free! free! free side table!

This post is part of my guest room make over!

I was at my goddaughter's dad's house and I spotted this little gem in a corner with nothing on it. I asked what he was doing with it, and he said nothing, that's why it was lonely, he was trying to figure out how to get rid of it! He proceeded to tell me that I could have it, that he would even carry it to my car! Apparently, his mom was moving and gifting him with things that she thought he should have. But being a mid 20's guy, he or his wife didn't necessarily like this table.

I however, LOVE this table. I had recently purchased a desk off Craig's List (post to come), with the exact same lines! So I knew that this little table would be a perfect addition to my guest room/work area. Although the legs of this little table are wood, the top was laminate/particle board, and it rough shape from water damage.

I sanded the top down to get it as smooth as possible. I had planned on painting it with chalk paint so I knew that the thick paint would help hide some of the bubbly wood that the sanding didn't fix.

After I sanded, I primed. Just a latex primer, 1 coat. Normally you wouldn't have to do this with chalk paint, but A) I knew the more layers to help fill in the bubbles in the table top the better and B) this dark cherry color table would definitely show through or need a few coats of my almost white grey color I had planned on painting it.

After a good thick coat of my super light grey I knew this transformation was going to be fantastic!! It was already looking amazing...a million times better than before. Oh, the power of paint! But, I knew that it needed something else. A little pop. Something to make it blend with the blue and tan that I was redoing my room in. Remember my great-grandmother's chair? So I decided to go with a blue pattern on top. I had some blue paint left over my my matching desk (post to come), so it seemed only logical to use it!

Since I'm impatient and cheap, I didn't want to spend $ on a stencil to do an actual shape, so I decided to go with what I had, naturally. I broke out my painters tape and went to work! I decided on diamonds. so I stretched my tape diagonally across the table measuring precisely the same interval between each strip of tape. I would measure at least 3 places on each strip to make sure that I wasn't veering off course. Nothing worse than crooked lines with a bold color! 

Once the paint dried, I removed the tape. I was tempted to keep just the diagonals, but I decided to complete my diamond mission.

So...I remeasured and re-taped diagonally in the opposite direction.

Using the same intervals as before, of course.

Once I finished and the paint dried, I removed the tape. There were a few spots where it bled a little or the grey-white paint wasn't completely dry and lifted with the tape, so I touched up. Once my touch ups were dry I applied a coat of polycrylic to the top. I only applied the poly to the top because that's where all the use would be. I didn't want my striped labor to become scratched, or repeat the water damage issue. Plus with such a light color it's good to be able to wipe off the top.

I might have made my diamonds a little bigger, but live, learn & correct next time!

I believe this was a success, plus it didn't cost me a dime! With my free table and a quick raid of my stash this once lonely table, now has a place in my in-progress guest room/work area.

Supplies for this project:

• home made chalk paint
• This could have been done with a paint sample in a color of your choosing that you can pick up at any home improvement store (Lowe's & Home Depot's samples are $3 for approximately 8oz, which is plenty for this project,) mixed with a few heaping paint stirrer fulls of plaster of paris (also found at any home improvement store for around $7 for what looks like a milk carton full) and a little warm water. Here are a few recipes from Lowe's. 
• Here are a few tips & tricks I've learned with home made chalk paint:
• Although a recipe is good, DIY chalk paint is not an exact science. I dip my paint stirrer in the plaster of paris and dip out a few paint stirrer fulls (2-3 for one paint sample) and it's served me well!
• If at all possible mix the plaster of paris with hot water before adding the paint. The hot water helps dissolve the plaster of paris and any lumps that might be. If you mix this really well before adding your paint, it helps tremendously. After all, you don't want lumpy furniture!
• Chalk paint keeps! Your can put it in a jar with a lid (salsa jars, mason jars, etc) or you can buy paint buckets with lids, both plastic and metal. 
• paint sample for diamonds
• painter's tape
• polycrylic 
• foam brush (of course!...and yes I used the same foam brush for the entire project.)

If I would have had to purchase these supplies from scratch it would have been something like this:

• chalk paint
• DIY chalk paint: 1 paint sample $3 + plaster of paris $7 = total $10
• chalk paint sample - $9-$10 (The only down side to using these samples is that they only come in select colors and they're usually pastels.)
• paint sample (for diamonds) - $3
• painter's tape - approximately $3 (depending on what width you get)
• polycrylic - approximately $12
• foam brush - approximately $2 for a pack at the craft store (more expensive at your home improvement stores)

Total cost for this project if you had to purchase all your supplies from scratch - approximately $30 w/polycrylic, approximately $18 without. Like I said with my antiqued mirror post, it's not necessary, but it'll help prolong the life of all your hard work!

