$11.99 Goodwill Find Side Table Stenciled Makeover

9 Materials
$15
4 Hours
Medium

I am super excited to be sharing this project with you all because I love any moment I have to be creative. I am grateful to be partnering with Stencil Revolution on this furniture flip. Since I moved to Denver, I have been so busy getting settled and my new routine that I haven’t had as much time to be creative. I realize that having this type of outlet is super important and something I need to prioritize. When this project presented itself, I was so pleased to participate. Meredith is getting her groove back!I am always blown away at the deals I find when I am sourcing furniture to flip. I scored this beautiful wood table at Goodwill for $11.99! SCORE! On to the tutorial! Here are the supplies I used for this project:

Step 1 - The Hunt


I had to go on the hunt for my furniture piece! As I said above, I found mine at the Goodwill. But other thrift stores, yard sales, and other apps are great ways to find used furniture. Make sure to find pieces that don’t have any weird smells/stains, insects, and are well made. 

Step 2 - Clean and Dust


I cleaned this piece off. It wasn’t dirty, just dusty. Plus, I always wipe down pieces before I paint them. It helps the paint stick and just makes for a smoother surface to paint on. When stenciling, that is super important. 

Step 3 - Painting


I started by painting the base color of the table. I chose a really pretty darker blue color that really popped. It took about 2-3 coats to really gain full coverage over the original wood stain. The beautiful thing about chalk paint is that it dries quickly, so painting multiple layers doesn’t take long. I do recommend waiting for each layer to dry before applying the next. 

Step 4 - Paint Second Coat


Once my table was completely blue and dry, I pulled out my beautiful fern stencil and positioned it on the table the way I wanted. I used a light coat of spray adhesive on the stencil to hold it in one place to help prevent messing up and paint bleed underneath. 

Step 5 - Apply the Stencil & Start Applying Paint


I grabbed my stenciling brush and the lighter chalk paint I chose and began lightly dabbing the paint over the stencil. I never do big gobs of paint because there is more likelihood of paint bleeding underneath.

Instead, I used a plastic tray to help dab some of the paint off of the brush before I applied it to the table surface. I completed about 2 coats of paint over my stencil and gave it plenty of time to dry.

Step 6 - Peel Away Stencil


After the paint completely dried, I slowly peeled away the stencil from the table top. From there, I applied the stencil to the lower half of the table to fill in part of the pattern to make it look continuous on the top and bottom. I hand painted a little dip around the top of the table to continue the pattern from the side view. I made sure to give that plenty of time to dry. 

Step 7 - Paint Trim


I decided to paint the part of the table between the legs the lighter paint color that I used for the stenciled portion. Once I saw how well the stenciled part came out, I wanted to continue that on the rest of the table design.

Step 8 - Apply Furniture Wax


Once everything dried, I used furniture wax to seal and protect it. I applied the wax with a waxing brush and also a plain cloth rag. I started with the brush and then I buffed in the 2nd coat with the cloth. After the protective layer was applied, I gave it a day to dry and cure.

If pictures aren’t enough, I also created a video tutorial to go along with this project. 

What do you think of the finished product? Doesn’t it look light years better than it did? 

Resources for this project:
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Meredith - Arts & Classy
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  • Rumrunr Rumrunr on Mar 21, 2020

    Did you sand the table before Painting?

  • Sunny Graham Sunny Graham on Mar 21, 2020

    I love this! Your stenciling ability is awesome. My question is, what is your secret? I have just about given up trying to stencil. 😞 Thanks!

  • Linda McConnell Linda McConnell on Apr 18, 2020

    Beautiful!

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