OK, I have had many house projects planned for a few years now but over the course of each season, I manage to come up with just as many excuses to not get them done. Most of them need to be done outside during nicer weather and when I don't get them done, I sit all winter lamenting the fact that I wasted my summer doing nothing. I have now decided to kick my own butt and get some things done before the weather turns. In the front yard, I set up a cheap canopy I got for $30 at Big Lots. (protection from rain and sun).
Last week I began with the coffee table. I got it off Craigslist for $30 - a Queen Anne style with a dark cherry stain and 2 drop leafs. I lovely table, although the top was scratched up. Well, my house is blue and white and not suited to dark wood so the table was destined to become white. I spent a few days preparing it - washed with TSP, then sanded and primed with KILZ. Then it received 3 coats of white latex paint. I use the same white throughout my house: Waverly's "Cottage Linen White". It's a lovely shade of soft white - not a cream but not too stark either. Then I coated the painted table with gloss Crystalfin lacquer. I always protect my painted furniture with this acrylic lacquer which cleans up with water and soap. It comes in several sheens from matte, to satin, gloss and hi-gloss. So the next project in line was the round table that sits in the corner in the living room. I bought it to sit at and read or drink tea. It was hard to find one that size for a good price. It's a 36" round for $160 from Target. Quite sturdy. here is what it looked like when I bought it. The base (hard to see in the picture) was a dark, dirty cream (very unattractive) and the top was a darker wood. It's been out under the tent for a week now, going through it's transformation. In a few days I will post a picture of the finished piece for comparison. Stay tuned...