I totally believe in purchasing neutral paint colors, such as white, by the quart! It's $12-$15 for a quart depending on what type you get, but it's worth it. Here are some of the benefits:

• You will probably ALWAYS need white
• You can purchase a $3 paint sample and tint the white paint into another color. Just remember when doing this you need to purchase the sample a few shades darker than what you actually want. 
•  A quart goes a LONG way. I've painted so many pieces with just 1 quart of white paint! Especially if you make your own chalk paint, it covers better and 1 good coat usually covers everything.

Hope you've at least been amused by my journey to rehab this little table.

Save something from the dumpster!

mirror, mirror on the wall...

This is part of my Master Bath Redex.

To start, I just want to let you know how spoiled, and how much of a mommy's boy my yorkie is. He always sits with me, in my lap, etc. He even has to sit in the chair next to me at the kitchen table when my friends and I are just sitting around talking. So naturally, now that I have a desk again instead of a big shelf, he wants to be in my lap or right next to me. After him fussing at me constantly (he's like a little kid, never gives up fighting for what he wants), for about 10 minutes I decided that if I was going to get any work done this morning I was going to have to make him a bed, because heaven forbid he lays in the floor. SO....this is what I ended up with.

I had a storage box that's super cute & decorative, and currently stores my niece's toys. I folded a piece of fleece from my fabric stash, but apparently that wasn't good enough for him. He had to have some of my blanket. I pulled some over for him and he tugged and scratched until he had it pulled over enough to lay on. He may be spoiled a little.

Now to my latest post, my antiqued mirror.

Here is what you'll need:

-low odor mineral spirits (to clean any paint off the glass)

-flat white paint

-antiquing glaze

-as lint free as possible cloth

-foam brush

I'm a little frugal, obviously, so I just washed out my foam brush and reused it for the glaze. I try to only use 1 brush/roller per project. It doesn't always work out that way, but every bit you can save, even if it's just a foam brush, cuts down the cost of your projects.

I've had this mirror for almost 10 years and it's been more colors then I care to admit. Spite its rainbow of colors, it's never been one that I found worthy. The latest of which was this gold color, that was more yellow than gold. Can you say faux pas?  

Step 1

First I painted the entire mirror flat white. Let dry before moving to Step 2. 

(The instructions for the glaze said that it needed to be a flat paint.)

Since it was such a bright color, it took me a few coats, but I got it covered. I used a paint & primer in one because I had originally bought these supplies for a piece that was unfinished, bare wood so I knew I needed something that would cover really well. (You can sand if you want, but it wasn't necessary for my mirror, which is wood. I've tried the glaze on my painted laminate cabinets...it failed. Majorly.)

Step 2

I applied the antiquing glaze with my reused foam brush.

TIP: The longer you leave the glaze on, the darker it will be. You want to do this in sections so that you have even "antiquing". Make sure that you get the glaze in all the little nooks and crannies so that it gives that great aged look.

Step 3

You have to remove the excess glaze with an as lint free as possible cloth. I used an old receiving blanket that I cut up and use for dusting, etc.

TIP: as mentioned in Step 2, I did mine in sections, because the longer you leave it on the darker it is and I wanted an even look. Plus, if you want it darker in areas you just reapply the glaze and wait a minute before removing. If you want a part lighter, just really wipe it well and put a little elbow grease into it.

Step 4

POLYCRYLIC! This stuff is amazing. It looks like watered down milk and has a water consistency. Once the glaze was dry, I applied the polycrylic with yes, the same foam brush! (I only used 1 brush for this project...if you used one for each step then you would have used 3! Just take a minute to rinse it out.)

TIP: I chose Clear SEMI-GLOSS. My home improvement store had a little chart with different finishes and what they looked like. I like the semi-gloss because it wasn't super shiny like high-gloss and it wasn't matte. It has the perfect sheen for me :) 

Please note: This step is kind of optional. If it's a table or something that's going to be getting a lot of use, I HIGHLY recommend you seal it, weather it be with polycrylic or wax. I chose polycrylic because it's easy to apply and no buffing!! Plus I wanted to put this mirror in my master bath and didn't want to take the chance of the glaze that I worked so hard to get in the nooks & crannies, heating up with the steam of a hot shower and running.

Tah-Dah!! 

Note: I didn't clean the excess paint off the mirror yet. I decided to wait until I was getting ready to hang it. No use in cleaning it twice!

All in all this project only cost me the price of the polycrylic which was some where in the neighborhood of $12. If I would have purchased everything needed for this project it would have been something like this:

-flat white paint sample: $3

-antiquing glaze: around $15

-polycrylic: around $12

For a total of approximately $30, but I already had everything in my stash. Go buying paint by the quart! 

   Antique it!