Sunday, July 18, 2010

How to Refinish a Sofa Table

In the quest to continue brightening my decor, I finally took on the sofa table I purchased for $10 at a garage sale. It didn't look bad as it was...


but I am in love with bright whites these days. That table's days in its original state were numbered.

Recently, I woke up to temperatures which didn't feel like the surface of the sun.



I knew it wouldn't last, and I also knew that this piece was going to take some time, so I got to it.

The table had a pretty heavy varnish which was going to take some heavy-duty sanding - too much for hand-sanding.




Because I want to be respectful of my lungs, I bought a particle-filtering face mask when I started refinishing furniture. It's unbelievable how much dust flies!



All this dust must be wiped off of the piece once it's sanded. That's a bigger job than the actual sanding - but it must be done! I used a dry cloth, then a damp cloth. Some people use an air compressor to blow off the dust - an excellent idea, but I don't have one yet.



I purchased a paint-sprayer, but I'm embarrassed to say, the think has kicked my behind so far...I'm still playing with it. I ended up hand-painting this piece. It needed three coats of bright white paint, but it was worth every brush stroke!



Another step in the journey of changing up my decor! Next step...the vintage bureau.

What were some of your early or memorable decor changes? I love to get inspired by talented people!

Mona Kay

8 comments:

  1. Great makeover! You can't go wrong with white.

    -Rene

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  2. your right it didn't look bad, but it looks awesome in white!

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  3. Thanks Bette! If it stands still, I will paint it white ;)

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  4. that table looks wonderful. its amazing how just a little paint gives an old table life again.

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  5. Agreed!! I've seen some beautiful old pieces look amazing with a coat of paint!

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  6. I love it it looks fantastic! Great job

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  7. Looks great. Did you use oil or latex paint? I have some chairs that I'm going to paint white and I don't want them to have any brush strokes. I think I will use oil based paint (stinky and messy to clean up) since it tends not leave any brush strokes or marks.

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