Side Table Makeover!

A few months back we given a side table from Terry's wonderful Aunt and Uncle. It has been great to have a side table in our family room but it was time to redo it to match the rest of our furniture in the room. Here is how it looked before.

I lightly sanded all the stains out and scratches with our electric sander using a 220 grit paper. Then brought it inside to our guest bedroom (aka project room). Before we paint anything we clean it with a product called TSP. It removes all the dirt and grim from the object making the paint stick and last longer on the surface you want to paint. What you do is mix a small portion in a 5 gallon bucket and scrub and wipe the surface you want to paint. You then take a bucket of clean water and go over it. Wait for it to dry and then you are ready to prime and paint. For this project I had my lovely poser cat- Barley to assist me.

The color we chose was a dark chocolate brown. We may or may not be using this same color for our built in cabinets in our family room. Terry really wants to paint them brown. I would love to paint them an off white or white. I will let you know in the verdict in coming month what we decide.

Here are the paint products I used to paint the table- That is a 3" wall brush I used for the primer. I only used it because it was new and I wanted to try it...I would not recommend using a brush that big. It was hard to use and floppy. I would recommend using a 2" angle brush instead. Much easier to use and get in the tight places.

Since I didn't feel like pouring the paint into a paint tray I used this trick I found on Pinterest buy placing a rubber band over the top of your paint can and using it to wipe off the excess paint.

Here is the table after I applied the a coat of primer. It dries fairly quickly I think about 30 minutes but I waited about two hours before I applied the first coat of brown. This primer covered pretty well so I only needed one coat.

Here is the table after the first coat of brown. I was a bit scared at first and was thinking I made a mistake and should of just painted it white. It took a long time to dry because of the type of paint it is. Again we used the door and trim paint I have mentioned in previous posts and just tinted it brown instead of the white we have been using on all the trim and doors throughout the house. I also was painting all the other items from the bathroom the same day. This project has been done a week or so now. I just have been too busy to post about it.

After applying a second coat a day later it was finally done. Here is how the table looks in our family room now.