Its Mime Time!

Okay so at this time in the "Week of Redos", Señor Hotness was losing patience.  He wanted me to be done with my incessant projects.  So imagine his surprise to find out I had not only been working on, but had practically finished a project without him even taking notice.  Remember those two french provincial end tables that were remade into a vision of gray (here)?  Remember how they were FREE?  Well there was more to the set then just the two tables.  They actually came with a coffee table that would turn out to look like this.

This craigslist freebie I loved because it was the absolute perfect size for my narrow formal living room.  The tables in this room were some antiques that I had redone a few years back, and they looked like this.

So this was a mimic job.  I had done the original tables using Kilz spray oil primer.  Then followed that up with Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint, and the top was stained straight up Minwax Dark Walnut stain.  This is what I was starting with though.

Can you say YIKES! (to both the room AND the table)

Again no nudity was happening in the background of the middle picture.  Destructo Girl has super fair skin, and a fondness for pale pink.

The tops were awful.  Mostly because my awesome three year old had finger painted the tops on the sly two separate times.

  She was saved from a beating simply because both messes were discovered immediately, and we were able to wash off most of the wet paint.  So the first step was to lightly sand the bottom that was going to need priming.

Just a light sanding

I had a little help with the task.

After a very light sanding I lugged out my primer.  For this project I brushed on Kilz oil based primer using a foam brush.  Then let it sit and dry for the rest of the afternoon.

I don't put on really thick coats.  If I had really put down a better layer I probably would have been able to spray less paint.  My lunch break was over though so I left it as it was.  My next step was to hit it with spray paint.  I used Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze on the bottom in gloss.

Already it was looking fantastic!  It is always amazing to me how different a piece of furniture can look with just a little bit of paint.  I let this dry for a day.  Mostly because I was working on other projects that needed to be finished up, like, yesterday (hello barstools).  Next I sanded the top down.  I sanded the top of this at the same time I did dresser (here).    The table top was in rough shape so it sanded off really quickly.

Then I stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut stain, and then let it dry for the next day while I worked on another project (hello dresser).  So I have to say that at first I wasn't happy with the results.  Different types of wood will take stain differently, and have slight variances in color.  My antiques that I was mimicking were made out of Maple, and so the way the stain looked initially on what I think is Oak wasn't what I was looking for.  It had a slight orange/yellowish quality is certain areas.  After painting the edging in the black it really brought it all together.

I don't have a picture of it, but after this step I hit it with glaze.  After letting it dry for a day I also clear coated the heck out of this.  While working with the furniture it looks super dry and very matte until you get it clear coated.  I personally prefer a bit of a shine to the finish of my pieces.  That gives me piece of mind that my paint won't chip, and it will be more kid friendly in that it is easier to dust and polish.  Which is good because more times than not this is how things look around here.

So there you have it.  It looks awesome in the room.  It is no longer an eye sore, and really flows with the funky eclectic look I'm going for.

And now its time for a rest...or a smaller project.

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