besides, I left the legs metalic because I loved them...and it's my room so I can mix crazy stuff like that. 

how old does it look?

And this is what it looked like after a coat of Polyacrylic. There will be several more before it ends up back in the room because my step daughter loves to use this table for everything and we tend to eat on it a lot!  Truth here, this table use to be my dining table but we needed a huge coffee table and my hubby had the bright idea to cut the legs down and use it for a coffee table.  (We have another table in the dining room that I am also going to be redoing but that will come later).
  I can't tell you how pleased I am with the outcome of this table finally!  It is rustic and just terribly different and unique and I love it.  Next week I will add a picture of it back in the room but I have been so anxious to get a DIY blog up that I can't wait any longer and because I probably will have to work most of the weekend, I don't know when I will have a chance to get another project started and I have many ready for y'all!