My "Distressing" Task

Well, I lied. I said I was definitely going to get around to finishing up my table this past weekend. But, I didn't. It all started when I got home from work on Friday afternoon, and our air was- once again- completely out. We left the house immediately to go to dinner. I couldn't stay in the house another minute with the heat. Poor Zach had been working in his office all afternoon with the air, and I don't see how. We were told that the heat/air guy could possibly make it to our house that night, but that didn't happen. He did, however, call around 9:00 on Saturday morning and let us know he was on his way. Bless his heart! We weren't expecting to hear from him until much later on that day. I guess he knew we had somewhere to be that night. I just kept saying as he was outside working on the unit, "Bless him, Lord!" :)

The problem this time was probably the best-case scenario. This doesn't seem to happen very often with us, so we were overjoyed! We were fully expecting to be purchasing a brand-spankin' new unit before all of this was over, but it turned out to only be a bad motor. When Zach told me this, I was thinking the price would be about as much as a brand new unit would be, but it ended up being fairly cheap. Praise the Lord! Now that we have a new motor, we're hoping we can hang on to this unit for a little while longer... like until we move out! He had the exact motor we needed in the back of his van, so it was fixed within 30 minutes, and we were back to a cool house again.

I packed up and went to Mom's to swim and lay out that day. That didn't quite happen. We laid out and swam for all of about 30 minutes, then the rain came. I headed home after that to get ready for Ivey Isbell's wedding. Zach went with me, which I was so happy about, and we had a great time! We met up & went with David & Amy and other friends, and enjoyed the beautiful wedding & reception. The light rain that day actually turned out to be a blessing, because it made the night much cooler.

******

Anyway, back to my painted furniture post- it's done, and that's what matters! I can't tell you how great it felt last night when I finally finished it, and placed it in the bathroom.

This is my very first piece of furniture to paint.

Yikes- I felt a little bit of pressure on this one, even though it's for myself...still didn't want to disappoint!

This is actually a side table with a magazine rack that used to sit in my mom & dad's living room....years and years and years ago. I like to remember it as Dad's little side table. You could bet on his stack of BAMA mags sitting on top of the table at any given time. :)

BEFORE

(Part 1- Fresh out of Mom's garage):

BEFORE

(Part 2- After sanding):



AFTER

(Part 1- After just ONE coat of paint. Notice the inside of the rack isn't painted yet. Oops!):



AFTER

(Part 2A- After distressing):

LOVE the detail on this!

AFTER

(Part 2B- The finished product and a pic of it in its new home! Yippee!):

It has taken me much longer than I thought to finish this baby up. I actually started it over a month ago, and accomplished a lot on it (like most of the actual work), then left it to sit in the garage for a while. The main reason for this was because it has been WAY too hot to do anything (ANYTHING!) outside. The spray paint rule is usually to only use it in 70-90 degree weather, so I probably could have gotten a little done here & there, but I couldn't stand it myself. If I can walk out on the back deck, stand there about one minute, and start to sweat, you can bet I'm not going to be outside spray painting and sanding or doing any other physical activity out there. Needless to say, we haven't been on any neighborhood walks with the doggies in a while. I keep mentioning to Zach that we need to take them, but it's so unbearable right now. If we did, we would have to take water on the trip with us. Ridiculous.

Anyway, some inside info on my little project: I did not use primer. I have read in countless design blogs so many different opinions on it. The resounding answer I seemed to keep coming across was "It doesn't matter!" So, I didn't. Leave it to lazy me to leave the optional things out. That's why they call it "optional." I honestly don't think I would have been able to tell a real difference. Primer may have saved me about one or possibly two coats of white paint, but I still would have had to apply the coat of primer. So, eh, it's a draw. I think no primer is better when you want the original wood finish to show through after sanding, anyway.

I sanded it, then put a couple of coats of paint. I did go ahead and start sanding to distress after the first two coats. I wanted to make sure it would look alright...and it did. I LOVED this step more than anything!! It only took a few minutes to complete, and it made a world of difference.

Now comes the part where I let it sit in the garage for a few days weeks over a month. I was letting it "cure." :)

Then, the day when I said, "Enough! I'm getting this done!", and just did it. It was HOT outside, did I mention this already??

I put one more coat of paint all over. I did get a little light with the paint on the inside of the rack part. I knew I was going to house it in my guest bathroom and put towels inside it, so I wasn't concerned with paint coverage there. I can always do that later on if I decide to repurpose it.

I sanded a little more after the final coat (which Zach helped me with, bless him! It always helps to have another set of eyes), and voila! Done. And, no, I didn't put any kind of sealer or top coat on it. I have read about different kinds, and couldn't really decide on one. Polyurethane yellows a white surface, so I knew that would be a big no-no. I can always apply a top coat later on, if it seems to need it. I was also going to experiment with glazing to antique the table, but I tested it out on a scrap piece of wood first. I did like the way it looked, but not for this table. I wanted this table a pure white so it would match perfectly with the trim in the bathroom (and it does!), and the glaze gave it a more off-white/brownish look. I may use that technique on a cheapy piece of furniture later.

That's about it. A fairly simple project, just strung out for a longer period of time than necessary. I'm pretty impressed with it (and surprised at myself), with it being my very first furniture project. Now, on to the next one!