A Tale of 2 Tables...and a bench

Saturday was a crazy busy day in my "workshop".  I sanded 9 pieces of furniture....7 that will all eventually go in the shop and 2 for myself.  I had forgotten that before there was a shop I actually refinished stuff for myself.  That's where the 2 tables come in. 



One of them was my husband's grandma's and I've been meaning to redo it for about 7 or 8 years now and always get busy with other stuff.  It's a great table, and for a while I was all about red...but I decided it was time to change it up a little.

The other was from my sis-in-law who was making space in her house and handed it down to me.  Also a great table, and fine the way it is, but I always envisioned something else.  The hardware is great and I LOVE the legs.  So sanding away I went.  The red table sanded pretty easily, it's old and there was no top coat left on it.  The brown one was a little more difficult.  Not sure all the pieces are real wood, so I just scuffed the heck out of it hoping paint would stick.  Keep in mind there was an assembly line of things to sand and these guys were somewhere in the middle.  I decided I didn't want to completely redo the red table, so I scoured Pinterest for a while and settled on a chevron pattern for the top.  So I read a couple tutorials and realized they were all too many words.  I have discovered in my older age that I need more pictures and less words or I get frustrated and give up. I figured I could "wing" it.  I didn't measure anything I just taped...it's for my house, didn't need to be perfect :)  Then I dug up my box knife and fixed the edges so they were at least a little more precise.

  Then came my handy leftover gallon of Sherwin Williams Reliable White.  In between coats(it took 2) I started on the other table.  Wanted the drawer inset to be a different color so I taped some more and started painting with Valspar's Creek Bend. 

Then came 2 coats of Dutch Boy's Chanson Bleu.  The disclaimer on this color is that is that the label reads Chanson Bleu but I may have mixed something else into quite a while ago.  It was paint that was given to me when we moved into our house and I painted my kitchen with it.  Whatever the case, the color is pretty cool on wood(or not real wood) furniture.  It dries pretty quick and goes on evenly.  I also have to say that sometimes I have to make concessions...I either can afford to buy supplies or afford to buy pieces to work on.  This time it was pieces so I had to scour my hoarded collection of leftover paints and get creative, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. 
While my tables were drying I pulled out this cute little bench that needed a face lift before it can go into the shop.  Can't seem to find the before picture, but trust me, it needed help.  This is the first coat of Valspar's Creek Bend, and a sand between coats.  It took 2 coats and after drying a quick wipe on wax.
    

And look at how great it turned out!!!  The top was some kind of awful brown, so I covered it in the perfect sized scrap of yellow and white floral print.  This guy is definitely going into the shop this week!! 

Oh and you probably wanna see those finished tables.  After the paint dried they also got a coat of wipe on wax to seal em up.

So the chevron isn't perfect, but I'm really happy with both tables!!  My 10 year old told me that I am UH-MAY-ZING and he understands why I make things to sell in the shop cause I'm so good at it.  I could never redo another piece of furniture and feel pretty satisfied :) 

There's a pretty good chance I'll have some more before and afters this week, so become a follower and see what else I come up with!!