My muscley man popped off the top of it with his bare hands,
and I stripped off the stain and varnish and sanded it down.
Then we plugged up the holes left by the spindles and sanded some more, and more, and more.
I'm a quick study. It doesn't take me but one disasterous experience to learn my lesson. The more time you spend on prep, the better the end product.
On Wednesday we had a nice warm day, so I started the painting process. First, I primed the little table by using Rust-oleum American Accents Primer. I then added two coats of Rust-oleum American Accents Heirloom White spray paint in half hour intervals. That particular paint and color is the rage in furniture refinishing circles. Peer pressure drove me to use it, and in this case peer pressure was a good thing. I let all that dry overnight in my toasty warm garage.
Next I chose to add a little glaze. (Some call glazing "antiquing", others "faux finishing." Putting a glaze finish on furniture makes it look like something other than "new" wood. It adds highlights and "ages" the piece of wood or furniture.) Saturday when I went shopping for glaze, I learned that glaze comes in a clear form. You pour the amount of glaze you anticipate using into a small container and then add an acrylic paint to the glaze to formulate your color. This made me nervous. I like others to do the dirty work, so I can blame them if the color doesn't turn out right. Anyway, I reluctantly mixed my colors, which wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated, and went to work.
I have no photographic chronology of the glazing of the table. I was too busy to snap pictures. Suffice it to say, I painted the glaze on the table, sections at a time, and then rubbed some of it off with a soft piece of fabric. I used an old sock. It worked like a charm. At one point I had to get a damp piece of fabric to remove more of the glaze. The glaze and acrylic paint are all water soluble, so it's easy to remove more glaze if necessary. Clean up was a snap. (FYI: Glazing is an imperfect science. You just eyeball it till you get the amount of color and detail that suits you.) Then I kicked that little table around the garage and slapped it a few times to make it look distressed. I probably could have skipped that step. Ten minutes with the grandkids would have had the same effect. ;o)And now for the reveal...
Overall, I'm very pleased with the results, especially for a first time refinishing project. I can't wait to see our grandchildren gathered around this little table having fun!
I've linked to Funky Junk Interiors "Saturday Night Special". Click on the button to see more creations...
Another Linky party @ Poppies at Play...
