Here's the short story....
I painted this mid 70's "Mediterannean style" coffee table with turquoise DIY chalk paint.
And here's the longer story....
Back in '82 we had a TOTAL LOSS house fire.
We refurnished our home with auction finds like this very heavy,
very BROWN, very well built coffee table.
Three full grown adults can STAND on this coffee table.
Four teen age girls can DANCE on this table.
Five toddlers can race their Hot Wheels round and round this table.
We paid $7 for it 34 years ago.
Yup.
About ten years ago I repainted the top in a fun pattern that added all my living room colors.
Brown, turquoise gold, red...you get the picture.
Yeah, I'm kind of a color junkie.
Then I did THIS...
using a DIY chalk paint recipe.
I topped it off with brushed on, wiped off Minwax Polyshades in Olde Maple.
Chalk paint recipes are EVERYWHERE online. I used this really simple one.
1 cup latex paint
1/2 c baking soda
3 TBSP water
I masked the top with regular masking tape. It did a fine job on all the edges.
This chalk paint recipe adhered REALLY well. It was a little bit gritty but I wanted that effect. Be aware of this if you use the baking soda chalk paint recipe!
I couldn't find my sanding block, and even though the hardware store is less than a mile away, I used this to sand the edges....
Don't tell me you've never done something like that.
Here is the door with just chalk paint and with the Minwax stain.
The door is molded plastic. The chalk paint worked great.
The Minwax was a bit messy but I fussed with it until it looked like this.
And below is how she looks now.
I LOVE the way this came out!
Again, the before and after.
The chalk paint adhered very well and the Polyshades gave her just the right worn out vintage aura.
Because, folks, even tho she's pretty, we don't treat her very well. Lol!
This table is the Official Grandbaby Play Platform Put Your Feet Up And Set a Spell Stand On Top To Sing Karaoke And Dance to Uptown Funk Table!!
They don't make coffee tables this sturdy anymore.
So, here's the cost breakdown....
Turquoise Apple Barrel Paint $2.50
Olde Maple Minwax Polyshades $7.00
Total...less than $10.00.
I already had paint brushes, cleaning rags, baking soda, assorted brushes and of course, an emery board, in my stash.
This took me less than 3 hours to paint then overnight for the paint to dry.
I brushed then wiped off the Minwax the next morning. I used half a dozen rags during this part.
The stain was dry by late afternoon and she was back in service that evening for a family dinner.
Cheap, pretty quick and an outstanding result.
I call that a win win!
