New look for an old table
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 11:50AM 
I’ll be honest with you, when I saw this piece it wasn’t my favorite piece of furniture. However, in keeping within the constraints of a budget make-over, I thought that this piece had potential if given the right love.
First, I took off the bottom skirt and legs by removing the screws holding them on and gave the piece a quick sanding to scuff up the surface and reduce the harshness of the gouges that had been routered into the wood surfaces.
Next, came a coat of new paint. The light, taupe-y grey was mixed with glaze medium. This helps allow for variation in tone and coverage to give the weathered, driftwood look I wanted. The paint was dry-brushed on the entire surface, again to allow streaks of dark to bleed through from the original wood color and create a wood grain look. Tip: Work in small areas to allow time to layer and feather the brush marks before the paint dries.
Once the base coat was dry, the entire table was coated with a satin Polyurethane tinted with a little Raw Umber and Black Universal tint to give a warmer, sandy overcoat to the table. TIP: Universal tint is available at paint stores in loads of colors. It’s pure pigment which is used to modify or create a paint color. My best tip is to mix in tint slowly until you reach the color you want. Another tip: paint dries darker (and in the case of reds, less pink) so stop before you reach your desired color and paint a test patch to see what the paint looks like when it dries.
After the poly coat was dry I lightly sanded areas to age the surface and added industrial wheels to the base.
Now I love this piece and it fits in perfectly with the room.
Reader Comments (1)
I think most people don't realize how affordable (and on a more general level how doable) it is to revamp an old piece of furniture. I guess pieces of furniture are like people - you have to look past the superficial surface stuff and see if the the basic qualities you need are there!!!!
THANKS for walking through the steps and showing us how attainable the goal actually is!!! Really inspiring!!!