From flea market to fantastic!
Ok, I have to admit, I'm ridiculously proud of myself. It's embarassing really. But I had so much fun doing this, that I have to blog about it.
Yesterday, on one of our nearly-weekly Tuesday morning dates, the husband and I went to a flea market. Normally, I look for books and other random things, but with the move coming up faster than I care to think about, we're on the hunt for storage items and furniture. Since we're moving to a much smaller space, there's some concern about where we're going to put things. And since we can't remember if there are overhead lights in all the rooms, we're also thinking about end tables and such.
We found this guy for only $6! This picture is after the husband went crazy with the sandpaper. The table itself was a really nice shape, but it had some scratches and some nicks. We decided to paint it and really make it something unique.
Originally, I thought I would paint it ivory and paint some flowers and vines and such on it. So I bought some lovely pink, green, and yellow paint. I loved the colors.
To get started, after sanding and wiping the table down with damp paper towels, we spray painted the table white. Next time, we'll buy some regular roll paint, but hey, live and learn, right?
My husband loved the table as is, but I wanted to make it really unique. First, I tried to freehand some vines. They looked ok, but not fabulous. The brushes, combined with my out-of-practice painting skills, conspired against me. I ended up with squiggly lines that looked like snakes with boils. Not the look I was going for. So I painted over the the disaster, and tried again.
Realizing that I was not the artist I used to be, I thought about doing a checkerboard pattern on the bottom ring of the table. I alternated green and pink blocks, devoting 2 hours of my life to the project. The end result? Remember that watermelon hubba-bubba gum you used to chew when you were a kid. Yeah. It was hubba-bubba in table form. Again, not what we were looking for.
With great sadness, I painted over the pink checks and ended up with a solid green bottom. After a(nother) quick trip to Walmart, I painted the bottom ring in ivory. I also stenciled the top with the same green that I used on the bottom part of the table. Finally, we had a table that we both liked. I sprayed the table with sealer to prevent future damage. Six hours later, the table was finished.
All in all, it cost about $30 to get this table. However, I have pink, yellow, green and ivory acrylic paint I can use again, plus three sheets of stencils. I also have almost a full bottle of sealer as well.
Here's the end result:
There are some parts on the top where the ivories don't match. I sanded that down, and did a light coat of spray paint over the top to age it. So it's a little more muted now. Flea market, watch out!
Yesterday, on one of our nearly-weekly Tuesday morning dates, the husband and I went to a flea market. Normally, I look for books and other random things, but with the move coming up faster than I care to think about, we're on the hunt for storage items and furniture. Since we're moving to a much smaller space, there's some concern about where we're going to put things. And since we can't remember if there are overhead lights in all the rooms, we're also thinking about end tables and such.
We found this guy for only $6! This picture is after the husband went crazy with the sandpaper. The table itself was a really nice shape, but it had some scratches and some nicks. We decided to paint it and really make it something unique.
Originally, I thought I would paint it ivory and paint some flowers and vines and such on it. So I bought some lovely pink, green, and yellow paint. I loved the colors.
To get started, after sanding and wiping the table down with damp paper towels, we spray painted the table white. Next time, we'll buy some regular roll paint, but hey, live and learn, right?
My husband loved the table as is, but I wanted to make it really unique. First, I tried to freehand some vines. They looked ok, but not fabulous. The brushes, combined with my out-of-practice painting skills, conspired against me. I ended up with squiggly lines that looked like snakes with boils. Not the look I was going for. So I painted over the the disaster, and tried again.
Realizing that I was not the artist I used to be, I thought about doing a checkerboard pattern on the bottom ring of the table. I alternated green and pink blocks, devoting 2 hours of my life to the project. The end result? Remember that watermelon hubba-bubba gum you used to chew when you were a kid. Yeah. It was hubba-bubba in table form. Again, not what we were looking for.
With great sadness, I painted over the pink checks and ended up with a solid green bottom. After a(nother) quick trip to Walmart, I painted the bottom ring in ivory. I also stenciled the top with the same green that I used on the bottom part of the table. Finally, we had a table that we both liked. I sprayed the table with sealer to prevent future damage. Six hours later, the table was finished.
All in all, it cost about $30 to get this table. However, I have pink, yellow, green and ivory acrylic paint I can use again, plus three sheets of stencils. I also have almost a full bottle of sealer as well.
Here's the end result:
There are some parts on the top where the ivories don't match. I sanded that down, and did a light coat of spray paint over the top to age it. So it's a little more muted now. Flea market, watch out!
Amanda, I need to hear from you. You won something in my drawing. Contact me at bev matheson at comcast dot net okay? No later than tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteToo Cool :)
ReplyDelete