Chalk Painted Side Table

I am always on the hunt for cheap furniture. I usually skip competing with everyone on facebook marketplace - is anyone else frustrated by being ghosted and never responded to when you see something you are interested in? I like to shop thrift stores and Deseret Industries is my favorite! They usually have the cheapest priced furniture that is still in pretty great shape.

Take this Thomasville side table I found for only $10!! This was solid wood and well made so I could not pass it up.

I thought this would be a great piece to try stripping and re-staining...boy, was I wrong! I got out the power sander to try to remove the vanish - that didn't work. I went to the hardware store and bought some stripper (as pictured above) and nothing! I could not get in between the grooves and curves or even get the top coat off.

I went to my trusty backup - chalk paint! I used Chalky Chicks paint in Snow White. It took me only about an hour to get two coats on. White paint is always very tricky and hard to hide mistakes so I ended up distressing it to hide the paint drips and uneven texture.

I only lightly sanded it in this photo and misplaced the knob while I was painting it so I ended up going out to Hobby Lobby to get a little knob for the bottom drawer for only $2!

Lightly sanded and no knob.

After sitting in my family room for a month or so and taking a beating from my kids, I decided it needed more distressing to hide the marks from the kids.

What do you like better - light distressing or heavy distressing? I used a power sander the second time around and did break a couple of the sheets...oops! I think I went a little to hard in some areas. I think it gives it that farmhouse feel that everyone seems to be ga ga for these days!