Monday, August 16, 2010

Giving Bedside Tables New Life

Recently, I got a little tired of drooling over the DIY project section on Design*Sponge and decided to give it a whirl myself. For those who don't know, like me until recently, DIY stand for Do It Yourself. I had no idea!

I found a pair of bedside tables at Habitat For Humanity Homestore that had potential for only $40 for the pair, a steal of a deal. I thought I'd see what I could do with them. After many pep talks and picking the brain of my best friend Talitha, who has refinished many pieces, I jumped right in. Here are the tables when after I stripped them.



Supplies used:
paint stripper
scraper or stripping brush
2-3 sand blocks (medium and course grit)
1 quart espresso colored primer
1 quart Martha Stewart paint in Custard color
lint free rags or pieces of old t-shirt
2 mini-rollers (5 in or so) with handle
1 2 1/2 inch brush
wood filler (if needed)
new knobs

I decided to do a dark espresso primer underneath a beautiful Martha Stewart paint color called Custard, then give it a distressed look by sanding the edges to make it look worn and old. And of course, what re-finished piece of furniture is complete without beautiful knobs from Anthropologie?!

First, I had to strip both pieces with paint stripper. This was NOT a fun part. That stuff stinks! I was able to strip one piece to the wood, but the other had a layer of paint that just wouldn't budge. So, I just had to paint over it with the primer. Once the pieces were stripped, I cleaned them well and sanded them to remove any access paint and smooth the areas. I also used a wood filler to fill any areas that were dented or where unwanted holes were and sanded those areas. Then, I vacuumed out the pieces entirely. I painted them inside and out with the primer I chose, which was a dark brown. Once that was dry, I started coating them with the custard color. I gave it two coats since the primer was dark and showed through some on the first coat.



Once the second coat was dry, I was able to take a sanding block and distress them. I wanted them to look worn, so sanding the edges and corners let the brown show through the yellow. I especially sanded on the edges of the drawers since those get used the most and would likely have the most wear. Thank for the tip on this Talitha!



I picked up these pretty knobs at Anthropologie for the tables. Probably the most money I had to spend went to these babies, but they really brought it all together!



So, here is the finished product! I think they turned out great and make a nice addition to our bedroom! Plus...no more books on the floor!






1 comment:

  1. love them, kelly! and i love your blog... and it's name... and how it got it's name ;)

    ReplyDelete