Painting Failures and Triumph...Kinda

Well, I'm finally going to show you this little project that has given me such a headache!  I bought this little table about 3 months ago at a thrift store at half price for a whopping $1.50.  At that price, I couldn't resist.  What would this little beauty become?  Who would benefit from it's uniqueness?  Whose room would it reside in?  Hmmm.  Let's think about it for....Oh, I don't know, 3 months!  Sometimes, I just need to think about things for a while!  Here's what I started with.

And here's how it turned out.

This little baby is going in my girls' bedroom.  They decided they wanted a grey and yellow room, so my inspiration came from their color scheme of course.  There was quite a bit of damage to work through.

But it had these beautiful curves and claw feet!

I know many people have a hard time painting over wood.  I grew up like many of you being told, "You never paint over wood!"  This is a beautiful table, but with all the curves I knew I wouldn't be able to sand it all down and re-stain it to look new.  I also don't have a hesitation when it comes to painting over wood with a piece like this. I've outgrown that and believe if you can make it look better with paint, then get the paint brushed out!  So last week, I finally took it out again and started working on it. 

As always, sand it down first.

I used my small hand sander for the table top.  For the curvy legs,  I used 150 grit sand paper.  To make the sanding process a little easier, cut the paper in strips and fold it into three sections like this.

The legs took the longest and it wasn't perfectly sanded.

 

But it was good enough.  Here it the table all sanded and ready for primer.

I used a grey spray primer after sanding and wiping off all the sand.

Then I brushed on my first coat of grey paint.  I got this FREE quart of grey paint called Winter Chill from Ace Hardware.  I love this color...

...But it was to light for the table.

So I mixed the light grey paint with a little black paint I had in my garage.

The darker grey was just right so I let it dry and added the yellow in a few places by free hand.  The yellow paint was also FREE from Ace Hardware on one of their give away weekends.  The yellow color is called Butterfly.

 

Then I ran into my second problem.

 Ok, so I painted the top yellow but I didn't just want a plain table top.  So what did I do.  I stenciled flowers on top of course....and of course they were all wrong too.

 

My girls are 10 and 12 and the flowers are cute but they made the table look like it belonged in a nursery instead.  So I sanded once again, and once again I had another idea...that was also a failure.

 On picture this doesn't look terrible, but it really didn't match with the rest of the table and no one in my family really likes the shabby chic look.  So once again, this idea is out the door!  I decided to just make it a plain yellow table top.  If inspiration hits later, so be it.  I can always change it, right? Right!

The girls needed a small table for their small room.  This fits perfectly as a nightstand and works with their chosen color theme.  This was a $1.50 makeover, so I'm pretty happy with that!  Curtains and paint will be happening this summer too so stay tuned for their room reveal!

So what do you think?  

It's a little bit of improvement with a little bit of paint.  Works for me....even over wood!

Be sure to come back later this week and check out our Laua party ideas. 

Blessings,

Lisa

I link all my projects with some wonderful blogs.  To visit them, go to the {Link Party Love} page found at the top of this page on the {Home} bar.
Also linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Savvy Southern Style
No Minimalist Here
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Saved by Love Creations 
Miss Mustard Seed
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm 
Tip Junkie 

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