Coming to terms with the coffee table

My husband has this inexplicable thing for this coffee table. It's got to be sentimental, you know, one of the first pieces of furniture he acquired and to quote the husband "it's solid wood!". Right. It's a rectangular, solid wood coffee table. Other than that, it's plain. So plain, it's ugly. When I first encountered The Coffee Table it was golden oak with plenty of bachelor-pad-style stains and water rings. Still, it was solid wood and the husband liked it. Siiiiigh ....

Determined to make do with what we as newly-weds and initially single income family had, I tolerated The Coffee Table. Mostly, I tried to cover it up with runners and table scape arrangements. Then, one day, I had the bright idea to paint it. I'd tried to sand and remove all of the nasty stains but they'd soaked into the wood so thoroughly and deeply, paint was the only way to go because, you know, we couldn't just get a different table and replace my husband's beloved coffee table.

No, I don't think I have old pictures of it. In fact, until today I didn't have any pictures of it at all. No, I really am not crazy about this thing ...

A couple of weeks ago I decided that The Coffee Table was too tall for our current arrangement of furniture and in relation to the fireplace next to it. The Coffee Table was like the gangly awkward teenage cousin that stands out uncomfortably during a family reunion. Something had to happen ....something ...

That's when I broke out the saw and chopped off the legs.

Well, I shortened them and yes, I should have measured twice and cut once because they are now a little too short. Just a bit. like an inch, perhaps. I slapped some casters on them because we always push it around (it's large and often gets in the way or is either too far away or too close) and I needed something to stop it from scratching up my pretty pretty hardwood floors.

Over the next couple of weeks, the stump-legged version of The Coffee Table grew on me. Heh. If I added a shelf by placing it on top of a sheet of plywood cut to size and then added short legs (maybe fat round ones?), it'd actually not be half bad. There'd be room for small baskets underneath to corral and contain the mess of books and toys that seem to collect around it all the time.

Well, I haven't gotten to that part yet. I did, however, paint it again because a dark-brown table against a dark-brown couch against dark-brown floors just wasn't working. No, really.

And NOW I finally have some pictures! Phew! Took me long enough, hm?

I dragged the thing out into the back yard and gave it a thorough sanding. years ago, I'd used heavy-duty floor paint and it had worked like a charm but I figured it'd need some abuse aka sanding before paint would stick to it.

[No turning back now ...]

After sanding I wiped it down with deglosser. Yes, it's painfully obvious how much I want paint to stick. Must be all that flaky paint surrounding me. It's a bad influence.

There's no shortage of paint and primer around this house. On went a coat of primer! It actually held up to the "nail scratch test" once it had dried. It makes me happy when the primer doesn't peel off, yes, it does!

Our livingroom needed a splash of light, but figuring that white would be too bright (and it's really not a piece of furniture that would need any help sticking out like a sore thumb for the most part) so I grabbed the bucket of Woodlawn Colonial Grey and went to town. Well, I painted that is.

Two coats later I started to see the light. Oh my, so much better!

[A clean slate]

However, a grey table with no visual interest whatsoever is about as exciting as a lump of plumber's putty.

Stencil to the rescue!

[I'm loving this stencil. Really, I do]

Two shades of grey and some bright glossy white for a layered effect, and some stenciling later, I was slowly falling in love. This -could- actually work! So here it is in its current state: fresh paint, fresh design and sealed with Varathane for added protection. [A little bit of layering with two shades of grey and white]

Now I need to find some time to run over to the store to have them cut a piece of wood for me to build up that lower shelf I'm thinking about and buy 4 stumpy legs and all will be well with the world.

[All shiny and new-looking]

Dahlia Desk

Vintage furniture and stencils are a match made in heaven. You've gotta try this! In order to offer my parents a cozy room for their stay here, we had to break out the big guns when it came to improvising style on a serious budget when paint and things you have around the house already are your main ingredients.
I've had this little old sewing desk for a couple of years. It's sturdy, folds out to a large sewing table with a sunken spot for a built-in, but missing sewing machine and 3 deep drawers for stuff. Since I prefer to set up my sewing sweat shop on the dining room table instead though, it was severely underutilized and merely collected drywall dust in our bedroom when it wasn't buried under a laundry basket or tools.

[Before: Mahogany sewing desk with drawers already removed]

After a thorough cleaning and rub down with deglosser, the first coat of primer went on. For a moment I was tempted (notice a trend) to keep it white, but then braced myself and pushed on. I'd chosen a mellow yellow as an accent color to the soft grey and crisp white in the room, and wanted to use the desk to introduce another pop of color.

[In-progress: A mellow yellow desk]

In the spirit of using what I had (and avoiding having to run out to the box store for more supplies) I grabbed the bucket of yellow paint we'd used in the kitchen and painted the desk. The color is lovely, albeit a bit too pale for a piece of furniture. It looked sweet but incredibly bland.
What's a DIYer to do?


Stencil to the rescue! Armed with a stencil and some of the blue-grey paint we'd used on the walls, I wrapped the stencil around the corner and down the drawer front of the little desk.

It's a little hard to see so maybe this project will warrant a bit o' photoshopping the photo rather than using it straight from the camera. Hmm ...

The handles were next. While I like the honey-golden glow of vintage brass, it just wouldn't do for the mellow yellow and grey desk.


This stuff is "Da Bomb!", I'm telling you! It adds a silver shimmer and nice even finish to your hardware without making it look like it was spray-painted. And it dries quickly. Very rewarding!

[After: Drawers with trailing dahlias and fresh hardware]

Cost? Nada. Not a single extra penny spent! Fabulous!

Easy Breeze(y)way

Between our diningroom and our kitchen is an ittibitty hallway with a built-in cabinet and a single piece of hardware in the doorframe indicating that there once was a swinging door closing off this area. Behind the drywall to the right of the built-in is a window through which ice was delivered for the kitchen's ice box. The frame is still there, visible now only from our enclosed shed which once used to be a small porch.

This little hallway between the living quarters and the kitchen is usually referred to as a "breezeway", and the built-in in our house is the lower-class equivalent to a butler's pantry in a more stately home. We love the quirky original floor plan and kept it, busting out no more walls, and leaving the kitchen a separate room from the rest of the house. I cook complete meals everyday and don't want an entirely open floor plan "for entertaining".

The built-in provides a ton of storage but like anything else here at the Duckling, it needed TLC. A LOT of TLC.
Joe was so nice to take one door home to fix the broken frame work but the cleaning and painting was all mine, of course. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as boring as painting trim.

[Before: Dirty, dingy and beat up]

First order of business was a good scrubbing. There were some scary mystery stains on the second shelf but luckily, with the paint the stains scrubbed off as well.

[In-Progress: Fun with stencils]

Once the whole area was primed, I started feeling frisky (maybe that's the VOC speaking) and decided the back of the cabinets needed "something". I wasn't really sure what that "something" might be and contemplated painting the back the same turquoise as our dining room YHL-style but then felt like that would be too much of a contrast for this small area. Then I remembered I had another stencil that had sat unused since Christmas and broke out the yellow paint. Yep, you shouldn't use spray paint for stencils but you know what, I really like the 'washed out' look it created. It looks like an old design painted on plaster.

[Still in-progress: It always looks worse before it starts looking better. Look how nicely the wood filler and the stencil design are color coordinated!]

Two coats of white satin paint, a quick cleaning and unpacking three boxes with glass items, platters and some of my milk glass pieces later, the built in started to look civilized rather than a practical eyesore.

[After: Yes, this is an awful picture. You should never take pictures for your blog at night]

It's so so SO much better now, all bright white and clean and shiny.