Tired Old Sofa Table: Makeover!

Krosiepowers
by Krosiepowers
So I'd been looking on Craigslist for a sofa table for a while before this one popped up. It caught my eye right away, but was trying to watch the budget, and I didn't feel up to spending even $60 they were asking at the time. So I waited about a week, noticed the posting was still up, and offered them $40. We settled on $45, and the deal was done!
It was totally covered in cobwebs and spider eggs when I picked it up, but it was nice and sturdy, and the legs were even cooler in person than they were on the screen. So I brought it home, and as I was cleaning it up, I noticed on the bottom that it's made by Lane! Not bad--I nabbed a quality piece for $45. But even with that knowledge, I knew I wasn't going to leave it alone ;)
I didn't like the finish of the blonde wood and knots (no offense meant--I know there are plenty of people who do like it), so I decided to whip out my chalk paint and give it a fresh look. Now this is the part of the post where I'd usually show you a few pics of the painting process, but, again, I forgot the pics, so I'll give you a quick rundown of the steps I took.
Clean It: I just used some soap and water to get all the dust and debris off the top.


Paint It: I used Annie Sloan's Old White, and it took me about 3 coats to get the finish to look how I wanted.


Distress It: For most of the distressing, I used steel wool. This has recently become my favorite method of distressing, because (a) I can't stand the feeling of hot sandpaper on my hands... even thinking about it makes my stomach turn, and (b) a scraper is just too drastic sometimes, but I did use it a little bit on this project. I think steel wool is a pretty quick solution, plus it's easy to work with. Once in a while you just have to give it a rinse or grab a fresh piece (depending on how thick your paint coverage is).


Finish With Wax: I like Annie Sloan's clear wax for this purpose. You can use a brush or a rag to apply it.
I'm so much happier with the piece looking like this--although I loved the legs either way. But the color and finish fits in better with the rest of the room now. And for $40 (plus the cost of paint... so maybe $12 in paint... I used about 1/3 of the can), I'm more than happy with the result!
And there you have it! I really love these pieces that you can buy for such a reasonable price and are super-easy to fix up. After looking in retail stores and seeing similar-sized tables in the hundreds-thousand dollar range, completing a piece like this for just over $50 feels pretty darn good!
Krosiepowers
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Ashley Harding Ashley Harding on Feb 22, 2015
    I just bought two suitcases similar to yours. Didn't know where I was going to put them, but I liked them. Love your styling idea! Table looks amazing as well!
  • NancyMaria NancyMaria on Feb 11, 2017
    Nice! I really like the details on that table. If you were into southwestern, a person could paint the bracing cutouts under the top, with a soft turquoise and/or peach color. Or even a light tan just for contrast.
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