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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Coffee Table Step by Step



First, let me start off by saying I am far from an expert on painting furniture. In fact, although I have painted probably about 80% of the pieces in my home I normally just rush through painting them and skip steps and then always end up regretting it later. Well, I don't normally regret that I painted the piece (I LOVE painted furniture), I just regret that I didn't take the time to do it properly. This time I decided to take my time and at least attempt to do it right. I photographed the step by step process of stripping the top. I didn't bother to photograph the painting part because I figured that wasn't really necessary. Anyway, like I said, I really don't know what I am doing I generally just "wing it" and hope it turns out. If you want to really learn more about painting furniture I highly recommend visiting one of these blogs, where these lovely ladies have a wealth of knowledge and give far more detailed information on painting furniture: Marian at Miss Mustard Seed, Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect, and Kate at Centsational Girl.

Okay, so here is what the coffee table looked like before. We bought it about 5 years ago. It was a floor model at Pottery Barn and was hugely discounted as they were clearing things out plus it had a few little dings in it. I LOVED the size of it and the fact that the drawers pulled out on both sides (there are four drawers and each one is really long and can be pulled out from either side).

When we moved here three and a half years ago the movers damaged most of our furniture. In those first few weeks I painted so many pieces (with help from my sisters) I thought I would scream. The coffee table was on the list but I never got around to it and I just decorated the top to hide all the damage. Over the past few years it has gotten more and more messed up and finally last week I decided to fix it up. I had originally been planning on painting the whole thing one color but then decided it might be fun to strip the top and stain it for a more natural look and then paint and distress the bottom. I figured worse case, if it didn't turn out right I could just paint over the top. 

The top had all sorts of marks like this:

So, here is what I started with:


I followed the directions on the can and brushed on a coat over the whole top and then let it sit for about 20 to 30 minutes.


Then I started scraping away.

In some spots it came off ridiculously easy and some spots not so much.

So, I brushed on another layer of the gel:

Here it is after two rounds, looking better but still not done:

Lillie loves "helping" with my projects but because this wasn't a child-friendly project she just watched and made sure I was doing it right. =) She was allowed to help paint the other two projects I did last week, though (a chalkboard frame and an armoire).

Whew! Three rounds later here it was! I could already tell I was going to love it! I have to say even though it did take three rounds it really was quite easy. So much easier than I had anticipated. The last project I did using stripper was a nightmare and I had been scared to use it since. This was remarkably easy and it was even quite fun watching the old stain just peel right off!

After that I used my little sander to sand the whole top down. You could just use regular sandpaper too. I bought this sander at Lowe's five years ago for less than $30 when I was fixing up a pair of twin beds for our last house (those poor beds got damaged so badly in our move I could only salvage parts of both and made the daybed out on our back porch with the pieces that were usable). Anyway, it was a worthwhile investment as I have used it over and over for quite a few different projects.

Once I had it sanded down I used this stain and applied one light coat. After that dried I added a second coat and that was it!

And that was it for the top!

 For the bottom of the table I used Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. I used one coat and then touched it up in a few spots with a second coat. After it had dried I hand distressed it with sandpaper. I plan on sealing the top but just haven't quite gotten to that yet.





And don't forget today at noon we will be having our largest batch ever of Growth Charts available! Yay! And if they sell out don't worry we will continue to be making much larger batches as long as their is still a demand for them!
I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!


36 comments:

  1. Great job and one of my fave colors. I used it in the master bath and one of the guest rooms.

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  2. It looks beautiful, Jennifer!!! You were sweet to send a shout-out. Love the top--and the color...love it all!
    :-)
    shaunna

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  3. wow, it doesn't even look like the same piece. Love that the top is stained and the bottom painted. you did a super job!

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  4. I'm like you I just wing it:) I love how you stained the top and painted it in the lovely shade of gray, very neat!

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  5. looks GREAT - so funny ... i had the same phobia about stripping a piece. i did a MONSTER dresser 15 years ago and its scarred me for this long! but i'm currently working on a little chest that will be a sink cabinet for our basement. and it's going much smoother! :)

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  6. THAT IS REALLY QUITE LOVELY, I REALLY LOVE THE LOOK OF A STAINED TOP AND PAINTED BOTTOM.

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  7. Wow! What a difference a little paint makes! Well, that, and a whole lot of hard work. I am loving the stained top and the painted bottom. (That sounds like the clothes I wear while working on DIY projects: a stained top and a painted bottom.)

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  8. Oh Jennifer, wow what a transformation!

    I am scared to death to strip and paint anything, I think you just inspired me!

    Thanks for a GREAT post!

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  9. It looks beautiful! You did a fantastic job. Revere Pewter is such a great color and is perfect for your living room. Love white tulips, too!

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  10. Great Job! I'm inspired, too! You should try chalk paint sometime. There are a couple of brands out there. There is no prep work to do. It's great!

