A not so simple, Makeover- a small side table

Hi There!

I am back with another thrifted makeover.
I got this little table awhile ago for just a couple of dollars.
I knew it could be special with a bit of work.

It looked like a terrible craft project. But it had simple lines and just needed some love and attention.

The top looked like it had a painted pattern at one point, but then was painted green. And then black. Or maybe the black was part of the pattern. Or maybe it was white at one point. Who knows for sure. All I knew was that the paint finishes were worn and peeling. And there were lots of layers to deal with. I also knew, all of that paint had to go.

I decided to to strip the paint off. I could have sanded it off, but decided to try this first. It would need to be sanded after stripping the paint off anyway.  Here you see a layer of the citrus stripper and the tabletop covered in a plastic bag. The bag keeps the stripper from drying out. Make sure you use a plain bag without any printing on it. You don’t want any unnecessary ink reacting with the stripper.

The paint layers came off pretty well. Underneath there was a wood composite top instead of a solid wood top. The stripper had made everything a bit rough. It was looking rough as well as feeling rough, thats for sure!

Underneath all of that bad paint there were little round mirrors in the top. Too cute!

Here is where the make-over gets complicated…

I sanded it and painted it white. I then drew circles on the top and started the fill them in with different bright primary colors. I was trying to go for a modern art look, but I hated it. No photos to show you, hated it. So, I moved on…

A few weeks later I painted it a light gray. And I almost left it gray. But I was having a love affair with quilt patterns and drew some intersecting circles for a wedding ring pattern. And once again started to fill in sections with different colors. And once again- hated it. It looked like a craft project again. So, no photos to show you, hated it.

I then decided to paint it a dark turquoise blue. And then it sat, and sat, and sat all winter long.

When I finally pulled it out this spring, the blue was scratched and needed another coat of paint. But I couldn’t find the right match turquoise blue. I didn’t take any photos, and just painted it silver.

Which brings us here today.

Once the top was silver, I decided to paint the details on the side black. By hand. Two coats.

It was looking okay….I guess.

But I decided that this table was taking more work than it should. It was time for it to be done!

So, I sprayed a top coat on it. And do you know what happened?

It crackled!

The top coat cracked and orange peeled all across the top.

And in some lights it made the silver have a blue under tone.

It looked kind of cool, kind of. Maybe I could, no. I was done!

And you know what? Its fine. I don’t love it, but it looks so much better than when I bought it!

He is just a little side table. He has his function. He looks good with a drink and a cute candle holder on him. He sits next to the chair and does his job.

There you have it.

A make over that went through many stages.

Not all were documented, and that is okay. Sometimes, the fun is in the story.

Made over anything good lately?

-Jackie