furniture redo

Power of Paint Feature

Happy Tuesday!

Today, Maryann at Power of Paint featured House of 34′s Old Dresser Makeover! Thank you Maryann! I appreciate the shout out!

Power of Paint is a site “dedicated to all things PAINT!” She has oodles of paint projects, tips, tricks and ideas. Check it out! And be sure to submit your paint projects too! She just might make your day too.

By Laurie|October 23rd, 2012|DIY (you can do it!), OMG (happenings)|2 Comments

Console Table Redo

Another project is finished! My “ninety percent-itis” is clearing up!

My friend Crys and I traded entry/console tables. What a cheap way to get new furniture! She wanted my entry table and offered me her console table she needed to get rid of. (She needed to get rid of it because she bought this absolutely gorgeous unique piece of furniture at the last antique show we went to. She always finds the good stuff! No, I’m not bitter… ha!) So we switched tables. She got my black, slightly broken Target console table I picked up years ago at Goodwill for $40.00 and I got her beautiful, full of potential, long console table bought at a real furniture store. I think I won in this switch, but I’m not telling!

The table she gave me looks similar to a Ballard Design table I have been eyeing for a while. I love free!

Sells for $399.99 at Ballard Designs

The wood color on my new piece was not pretty, kind of redish brown, and it came with a marble green top. Green marble was popular back in the day when I got married, but that was eons ago and not my current style. I tackled to table base first, not knowing for sure what I was going to do with the green marble top yet.

Table Before

This is the back side of the green marble. It’s unpolished and full of small holes.

The first thing I did was dust and wipe down the table. Then I lightly sanded it, wiped it down again, and primed it. After two coats of primer, I painted it a bright aqua. It looks good on the walls in my Sunroom, but not on this table!

Round two! I painted over the aqua with a light gray-blue. Much better!

Second color close up

The edges were distressed with a medium grade sand paper. Because it was primed and painted a couple of times, the distressing showed the wood, white primer, and aqua depending on how hard I sanded.

I took a darker gray-blue and added some “highlights” to the table. Using a foam brush I blended the color in.

The last step was wax. I started out using a dry paint brush to apply the wax, but switched to a cotton cloth. It was quicker and more consistent.

Not sure if this would even work, I sanded the edges of the table top because the marble was polished there, and then primed the sides and the back side of marble. I applied 3 coats of primer.

I just went for it. I painted the back and sides of the marble top a dark brown. It took a few coats, but it covered well and the paint did adhere to the sanded marble sides. Woohoo!

Close up of the painted marble top and distressed edges.

Time to accessorize.

It’s finished. Still playing with the accessories, but I’m happy with the table. And no, Crys, you can’t have it back!

Linking to

By Laurie|May 6th, 2012|DIY (you can do it!), SOS (tutorials)|22 Comments

Bench Redo

The holidays are officially over. The kids are (finally) back at school. Honestly, a week off from school would have been just fine with me. Any more than that the kids get bored, pick on each other and drive each other crazy. (And their Mom too!) Love them and they’re awesome, but there are those days that if I hear “MOM!” just one more time… well, they are at school now, so all is well! ; )

I went out in the world today to do a little browsing at my favorite stores and guess what?? It’s not Christmas anymore, it’s Valentines Day! Who knew?? The retail stores certainly did. Red, pink and white decorations, candy and hearts are everywhere!

Anyway, I started this bench before the holidays and it’s finally complete. I had an old Kirkland’s bench I bought some years ago and it wasn’t being used. Not to mention my style has changed and any thing “scrolly” has gotta go. So, I took the thing apart. I have always wanted to have a bench at the kitchen table, so that was where the inspiration came from. I had four table legs I bought at an antique show just lying around, so they were cut to size with my table saw. I pulled the padding off the bench a bit to drill holes through the seat and into the center of each leg for screws. The legs and frame are glued as well, and supported with L-brackets. I love L-brackets! They come in handy when you don’t have the right nail gun or drill bit.

After paint and fabric I have a new bench! Oh yeah, I am doing all this (except painting) in my empty dining room. Since Nate Berkus hasn’t come to my house yet to figure out what to do with a dining room I don’t want to use as a dining room, it’s my workshop!