Use a coaster!!!

Didja ever look at something in your house...a vignette, an arrangement in a nook, a piece of furniture...and think, "I need to change that RIGHT NOW"? I do this all the time...especially if I've been procrastinating with a project, or if I'm not sure of the change I want to make. I've been brooding over my coffee table for MONTHS now....



....but I just wasn't sure what I wanted it to look like. I knew I was sick of the heavily varnished, pumpkin-color pine, and it really is a pretty little table...the possibilities abounded. I look at it every time I sit and watch TV. Two days ago, when I was in the middle of two other projects, one for a customer, and a large armoire for my bedroom, I was resting while I waited for paint to dry. Suddenly, I couldn't stand it another second. I jumped up and dragged the table outside, grabbed my sander and stripped the top down to unfinished pine.

Miss Mustard Seed has some truly beautiful pieces with stained wood tops and painted bodies which I just love, so that is where I started, by staining the top.



Sydney, my two-year-old Border Collie, didn't run from the camera for once, so I included her in the shot :)

I thought some detail on the top would look nice, so I decided to add some small stenciled scrolls.





I painted the legs and the body with Annie Sloan's "Old White", then mixed Valspar Mocha Glaze with Annie Sloan's Soft Wax (Annie Sloan makes a soft Dark Wax too, but I was working with what I had).



I brushed this mixture generously over the Old White to give it an aged and textured look. I've read several ways to do this, and I highly recommend Annie Sloan's how-to book "Quick and Easy Paint Transformations". Here's how it turned out:





Et Voila!! Finished, right?? Well....I left it for quite some time, because I wanted to wax the top, and the stencil paint takes a long time to cure. And the longer I looked at it, the more I decided that the dark top just wasn't for me. After all, I'm always painting brown furniture another color! I needed a way to lighten it, but I wanted to keep the detail of both the beautiful wood and the stencils. Back to mixing paint and wax....

I mixed equal (by eye-ball) parts Old White and Soft Wax, and mixed it into a paste with the brush that I reserve for waxing. I painted and wiped, painted and wiped...rubbing and removing, until I got just the "washed" "limed" look I wanted. I also brushed a little undiluted Old White on with a "dry brush" (very little paint on the brush), and wiped to the consistency I wanted. Here's the final result:



Once again, the before:



And the after:



I'm so much happier with this table...for now!! Now, about that pesky sideboard in my window.....

I am joining Miss Mustard Seed at:


And linking to:




Join me there!!

Mona Kay