Wood Plank Coffee Table

I had been wanting to switch out our coffee table for a while. There was nothing wrong with the coffee table we had, I was just ready for a change and envisioned something that matched both our entertainment center and our bench.

Since I am always terrified of ruining our furniture when doing a makeover. I always try to makeover our older pieces, or pieces people have given us (usually those hanging around in the basement). So when I decided to do a coffee table makeover, it's no surprise that I used the basement's coffee table and put the other one in its place.

This coffee table was still in pretty good shape as well, it just wasn't really my style. While plain and do-able for a basement, I wanted to create something amazing for the living room. 

what you will need:

paint of your choice

wood stain and poyurethane

7-1x4's

sander

wood glue

Our first step was to lightly sanded the top of the coffee table to ensure the wood glue would stick properly and then I painted the bottom. I used Folk Art's Chalk Paint in White Adirondack, as well as their Clear Wax. I ended up needing two coats of the chalk paint before waxing. 

While I was painting, I enlisted my husband to cut the 1x4's to a length that just fit over the coffee table. He sanded all the edges and curved them a little bit for me as well. Once he was down, I stained all the wood. 

Once everything was dry, we used very generous amounts of wood glue to put the planks in place. We also used my school books and some weights to hold all the planks down while the glue dried. We waited to put the polyurethane on until the glue had dried and we could remove the books and weights without shifting the planks. Another 24 hours for the polyurethane to dry, and our wood plank coffee table was complete!

I think that it really does tie in well to the rest of the living room, it matches the TV stand and bench nicely as well. Now that I've made the coffee table, I want to make some end tables to match! In fact, the matching end tables for the coffee table are in my basement too!

Now if I could just figure out that funky corner where the shelf is, we'd be all set!

Happy Hump Day, friends!

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Antique Sewing Cabinet Transformation

If you follow me on instagram, you saw a before picture of an antique sewing cabinet that I decided to paint. 

When I first saw this sewing cabinet at Adam's grandma's house, I fell in love with it. I was so excited a few months later when his parents delivered it to our house. And that's about as far as the sewing cabinet went for the longest time. 

I had dreams of painting it, but was terrified that I would ruin such a beautiful piece of furniture. I went back and forth for months trying to decide what to do with it. Either way, it was going to require a lot of work. If I didn't paint it, I'd need to sand it down and re-stain it. Finally, I told myself that I hated how dark the wood was, it didn't match a darn thing in my house, and I might as well make it match my house if I planned to keep it hanging around. 

My husband and I went to this painting class not too long ago, and long story short I was introduced to Cottage Paint. Immediately, I knew it was something I wanted to try and eventually I convinced myself to try it on the antique sewing cabinet that had been sitting in my office for months. AHH!

We bought gray and white Cottage Paint to paint and distress this beautiful piece of furniture. The process was pretty simple, first painting it gray, then adding wax and letting it dry over night. The next day we were able to paint it white, and I went through all the edges and details to give it that distressed look. I simple used a sponge to rub off the white in the areas I wanted the gray to show through. We added another few coats of wax to finish it off. 

With each coat, I told myself I ruined such a beautiful piece of furniture. Even when it was finished, I looked at my husband and said "what have we done!?" It took me a few days to get used to it, probably because it was so bright compared to before. I must say, it has grown on me and I really like it now! It just fits in the room soooo much better.

My favorite areas are the drawer handles and the sides. Unfortunately, I just realized I don't have any pictures of the sides. I might need to change that.

What do you think of me painting this antique?

Was it wrong of me to cover up such a beautiful piece of wood furniture?

OR

Would you have done the same thing for the sake of home decor?

Stenciled Cabinets

I kind of nipped my fear of stenciling right in the butt on this project. This white cabinet has been sitting in my basement for-ev-ver. for-ev-ver. (Name that movie?) I also purchased a stencil and some paint months ago to get the ball rolling on this project, and then my fear of royally screwing up set in. FINALLY, I decided I had nothing to lose. I told myself to get over it and so I did. 

I like to think of this as my first step in transforming my den. It needs a lot of work, organization and otherwise, but every time I go to tackle it, I get frustrated and move on to something else. But now I am so excited about how this cabinet turned out, I want to make everything in my den just as pretty!

I purchased my stencil at Michael's, as part of the Martha Stewart collection, but I would recommend using a much bigger stencil if you decide to try this. Every imperfection on this cabinet is due to repositioning the stencil so often. I used a pouncer to apply the paint, and learned very quickly that less is more. If you think you aren't using enough paint, you are probably doing it right. I worked on this cabinet over the course of a few days, doing one side at a time. Overall, it probably took me about 4-5 hours to complete. 

And now that I finished the cabinet, I think the next step is to paint the den. Goodbye ugly green and Hello light grey!

Happy Stenciling!

My First Ever Furniture Makeover!

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you my very first furniture makeover! I have been wanting to makeover a piece of furniture for a looonngg time now, but I've been to scared to screw it up miserably. I'm not really sure what inspired me to suddenly grab our TV stand and go to town, but I'm so glad I did! And good thing it turned out nicely or we'd be stuck with some major suckage in our living room!

So how'd I do it? I applied a coat of primer that we had in hand and then used our white paint that we used for doors. We ended up needing about three coats of white paint on this baby. I would recommend two coats of primer to avoid so many coats of paint. 

The stenciling was a last minute decision, that I am very happy with! I think it's my favorite part. I just love how it ties in the wall color. 

Of course my first furniture makeover is far from perfect. We made a lot of mistakes and some are still even visible if you look closely, but I don't mind. Getting over my fear of making over furniture is what this project was all about. And now I feel prepared to tackle all the furniture piles up in our basement just waiting for me. Also, this tv stand is patiently waiting for some shelves to accompany it along our wall. If only the hubby would get on that... just kidding... well sort of.

Was anyone else nervous to makeover their first piece of furniture? How'd it turn out? I would love to hear about it.

Is anyone still avoiding their first furniture project? I say just go for it!!