Hunting For The Right One

Don't give up on finding a special piece for your home at a good price.  If you can hold out until you find the right one, it is really worth it.  Keep checking craigslist, thrift stores, garage sales, and your local consignment shops.   Sometimes they don't need any work at all.  You can always have fun painting it and making it your own.  The good thing about buying second hand furniture is that you can almost always sell it for the price you paid for it and sometimes more if you have fixed it up a bit.  Another nice thing is that you don't feel bad painting it or making a mistake.

I had been looking for a particular table for my living room for several years.  I knew exactly what I wanted but try as I might I could not find it.  Finally one day while searching the basement of one of my favorite consignment stores I found it.  There is was, all dirty and worn, buried under another forgotten table, stuffed behind a chair for what looked like ages.  It had a 70s style finish to it that was barely noticed under all the dust.  I had to study it for quite a while before I was sure, but I could not deny it, it was the one!  I could see all the beauty of it hidden under all the dust and dark stain.  I took it home and got to work.

I needed to sand the top all the way down to the natural wood, and I wasn't sure what I would find.  It had a thick acrylic like finish to the top and part of me feared that it might not be a pretty wood underneath.  I took it down layer by layer stripping the old a way.  I used 3 different grits of sandpaper.  I started with a course 60 grit.  Once I had the majority of the thick top layer off I then moved up to a softer 150 grit.   I ended with a gentle 220 grit for a nice smooth finish.  I was so excited when I saw the raw beauty of the wood underneath.  It had been there the whole time.  This gorgeous solid wood top with amazing grain to it.  I couldn't believe anyone would cover this up.  Once I got the top sanded and smoothed to my liking, I began to stain it with a dark walnut stain (Rust-Oleum Dark Walnut)  that really brought out the beauty.  I sealed the top with a dark wax coat.  I loved it.  Now I will have you know that the correct way to do this is to use a special goo that would strip the top coats and then you scrap it all off.   I don't like to do that.  I will eventually try it and then I will let you know my experience.  For now, I like to stick to my handy dandy palm sander, which by the way a cheap Black and Decker that we bought 9 years ago.  It works great and has been through A LOT of projects!

The body of the piece I decided to paint in white for a couple reasons.  One was it has such amazing character with its curved legs and metal grate I thought the white would bring out these features.  The other is that I loved the top so much I really wanted it to stick out.  By painting the body white it really emphasized the beauty of the top.  I painted a fresh coat of ASCP (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint) in Old White.  The paint made a huge difference by bringing out the details that I could not have appreciated under all that dark stain.  I absolutely love the way it all turned out.  I am so thankful that I waited for this and did not settle.  Did I mention it only cost about $40!!