I never considered myself to be a bona fide garbage picker before this table ended up in my car.
It had been sitting along the side of the road near our house for several days and I even dispatched my husband Justin to check it out. The local weatherman was forecasting rain for the overnight, so I knew that I had to make a decision and that decision was to just bring the darn thing home with me. I knew immediately that I wanted to paint it.
John and Sherry of Young House Love have provided a fantastic step by step guide on how to paint furniture that I follow pretty closely. No use recreating the wheel if someone else has already perfected it.
I’m a creature of habit when I’m working on furniture and I have my own rituals too.
- The first thing I do is wipe down entire item with soft cloth. This step gives you a chance to really get to know the furniture. You can evaluate any potential trouble areas (i.e. water damage, chips in the wood, etc.) and it gives you the assurance that you have removed any spiders or other creepy crawly hangers on.
- Sanding. I use a couple of different grades of sanding sponges. The sponges last longer than sheets and I can get into edges and grooves easily with them. They are pretty reasonably priced as well and last through multiple projects.
- If you are painting, then it is time to prime! I have been using a pretty stinky oil based primer underneath the latex paint on all of my pieces. I’m definitely in the market for something a little more “Earth” friendly. Always, always prime in a well ventilated area and allow each piece to fully dry (I usually prime one day and then start painting the next day). I typically will prime several pieces of furniture at a time so that my exposure is limited.
I’m a big reader of design blogs and one of my absolute favorites is House of Turquoise . It was very easy to draw inspiration from all of the beautiful images over at Erin’s blog. I knew early on that I wanted to do a turquoise piece of furniture!
I headed over to Lowe’s to pick out a low VOC paint (great information on VOCs available here) and was very happy with the selection that Valspar had to offer.
- The final step was to put on two coats of a nice water based polyurethane. This would ensure that the table would be easy to clean in the future.
I ended up with enough left over paint to do another turquoise item in the future, so stay tuned!
-Kate
If you want your home to have a special piece of green furniture, created with your needs in mind, contact me by email at RedefiningDecor[at]gmail.com for information.
I have a plain dark brown table that looks all severe and modern and you’ve inspired me to brighten it up! This looks fabulous!
Mahvelous, dahling! Found you at The Nesting Place. Wish I could see it in the space!
Will do, Kelley! Check back for pictures of the whole shebang!
LOVE how that table turned out!! great job!
This looks so fun! I have an old table that I have wanted to paint for way to long. My hesitation is that it’s a table we use every day and it’s not all wood.
Megan, I was willing to take the risk to do something crazy because it was a table that I found for free. If you want to take the leap, take comfort in knowing that you can always find inexpensive tables on Craiglist or Freecycle.
I am totally tempted to do something like this! I just got a table off Craigslist. I was thinking that black was a safe choice but THIS looks like more fun.
Hmmm! I’m inspired!
Audrey,
I say go for it. If you hate it, throw it back on Craigslist and start over!
Send me pictures if you do paint it! I’d love to see it.
love, love the turquoise! great job!
Thank you!
Oh my…dreamy! Love it! Nice to meet you!
Love the color…love the step by step…love the room! Great job! 🙂
OMG!!! i seriously love the color of that table.. It’s def a place i could “get crafty” 🙂 What color is that paint called from valspar? It’s beautiful!
Heather @ vintagecreationsinc.blogspot.com
Thank you, Heather! I’ll have to check the color tonight and get back to you.
Gorgeous! I just love turquoise.
I LOVE the color! So fun and it looks so great with chair cushions!
it looks so fresh and modern with its new paint job! great job!! i hopped over from fresh coat friday. 🙂
Thank you for coming by! It was a fun project to do.
I love this re-do!!
That looks absolutely awesome! I’m in the middle of my own project and this inspires me to venture beyond black or white!
Thank you! What project are you working on?
[…] moved the TV to another wall. I was also able to give two of my early refinishing projects (my turquoise table and chairs) a home. I loved how the blue in the table matches the blue in my husband’s […]
I loved the table color.. I’m planning on painting a sofa table turquoise as well, could you tell me which valspar paint you used exactly?
thanks
Thanks for stopping by. The color is tidal teal.