End Table

About a month ago my old church was having their annual rummage sale to benefit the choir program, so Tony and I stopped in to look around. It was great to see old friends, and I was able to pick up this little gem of a side table.

Needless to say, it had seen better days. However, I had a grand vision in my head! Good old Pinterest had provided me with the inspiration to combine paint and stain, so that’s what I did with this gal.

First though, I had to sand down the finish on the top.

Sanding is a painfully slow process, even with Dad’s electric sander. And this was a pretty small piece… I’ve picked up some other pieces that are really going to put my endurance to the test! Anyway, it is quite rewarding to feel that smooth, bare wood under your finger tips when it’s finally done.

The next step was to apply the paint design with the stencil…

…And paint the base of the table. I used a primer first, then three coats of white paint, so I didn’t have to sand all those curves.

Finally, the part I was waiting for: applying the stain over the paint on the top.

It didn’t come out quite as dark as I’d hoped, but I’m still pretty pleased with it. Adding the clear polyacryilic sealer helped solidify the color. Here’s the finished product:

Please know that this is quite literally the ONLY clean corner of our house right now… and I had to push some wall art out of the way just to get this! We’re currently in the process of packing things up and preparing to move again. It’s very exciting though to think that this will be our last move for a very long time!