Here is the square side table after it has been scrubbed down and its hardware removed. You can't really see it in the photo, but the top of the table has various words (not of a kind nature) etched into it. My neighbor down the street is a landlord and was going to toss this piece after some tenants left it behind. I looked it over and decided to take it home...it is solid wood, there are dovetail joints and it has good lines - all good points when deciding whether or not a piece of furniture is worth salvaging.
Here it is after its coat of spray primer.
An aside - no one ever wants to prime...at work, I tell people that they should prime to get a good result - over half the time, people roll their eyes and shake their head - ain't gonna do it. Priming is the secret behind good paint jobs - and primer is usually cheaper than paint- so doesn't it make sense to prime instead of doing multiple coats of paint?
I decided to use a hammered metal silver spray paint - the hammered finish would help to hide some of the flaws/nicks/scratches in the wood. After the painting, I needed to move the project inside because the temp outside was too cold to continue...so into the dining room it went!
For the top, I decided to decoupage (image that!). This would thoroughly hide the damage of the wood and add extra interest. I used pages from an old french text for the initial layer.
After the initial layer was dry, I sanded the french text to make it smooth. Then I decoupaged a layer of silver patterned tissue paper and when it was dry, again sanded it vigorously. The tissue has a tendency to crease as you glue it down; the sanding smoothes out these creases and gives a textured finish.
Layering the tissue over the french text allows the text to show through, giving subtle depth to the top surface. Once the sanding was complete, I applied three coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, using fine steel wool between each coat to ensure smoothness. I'm not usually a gloss girl, but with the shine from the hammered paint, it made perfect sense.
And here it is - fin!
The polyurethane gave a slight amber tone to the top, as if it was aged...I picked up this same tone in the drawer knobs - they were once brass but all the brass had just about flaked off, revealing silver metal underneath.
Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...Ultimate Repurposes...lots of fabulous creative folks out there!
