the story of a little table...

Tip Junkie is having a "favorite project of 2008" party. Go check them out!!

My favorite post of 2008?? It was between the kitchen or bathroom makeover, or the 3 legged table ideas, but I think I like this one the best, because it's a small, do-able project. You can see the before and after here.

The top layer was already peeling off, so I finished the job with a wallpaper scraper to reveal the wood underneath

Sanded her all down. This little gem sander has been through many a projects with us. No, I didn't find her at a yard sale :) We paid full price for her a few years ago and it has been worth every penny.

Sanded, washed down, ready for paint

cover the top with tin foil since we want the dark brown stain here. We use a couple of coats of the famous cream spray paint from Walmart (first spray with a coat of gray primer paint), let it all dry

Now for the glaze! I use a dark brown chocolate paint from Walmart called gloss leather brown and some glaze from Home Depot. These are both the smallest cans you can get and will both last forever~a little goes a long way.

to mix the glaze, I use one part paint to 3 parts glaze. So, I count "1 banana" as I pour the paint and then "1 banana, 2 banana, 3 banana" as I pour the glaze into an old frosting cup. Very scientific. Mix well

Then, I just take a small paintbrush and paint the glaze on a small section

Take an old rag and just wipe it off, leaving the brown where you want it. It just takes some experimenting of painting on and wiping off until you get your desired effect. I left a very very light glaze over the main parts, and let the glaze settle on the edges and lines. You have a good 5-10 minutes at this ratio before it starts to set, so you have plenty of time to play around. The nice thing about this effect is that it's supposed to look aged, so there is no such thing as getting it right~whatever looks good to you.


If you are a scrapbooker and you use the ink on the edges of the paper to give it an aged look, this is exactly what you're doing here~I just run the side of the brush along the edges, and then soften a little with the rag.

Then, a very light coat of Minwax dark walnut stain wiped on (again, a little goes a loooong way), a couple of clear coats of clear protectant sealant, a little handle from Hobby Lobby and she is set.

If you can set up a little workspace in your garage, porch, or backyard you can do a coat of spray paint on one side, a little sanding, or glazing here and there between loads of laundry, naps, practices, bedtime etc. I guess the weather has been beautiful here too, so that definitely helps. It never happens all in one time block for me, but little bits of time here and there. It is so nice if you can leave everything out so you can pick up right where you left off. And take it from experience, put the paint way up high so that your little helpers won't discover it and try to help you out.

Now, if I only liked to clean my house as much as like to do these little makeovers, I would be so set!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for making blogging so much fun~I love all of your thoughts and comments!