Do you ever feel like there’s a sound track of your life out there, somewhere?
I sure do.
Let me tell ya, I don’t dream in color, I dream in lyrics.
Mmhm
It’s like that Nancy Meyers’ movie (I love Nancy Meyers movies).
You know the one, where the character Amanda Woods is just living her life when all of a sudden,
the voice she hears inside her head is the narrator of her life introducing the latest song
that captures her current moment.
Aw, the HOLIDAY, you gotta see it.
Well that’s how I feel sometimes.
Like when I saw this old rotten thing of a table in an antique store.
I’m like, just look at you. You have potential, I see it.
I have hope for you,
I… , I… ,
“I have a dream, a song to sing…”
(A song from Mama Mia? Do you know it too?)
Sorry. I know,
I get a bit carried away. It can be a problem.
But sometimes, I just can’t help myself.
Wait, and then there’s that other song that reminds me of my sweet husband.
It goes like this…
Oh, ok, I can hear Rod chiming in now saying enough.
I get it, I get it. I’m done. But anyways, where was I?
Oh yeah…
Coffee table dreamin.
So here was this sad ol’ thing and I just wanted to help it,
to give it a new beginning, a fresh start. So we bought it and took it home.
I wondered where it had been and what it had gone through to get so worn out.
Did it start out as a cute young thing way back when looking sharp in its former home?
Maybe even the perfect accent piece for a dashing sofa.
Then did it get handed down through a few generations,
used and loved, but finally discarded?
Hmmm, the stories it could tell if only it could talk.
What a shame that someone else chose to toss it aside instead of upcycling it.
But you know, they say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,
or woman in this case.
And that’s just what’s going to happen here.
This ol’ girl is gonna get a pretty new look
(the coffee table, not me).
First, we’ll start by sanding down the glossy finish, or what’s left of it.
You can see that my handy dandy hubby is an expert at this.
I suppose I’ve given him plenty of practice to fine tune his expertise over the years.
This part is really easy and kind of fun, but you’ve gotta have a hand held sander
(otherwise, it’s not very fun).
They’re reasonably priced at Home Depot or Lowes. We got ours at Home Depot.
After the sanding, take a dry cloth and wipe all of the dust off.
Next, decide on your paint color which is not always an easy task is it?
Oh boy, choosing paint color can take me days, even weeks.
It’s a big deal to me. But I’ve got it down now.
I have spent enough time analyzing and researching exactly what I like.
Then I’ve put enough samples up and around the house,
including test paint on the walls and furniture, to be sure I’ve captured my vision.
I like very light neutral colors like grays, whites, and beiges but I choose them with a warm tint.
The color we went with for this coffee table is an off white semi-gloss paint & primer together
called Seapearl by Benjamin Moore and I have used it for several other projects in the house as well.
So for this technique Rod painted two coats and let them dry a few hours in between.
But we do let it dry over night before we start the fun.
What’s the fun part you might ask, isn’t it all fun? Haha
Well it is, but this really is the magic of it all, the creative part.
Next, get out that ol’ sander you bought for this project that I promise you’ll use again and again.
Start sanding just a little bit here and there to remove the paint so that you can see the wood.
We like to do a little bit on the corners and edges,
mimicking where the paint would have naturally been worn off.
Then have at it on top, a little here and there again.
It’s really up to you. You get to be creative and figure out what you like.
We would stand back and look at it ever so often to see if we needed to do more or not.
So go slow, take your time, and enjoy the process.
Lastly, we finish it with a clear coat of polyurethane because we knew it would take
a lot of wear and tear being in the center of the room and having well,
coffee on the coffee table which might get spilled and all.
But other pieces of furniture that we’ve done, we left without this top coat.
I hope you feel encouraged to take on a project like this. It’s not hard, it’s fun!
Then when it’s done, step back and admire your hard work.
Maybe dress up the ol’ girl with some pretty flowers or have a cup of coffee with her.
But just think, someone else’s junk is now your treasure,
even future heirloom to pass down to your kids.
Goodness, I have a bunch of passed down furniture from
my mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law too.
And even if you have upcycled some discarded thrift store or garage sale find,
don’t you think your children will appreciate the effort it took you to make it pretty again.
I think mine would.
They might even be singing…
“So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me.”
(So sorry, I am a shameless Mama Mia fan.)
XO Jerri