    I hope you got compensated from the moving company for all the damage they did to your furniture.

    I finally got one of the growth charts on my sixth attempt! Whew!

    Thank you
    Daneille

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Danielle! I have been wanting to try chalk paint for months now but it's just sooooo expensive. Once it is in my budget I plan on using it!

      I am so glad you were able to get a growth chart! Hopefully now that we are in a larger space and making much larger quantities they won't continue to be such a pain to get! =)

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  11. Just beautiful!! I have an old coffee table from my parent's house I wanted to restain top and paint the bottom ~ love the colors you used but I have one question--did you sand the bottom or anything before you painted? Thanks for any suggestions!

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    1. Thank you! I didn't. The bottom was actually in pretty good shape so I just painted right on it and didn't do anything to prepare the surface.

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  12. Love this! Great step by step instructions! THANKS!

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  13. looks really great! i love the light color. i've never used the paint stripper i usually just paint over it but i like the wood top and painted bottom! thanks for sharing!! susan

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  14. Great color choice, and i love that you stained the top. it gives it more character and makes it more of a statement piece. While i liked the original paint, i think it just got lost in the room. Now it's a focal point!

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  15. I really love the natural wood top. Perfect stain color choice too. It is so much nicer now that it's not just a generic black coffee table, and the color combo is wonderful!

    Cindy

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  16. I love what you did to that table! Looks really really good!

    Pearl

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  17. Such a beautiful transformation! Thanks so much for the step by step of using the stain stripper. The desktop in my kitchen is a hideaous orangy stain color and I have been wanting to do this for so long but was too scared. You have inspired me! It's on the short list now :) Thanks again!!

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  18. Absolutely love it! When I bought my first home almost 8 years ago, I received lots of "gifts" of furniture. Sweet generous friends. While none were pieces I would have chosen, all were well-made and real wood. I went to town with paint (Behr Cottage White) and received a ton of harrassment from friends. How in the world could I paint wood furniture!??! Well, I didn't care and I still love it. Thankfully painted furniture is now AOK.

    Love your choices on this coffee table.

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  19. This is a great redo! The color is great and I love the exposed wood on top.

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  20. I went searching for 'refinishing black pottery barn coffee table' and found this! Amazing! Originally I sanded the top and loved the color underneath, but the prospect of doing a whole table.. well, not completely realistic. I like this worn look and can't wait to find a color I like.

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  21. i have nearly the same story: a beautiful pottery barn coffee table we got at a crazy discount, and one of the short sides broke off during our cross-country move. i never thought about fixing it up since it is no longer symmetrical, but this is a GREAT idea! thanks so much for the inspiration! those pieces are made too well to just get rid of. :)

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  22. Hi! I also want to re-do my pottery barn coffee table that is black. I like the stained top/painted bottom look. Was there a reason you stripped the top with that stuff versus just sanding the top? I've never done it before so just curious before I attempt this project. As you know, PB furniture is expensive so I'm very nervous about doing it, but I'm over the black. All my furniture is black so I'm slowly trying to re-do all of it. Thanks!

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    1. Sanding it won't remove any of the old paint or stain. If you want to remove the black paint and have the top be wood then you will have to remove the paint and the only way I know to do that is to strip it. Then you can sand it down and stain it. I hope that makes sense. Good luck!

      Have a blessed weekend and wonderful holiday season!

      Warmly,
      Jenni

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  23. Hi, I was wondering if you did any sanding to the bottom part before you painted? I have a two tone coffee table that's black underneath that I'm planning on painting white and distressing.

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    Replies
    1. Hi! We just painted over the bottom since it would have been hard to get in there and sand.

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  24. is the grey paint 'flat, satin or semi gloss' on the bottom?

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    Replies
    1. We would guess matte or satin, but it was so long ago we can't remember!

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  25. I have a pottery barn coffee table in black and the top looks a little like yours did with some of the paint missing. I would like to repaint it black. Do you think I could use the same process you did but just repaint it black? I'm just not sure what color black I should use. The rest of the coffee table is in good shape it's just the top.

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  26. I have a coffee table from pottery barn as well that I've had for quite a few years now. It's in great shape except the top looks a lot like yours did. I've been wanting to redo it for a while now but I want to repaint it black again. Should I use the same method you did even though I am going to paint it the same color? Any idea what type and color of black paint I should use?

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  27. Hi! I was wondering what you would use to seal the top of this. I am doing something something similar to a table I have but I've heard several different things for what is best to use. Thanks!

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  28. did you take the paint off of the legs too?

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Tamara! It was many years ago, but Jenni doesn't think she stripped the legs.

      -Jason

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  29. The paint color for the table is listed in the blog post. If you are asking about the wall color, though, I am afraid I don't know. It was there when we moved in. Sorry =(

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