"Nannie's" table {and I'm officially dead meat!}

As promised the how-to on my lil' table {as I watch my life flash before my eyes.}

Here is the thing - not all people like painted furniture - especially the "beat-up" kind! Now I, on the other hand, adore painted furniture and the more beat-up the better. With 4 kids, I look like I really have nice stuff - thanks to the trends these days. And frankly, before the worn and shabby look was so big - I was a huge fan. I've loved vintage my whole life! And the chippier the better.

Here she is. Brown paint and all. Now, let us get something straight . . . . this is brown paint - not stain. There is a huge difference. I might eat these words {I hope not, but I might} but I have to confess and come clean about a pet peeve of mine.

I hate furniture painted brown.

There, I said it! Finally - it is off my chest!

Why, you ask? I really don't know. I just don't like it. I guess, maybe, if you wanted it brown - just stain it?? I don't know. I just don't like painted brown furniture. Ughh - just gives me the shivers. {As I slightly turn my head, my eyes start to roll in the back of my head, my tongue sorta hangs out and my hands draw up and do something weird!} Oh. yeah. it's that bad.

Case in point -

I think this table proves my point.

The story goes like this - my Nannie gave me the table AND I had every intention of having it refinished BECAUSE most all the family heirlooms I've acquired are in the best condition of their life at this point. For obvious reasons, I normally don't paint them and spend the boo coo bucks to have them redone to beat their former glory. My grandmother has flat out told me on numerous occasions about another piece of furniture {cedar closet that is no longer in my possession} to never paint it. And I should capitalize the word "never" because that is the way she stressed it. My assumption is that same ruled applied to the table - but she never said I couldn't paint the brown table. Only the cedar closet. Ignore the fact that she has always been under the impression that I was going to have the table refinished - so why reiterate the fact that furniture should not be painted. Although she, and everyone else in my family, knows I loved painted furniture and might possible choose my fate by painting whatever I deem necessary to paint. To include this ugly, yet adorable, brown table.

Are you following me?

Now, the story goes this table belonged to my grandmother's parents and was originally a "radio." At further inspection, you can tell that they did remove something from the center and re-attach the top of the "something" back on the base {with nails that had huge heads(?).} Therefore, making this table. As far as the brown paint and the why - I'm quite certain it has to do with the original finish the table had. The brown paint was painted over a lot of "chips" and "drips." One can only imagine what this table looked like before the brown paint. {I'm sure awesome in her chippy state - but like I said, not all people agree with my "4-kids-living" style!}

I did save up the boo coo bucks and was prepared to have her done up the "right" way. But my guy said it would cost way more than the table was worth. Way more. Because it was just that Ewwgly! Do you know that word?? When Ewww and ugly meet. I've never heard it either - I think I just made up a new word!!!! That is fantastic!

Anyhoodle, so after all this time - I finally found her a home in my house and figured out what to do.

Blue. I wanted her blue. With a stained top.

My choice of color was Sherwin Williams Quietude - SW6212. I think it is the same color that Nester used on her armoire. I think. I was going to link up, but her format has changed and it would take me forever to find it. I had this color picked out for my bedroom for a long time, but just never knew how I would like it all over - so the table was a "try on color" to see how I felt about it!

I made the mistake of trying to strip the paint off the top - remember, I wanted the top stained. The stripper was probably the dumbest mistake I made that week. I should have put on a mask and got out my sander! The paint on top was sooo thin and barely there that the sander would have bumped it off in a matter of seconds. I really wanted to stain all the lips going down the sides, too. But the sander would not have been good for that!. Hence, the reason I thought the stripper was the best idea. Well, the stripper made the top really gummy and basically smeared all the paint around - one, nasty, hot mess! So, after 24 hours {to insure it was dry,} I sent my husband outside to sand the top. I would have done it, but it was only 22 degrees - he did it really fast {haha!}

After I wiped it down with a tack cloth, I went to painting the base and legs. Only 1 coat of interior latex, flat paint is all it took. And about 27 minutes {I seriously timed myself just for this post!}

The next night. I took a foam sanding block and just started sanding. This took about 2 hours. It was late and I watched 2 episodes of Criminal Minds while I did it. I basically sanded down the areas that would be worn the most if it was truly "worn" over time and not in a 120 minutes.

I normally do not do the sanding thing - only because it takes a lot of arm work. I do like the Vaseline trick - or wax - but where this one did have brown paint underneath the blue, I wanted to try to remove a little of the brown with the worn look and reveal the chips and cracks and drips.

After all the sanding, I cleaned it up with a wet rag! I know - horrible isn't it! But I wanted all the dust to be gone! As I then took my fav-o-rite color of stain . . . Minwax Special Walnut . . . and a sponge brush and I laid it on thick! I stained the top. Then I did the blue parts. I would brush it on an entire leg and then with the same wet rag I had used earlier {rinsed} I would wipe off the stain. One coat of stain. That's it. Just 1!

As you can tell, I ended up painting some of the lip/edge area that I wanted to stain - originally that is the top of the base {where the blue starts} and it was easier to paint it blue than to remove the brown paint in that area. And as much as the nails resemble shingle nails {the biggest nail head you can find,} I really do like how they are exposed!

I love how this leg looks! The dips you see are actually from the original finish - the finish before the brown paint.

I tried hard in all these pictures to really show the true color. I messed with every setting on my camera - which is now out of whack {Krista come over and fix my camera since I've now jacked it up!!!}

I still need to poly it. But it has been so wet or cold or both! I have a lot of poly jobs for the spring!

Any questions, let me know!

And here is a peek of the lamp that sits on top!

Dang, that was a long post - thanks for sticking with me!