Monday, March 10, 2014

Playing around with gray

After I finished the dining room table on Saturday, I sat my bootie down on the couch to scroll through Pinterest, drink some champagne and watch Walk the Line. Buttttt that only lasted about 20 minutes. I have so many unfinished projects in my garage, so I decided to tackle another one. 

The last time my mom visited she picked up a curvy little coffee table for $20 at Goodwill. I've found a few tables like this now; I love them because no matter how you paint them the leggy shape always helps maintain a level of sophistication. 

This funky gold-dipped one is in our living room now: 

And this one I sold to my sweet friend Caitlyn for her new apartment:

I also have one at the foot of my bed, that I REALLY wanna try and tuft. I'm thinking something like this: 
See it on Pinterest
I already bought the peg board and I have the fabric... but let's see when I actually get to that. :/

Anyyywhooo... here's what the most recent coffee table project looked like when my mom found it: 

$20? Holla!

My favorite blog is Dear Lille- she uses lots of whites, grays and natural wood palettes so I decided to play around with a gray color. I chose a Behr color called "Silver Bullet". My preference for Coors Light may or may not have led me to choose that color... ok, it did. 

I sanded the table, and then cleaned it with TSP before applying two coats of the paint + primer. Then I lightly distressed it with low grit sandpaper and steel wool. 



Even with the distressing, it didn't looke quite "aged enough". The gray paint was still too stark in contrast with the wood. So, I used Annie Sloan dark wax on it to darken it a little. 

I don't have a fancy wax brush, so I usually just cut up an old t-shirt to use as lint free rags. Sorry, Pat...


Working with wax is a little more complicated than working with glaze, just because you have less time for color correction. I apply a generous amount of wax in a circular motion using a strip of my t shirt, but I work in very small sections and only leave it on for roughly 30 seconds. 

This is what it should look like before you wipe it off: 

Looks kinda gross, I know. But your fingers will end up looking even more gross. 


Told ya!

After the wax has set for 30 seconds, wipe it off with a clean strip of your t shirt (or cheesecloth) in a linear direction. If you leave it on a light color paint longer than 30 seconds, it can make your piece just look dingy and dirty rather than aged. There's more wiggle room with darker colors, though. 


After the wax was applied to the whole table, it came out like this: 






I think the gray makes it look a little beachy. But it could be that I'm just ready for summer :)

Until next time, God Bless!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Rainy day table rehab...


Well this week was pure. chaos. Tuesday was my last day at work (yippee!), I spent all day Wednesday in San Antonio with my sweet mom after she had surgery, and Thursday and Friday I was in Houston doing MOH duties with my best friend looking for her wedding dress! Needless to say, I just wanted to come home and relax after all of that driving. The boyfriend has National Guard drill all weekend and the roomie/sis is on her way to Gulf Shores for Spring Break, so today I stayed home and did about 12 loads of laundry (I wish I was exaggerating), did some early spring cleaning and finally got to paint my dining table!

That being said...

A few weeks ago, my sister's boyfriend came in town from Abilene and when he walked in our empty kitchen he said, "Did Ravanne sell the dining table again?" In his defense, I have already sold this one...


annnnd this one...


So, I finally pulled my table out of storage the last time I went to Katy to see my parents. I intended to take it with me to school a few years ago but it was just too big for our little rent house. 

What the heck did I do before I bought that truck??

Here's the before...
(And yes it's March and my Christmas curtains are still up. Don't judge me.)



The wood finish on top is still in great shape, but the legs had the original icky finish. So, I attacked it with some white paint (go figure!). 

Now, here's the finished product: 




Can you tell I'm excited for Spring??
Did ya notice I replaced the curtains? They're WAY too short, but I had them in the garage and I figured anything would be better than those red Christmas drapes! 

I really just wanted an excuse to use my new drill! My family gave me these fun toys for my birthday :)

And did you recognize this guy in the background? I did a tutorial on how to make this crate bar cart in September! Read it here.

I also started working on this pretty French desk! I'll be posting the final product this week!


I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and an even better week! I start my new job on Monday, so wish  me luck!

God Bless!

-Ravanne Leigh