Lego Table

I wish I took a before picture! My husband came home with this little cheap IKEA Lack table that was all warped on the top, one of his customers was just going to throw it out! He wasn't sure if I was able to even work with it but I instantly new it would be a perfect lego table!

My boys are obsessed with anything legos just like every other boy. So I was pretty excited about this one because it would be something useful and functional to keep.

I decided I didn't want to paint the table. There wasn't any damage anywhere except the top but that would be covered with lego plates. Brittany and I sanded down the top to make it as level as we could. Then measured and centered out the plates as best we could and super glued them down.

It was the easiest project ever and perfect for a long MLK weekend. The boys have been obsessed with it and building on it all day.

Leslie

The Little Yellow Table

This little eye sore was so plain and boring with a big crack in the wood to begin with. But with gorgeous curves and a little love it turned into quite the beauty.

To fix the crack I attempted to just put some wood glue in it and call it good, but it ended up drying unleveled. So I ended up taking apart the whole thing to really get in the cracks and glued it together perfectly.

Once put back together I lightly sanded the whole thing and began the painting. I wanted to heavily distress the table but with a darker color than what it was to show through, so I did light random strokes of Junkaddict's CoCo Puff chalk paint. The thing I love about chalk paint is how fast it dries so I had to waste no time at all to begin applying Junkaddict's limited edition Cautious Yellow chalk paint.

When the table was completely covered and dried in the yellow, I was in love. It was a perfect pop of color and would be an adorable night stand in a little girls room. But the next day I decided to stick with my plans and heavily destress the thing. I delicately scrubbed areas that would get worn on any old piece of furniture with sandpaper, then I sealed it with polycrylic and wax to give it a durable and nice feel. My husband almost exploded when he came home from work to find the perfectly painted table looking old and battered up. He thought one of the kids had ruined it. When I explained I did it he of course did not understand one bit of this crazy distressing style. But it was b-e-a-utiful, I really, really, wanted to keep it for my living room, if only I had the extra space.

The little yellow table went into a little girls room, and they sent me home with another similar table to refinish (see another post soon)!

When you're in love but have to let it go there is no such thing as too many pictures. I had to take photos of every angle so I'd never forget her!

 I had the perfect spot for it! Until it sold and I had to put the dog cage back.

So long little table, you were no place for a house full of boys.

Leslie

Gray Glass Top Table

This table was a hard one to figure out. I bought it because it was cheap and in pretty good shape. But then I couldn't decide what to do with it so it would look pretty! This is why I need a team of color designers to tell me what to do.

After sanding down the gloss I decided to go with a gray to match the etching in the glass top. I used Junkaddict's Dumbo chalk paint. But after painting the whole thing gray I thought it looking kind of plain, so I decided to bring out the details. First I attempted to just outline the details in white, but felt it needed more. So I tried out a technique I saw on Pinterest where you lightly dip the tip of your paintbrush in a color and lightly brush it on the areas you want to stand out a little.

 Do you see the difference? Top has outlined details, bottom is brushed details. Almost looks like it was distressed.

Once the paint was all dried I sealed it with polycrylic and wax.

Leslie

Spunky Emerald

This is the piece of furniture I went to go buy when I came across Lovely Little Blue at that moving sell I was telling you about. It was in pretty good shape, just a bit beat up on the surface and edges.

When looking for inspiration for design and color choices I go to Pinterest like any other person in the world. I kind of became obsessed with the bold emerald green look.

These are just a few of the many I pinned for inspiration. Arn't they gorgeous?!

(http://decorhacks.com/2011/04/green-lacquer-desk-makeover/)

(https://centsationalgirl.com/2012/02/the-kelly-campaign/)

(https://centsationalgirl.com/2012/02/the-kelly-campaign/)

(http://themoderncottagecompany.blogspot.com/2011/11/w-i-n-n-e-r-n-d-r-e-v-e-l-i-am-on-roll.html)

(http://involvingcolor.com/blog/behr-pine-grove/)

(http://www.thegoldensycamore.com/2014/02/going-green-bold-color-inspiration.html)

You get the picture? I wanted a hot, bold, different color to make this thing pop. But it turns out finding this color was not so easy, I searched around for weeks until Brittany and I went to the 22nd Street Antique Mall (don't take kids, it's a nightmare, too many breakables within reach) one day and found the one of a kind, last one left of Junkaddict's chalk paint. It was perfect and exactly what I was hoping for!

After I completely painted and sealed with many layers of polycrylic to give it that high gloss look, I moved onto my next dilemma, I really, really, wanted to line the drawers in black and white. Do you know how hard it is to find cute liners?! It's hard. I looked at every store I could think of, checked Pinterest for some direction where to go. I looked for cabinet liners, scrapbook paper, wallpaper, something! I couldn't fine anything! I didn't want to give up or else the inside would be a plain and boring oak color against the vibrant green.  Then I found some cute wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby that hopefully would do the job. 

So I measured and cut, and cut and measured to get the wrapping paper to fit as perfectly as I could. It was such a pain to work with. I'm horrible at wrapping presents, I'm sure my 5 year old could do better than me, this was torcher! It would bend in all the wrong places, then rip and tear once I had it perfect so I had to start all over. Once I had all the pieces I needed I modge podged the drawer, carefully placed the paper, then modge podged the paper. Sometimes I got bubbles I really had to work on and in one case re-do the whole thing. But the final product gave it so much character, I was very pleased.

Then it was onto my next problem, finding hardware. I wanted some pretty gold pieces just like my inspirations. But for some odd reason the sizing where the hardware holes were, were unlike any other pulls. I had the hardest time finding something that would even fit, so getting gold fixtures was even harder. After searching everywhere for weeks I finally agreed to just go with simple black knobs and pulls. Maybe the new owners will give it an update and can find something pretty that would work. 

All in all it came out great and was a great learning experience!

Lovely Little Blue

Lovely Little Blue was a sad old table. It was pushed into the corner with a very weathered top and about to be abandoned by her owner. Luckily I found her when looking at some other things and rescued her from her sad life.

Sadly I didn't take a before picture, I was too excited to rescue her and give her a fresh look to snap a pic. The whole top surface was so warped I had to sand it down for days. Seriously, days. I would sand away all afternoon, think it looks good, but my level said otherwise, so I'd go at it again the next day.

So the paint, was found out of the blue, really. I was at Lowe's getting supplies when I happened to check their clearance section. And what did I find? This blue chalk paint on clearance! I didn't even know Lowe's carried a chalk paint! Well they do, made by valspar and their colors are lovely, and their paint is pricey (but what paint isn't?), but it goes on so smoothly and perfectly, I'm a big fan. This color is called Trousseau Blue.

Well once the table was roughed up and level Brittany and I covered it up in this beautiful blue then sealed it with polycrylic and wax. At first I had plans to take the wheels off the bottom, they looked so tacky holding up the old oak table, but they were handy and convenient when moving it around to paint.  But once painted they had a whole new look. Suddenly they looked like high heels holding up a beauty. I'm so glad I kept them on because it really gave this table height so it wouldn't look so small and week.

Leslie