Hello friends! I thought I’d share a quick table makeover I painted for my foyer today.
You might remember that each month we participate in a Themed Furniture Makeover project. If you don’t remember, here’s the gist of it: each month, we are given a specific theme and we’re tasked with creating a furniture makeover using that theme. This month our theme is “knock-offs”.
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I’ve had this table for about a year now, and it was given to me by my elderly friend, Norma, who passed away last summer. It’s not an expensive table or even solid wood, but it has sentimental value to me. Norma kept a tablecloth over it in her home and from the picture below you can see why. It had some sort of velvety red wallpaper-type material on top that was old and torn.
Now I have to admit, I actually let this table get worse before I made it better. If you remember me talking about my 4 year old, Max, he loves to “help” when I’m painting. Whenever I’m working on something, he puts on his painting clothes and wants to paint too. To give him something to do, I’d been letting him paint the underside of this little table. Normally I wouldn’t let my kid slap 30 coats of paint on a piece of furniture, but somehow I just knew in my gut that Norma would love seeing how happy he was painting her table.
I actually found this photo in my cell phone that I took last winter of him hard at work :).
I don’t really do “knock-offs”, but I really loved the white and somewhat dirty/distressed look of this table which became my inspiration piece for this month’s theme.
Removing the velvet wall paper stuff from the top of the table was pretty easy. It was so old and brittle the glue was completely dried up and it all peeled right off. The table proved to be a bleeder, so I primed it with a couple coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac.
Next, I painted it with a couple coats of Annie Sloan’s “Old White” chalk paint. When that was dry, I went over it with Velvet Finishes Enhance Dark Glaze. I prefer adding detail with dark glaze rather than dark wax, because I don’t like sealing my furniture with wax. If you use a glaze, you can still seal it with a poly or something stronger than wax. I also find the glaze easier to work with and more forgiving.
Here’s how I use the glaze.
1.) Make sure you have plenty of dry and wet rags ready before you start. The glaze dries fairly quickly and you can’t really walk away from it to get more rags.
2.) Apply the glaze in sections. I use a cheap chip brush.
3.) Use a dry rag to remove as much of the glaze as you want and make sure it doesn’t look streaky. If it dries too quickly or you want to remove even more of the glaze you can go over it with a wet rag. The wet rag works like an eraser. You can even go back up to an hour later and if you see a spot where you forgot to wipe it or have a drip mark you can scrub it off. The longer it sits, the harder it’ll be to do this, but it’s pretty forgiving for a good amount of time.
I sealed it with two coats of General Finishes high performance top coat.
In case you’re wondering, I decided not to paint over all of Max’s artwork. His masterpiece is still hidden underneath :).
You can check out the rest of the Themed Furniture Makeovers below. If you see one you like, just click on the picture to see the full tutorial.
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Beautiful! Beautiful! I’m totally a glaze-over-dark-wax girl, too. And the glaze here is perfect for all of these marvelous nooks and crannies. Such a lovely makeover…..as always. Susie from The Chelsea Project
Thank you, Susie!
First I have to say how sweet it is that you gave your son a piece to paint along side with you. Second… love the table, especially with the glaze you used! It really brings out the details in your table beautifully!
Thanks so much, Wendi!
Hey Amy – first, you know how much we adore Max and following along with his apprentice skills! Secondly – this table is beautiful! We are sure that Norma would be so proud that you treasured her table and are using it in your home. We used to use glazes a few years back and you have just convinced us to dust off the can. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas!
Thanks Vicki and Jenn! Max is definitely a fun apprentice to have around :).
This table is so pretty! I love the glaze on it!
Thanks Lindsay!
Beautiful makeover but the underside and story behind it are the best. Love the memories!
Thanks Kim!
LOVE the glaze on this piece and that you chose not to paint over Max’s artwork! I’m sure your friend would approve. 🙂
Thanks Christy!
Why do you not like using a wax finish?
Hey Sarah! I like the look of a wax finish, I just don’t like the durability. Most people who sell chalk paint and wax forget to mention that wax often needs to be “refreshed” every so often. I’m way too lazy to have to re-wax my furniture every year. It’s also, imo, not a very strong finish. I just didn’t feel comfortable selling furniture with such a low durability finish and I don’t like how easily it starts to show wear. All that said, there’s nothing wrong with wax if you really want to use it. I’d just advise only using it on pieces that are more decorative than functional and won’t get a lot of use. Hope that helps!
Such a beautiful makeover and I’m sure Norma would love Max’s contribution to this table! SO darn cute! Beautifully styled too!
Thanks Kendra! I think she’d love it too!
Stunning transformation as it is completely unrecognizable! Seeing your son working so hard on the piece brings back memories of my daughter years ago, always wanting to help me paint. I always had small pieces on hand just so she could be a part of the experience, something I will never forget!
~Tami
It’s fun to let them help, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by, Tami!
What a beautiful transformation. Thanks so much for the glazing tips. I am going to try using glaze instead of dark wax the next time I work on a project that needs this look. Your friend would be proud of her table now.
Thanks Paula! I think you’ll like working with glaze if you haven’t used it already!
Awe Amy, your friend would be so happy with the beautiful makeover you gave her table. I’m thinking using dark glaze might be much easier to work with than dark wax. You’ve inspired me to give it a try sometime.
Wow, that was one ugly table top. I love the table now. One of my favorite paint techniques.
This table is so pretty! I love the glaze on it!
Thank you, Karla! 🙂
I love this table makeover. I have an old dresser that I will working on soon. The dark glaze would be perfect on it. Thanks for the inspiration.