Shabby Chic Cottage Coffee Table

I was looking for a new refinishing project this summer and found this coffee table at a beach association tag sale in Old Saybrook, CT. It had been hauled out of the shed and used to showcase items for the sale.  As I moved things off the top of the table to investigate further, the original owner of the cottage, a small woman in her late 80's, began chatting with me as her grandson ran the tag sale.

 

 

She shared the history of the little table, telling me that it had been crafted by her husband out of some leftover floorboards used when the cottage was built back in the 40's.  The top boards were a little loose but the base was solid as a rock.  Covered with gray chipping paint, it was hard to tell what would reveal itself when stripped, but that's half the fun.

 

The underside of the table showed bare wood, rusted brackets and zig-zag fasteners (brads?).  After a little haggling, I purchased the table for $10.

 

After applying Citristrip stripping gel and waiting a couple of hours the gray paint began to blister nicely and was easily removed, revealing a glimpse of the red paint and also a layer of creamy yellow paint.

I applied a second coat of stripper to remove the yellow paint which transformed my little table into a very red art project.  The third coat of stripper was somewhat effective, but the red paint had definitely seeped into the grain of the wood.

 The scraper was able to remove more of the paint and I began to see some of the imperfections which added character to the table top.

 I used my sander and 3M stripping paper to remove just enough of the red pain, keeping the scrapes and dings intact.

 I chose a maple stain to enhance the red paint.  I applied two coats. You can see a bit of the before and after here.

 The legs and sides were painted using a white gloss latex and I left the edge of the table kind of rustic, exposing some of each layer of paint.  This gave it the true shabby chic look I was after.

The last step was to apply two coats of Glidden polyurethane for durability as the table will most likely travel with my older daughter who will be moving into her first apartment very soon.  She loves cottage style furniture and decided this would be a great living room coffee table.

The finished project!  Sorry about the picture - don't know why it came out blurry.

Coffee Table Surprise

I paid a visit to The Trading Post consignment shop in Amherst, MA recently to pick up a rock maple double bed frame for $40.00.  While I was there I couldn't resist looking around.  My advice if you visit? Don't rush.  You're likely to miss something hidden beneath stacked furniture or under a pile of books and dishes.  

I found this contemporary looking coffee table that I thought might work well in my daughter's apartment. She needed something long and narrow. It was painted green, but was light weight (one of my prerequisites for apartment moves).

   

 

This was definitely a stripping job as there appeared to be two or more paint layers.  I used an old brush and a non-toxic stripping gel that works really well with little odor.

 

In about half and hour as the gel bubbled up, I began to notice a red layer of paint appear. I'm not sure which color I liked least! 

 

The first two layers of paint came off very easily, exposing yet another layer of paint, this time a dull brown shade. 

 

As I exposed more of the table top I began to think that the quality of the wood wasn't so great and began to rethink my strategy.  It appeared to be a pine veneer over a plywood top and had the appearance of a wood shop project. Oh well,  it's sometimes hard to know what's really in under three coats of paint and that's part of the thrill of the hunt.

 

The question then was whether it was worth it to continue my original plan of staining the top and more stripping and sanding, or whether I should just give up and paint it again - minus the Christmas tree look.

 

After removing the brown paint I found a thin coat of polyurethane over the surface. Not to be daunted, I used a #60 sandpaper and gently began sanding it until I reached the original pine veneer. 

 

The end result wasn't bad and I decided to forge ahead with my original plan of staining the top.

 

It's hard to see in the picture above, but the first coat of maple MinWax stain was very light and required two more coats to get it dark enough and really bring out a richer patina.

 

As a last minute change, I decided to strip the table legs too. Under all that ugly green and red paint I got a little surprise - brass end pieces!  I love it when unexpected treasures appear.

Here's the completed project. I painted the legs a glossy black which really brought out the brass leg stands.  It kind of reminds me of Danish modern.  Not bad for a $10.00 investment.