Painting Furniture – A Farm Table

Do you remember that scene in The Wizard of Oz where the house lands on top of the wicked witch and all you see are her legs sticking out with those fabulous ruby slippers?

Well, I found a fabulous pair of legs sticking out just like that underneath a pile of furniture in my daughter Courtney’s garage!

Courtneys garage

My legs didn’t belong to a wicked witch. They belonged to a cute farm table Courtney picked up in her travels.

They didn’t have ruby slippers either, but they did have great detail that I knew would look wonderful with a little American Paint Company’s all-natural clay, chalk and mineral paint. I took the legs home with me along with the tabletop and two chairs.

legs_before

I’m really glad Courtney never got around to painting this for our shop because it is the perfect table and chair set for my kitchen at home!

We recently remodeled our kitchen with new black cabinets, marble countertops and a gray subway tile backsplash.

American Paint Company offers several shades of gray. I thought all of those grays would be pretty swirled together on the tabletop with the look anchored by black legs and chairs.

I started with a base coat of Rushmore on the tabletop. Then I added layers of Smoke Signal, Plymouth Rock and Freedom Road. I can’t tell you exactly how I applied the paint because it was one big experiment. I just added a bit of color— dry brushing in some spots, applying it thick in others. Then I rubbed away color with a damp sponge, a technique called wet distressing.

freedomroad1-150x150plymouthrock1-150x150smokesignal1-150x150

I kept layering colors, letting them dry, and then wet distressing to reveal the colors underneath.

I don’t know how many layers I ended up adding. I just kept repeating the process until all of the grays swirled together in a way that looked perfect to me.

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The nice thing about this paint is there is no strict formula for success. You just keep playing around with it until it looks wonderful to you!

After the tabletop was finished, the legs and chairs were easy.  I painted them with Cannonball, a slick new black color from American Paint Company’s limited edition Ellis Collection.

I applied several coats of American Paint Company Top Coat to give everything a more durable finish. (We have four grandchildren under the age of 5 who visit us often. We eat a lot of hot dogs and play a lot of Candy Land at this table so I need it to be durable!)

After the Top Coat dried, I mixed some American Paint Company Black Mica with their Clear Wax and applied it to the table legs to make them even blacker and shinier.

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Eventually, my husband Dave is going to build benches to go at the long sides of the table. I think benches will be easier for the kids to sit on versus chairs. Plus benches tuck underneath the table, making my kitchen look bigger.

Until then, the two black chairs are perfect for Dave and me. This upcycled table set was just what we needed as the finishing touch for our new kitchen.

table2

What Dorothy said is true — “There’s no place like home!”

table1

Post courtesy of Cathy

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