The Ugliest Side Tables in History
I'm not sure what I was thinking. They were the first pieces of furniture that I had found during my mission to paint the world (has everyone experienced this sleep-deprived euphoria where every surface becomes a potential canvas?). Anyway, when I arrived to the gentleman's house, I was a bit surprised. It looked like he took the pictures 10 years ago, then set the furniture out in a leaky-roofed garage. Anyway, after I pondered whether to ask him if he'd rather pay me to remove them, I gave him a little bit of money and hauled them off. I felt embarrassed, so I put them in the garage and forgot about them for a couple weeks...
I've never stripped veneer. I've never even glued the first piece of it down. But I decided that unless I was to spend the rest of my life gluing veneer, this stuff had to go!
After I stripped the veneer, I sanded and covered the entire piece in shellac.
Next, I painted the tables with Annie Sloan Florence and the inside of the drawers with AS Antibes Green. I painted the drawer pulls silver.
I finished the pieces with AS waxes and distressed edges and corners.
I added foils to the carved details using Artisan Enhancement products...
Here's an up-close of the drawer
and the inside...
Here are a few before-and-after pics...
If I had this project to do over again, I would have gone through each step for both tables at the same time, to ensure I'm consistent with how I work on the tables and match color depth. This was the first time I had done a pair of tables. I was pretty excited to see the transformaion!
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I grew up with that exact side table. My sister has it now and I promised her I would refinish it. Luckily the veneer is perfect and it just has some water rings. She doesn't like painted wood, so I will just try Restore a finish on it. These came out lovely. Green is my favorite color and I love the one that you chose!
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Thank you! Good luck with your table! Post some pics when you're done!
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