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!