Turquoise Chalk Paint Coffee Table

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!

Is That Chair Leather? No, It's Painted Fabric!!

This chair really looks like fine red leather. But it's not.

I painted the upholstery on this chair then sanded it to make it into this beautiful red piece that feels soft as suede and totally perks up my living room.

Here she is at the start. The local St. Vincent store had two of these chairs but I only needed one. I am now KICKING MYSELF for not buying both!

The frame and fabric were in excellent condition. Very tight joints, comfortable seat. I figured I could re upholster it or...as my Pinterest board says, 

Paint That Chair!

I won't do a tutorial since the DIY info is all over the web. Literally....videos, Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens, HGTV, Hometalk!

I decided to use acrylic paint in bright red and liquid textile medium. I mixed two parts paint to one part textile medium. I used a full 8 ounce bottle of craft paint and 4 ounces of the textile medium and mixed them well.

Then I sprayed the fabric with water in a spray bottle (mixed with a bit of fabric softener). I dampened each area just before I painted it using chip brushes. I also masked the wooden areas.

I painted on my back deck on a 90 degree day. Excellent light and weather for painting! But I have to tell you ladies, even after multiple coats I was feeling very very iffy on this project.

Very iffy. 

I was already calculating if I had enough red fabric in my stash to go ahead and re upholster this chair, I was very undecided about the appearance.

And then after three coats the fabric started looking pretty good. 

Lovely color retention, really good texture of the original woven pattern and 

I was using less and less paint for each layer. 

Of course, I let each coat dry for an hour in the hot sun before adding the next coat.

Urg. Here's what I used. 

I know most blogs have neat photos and a concise list of brand name products plus links for purchasing, but I was ready to PAINT so I just dove right in. 

I didn't buy anything since I already had it all in my stash.

Ahem.

Here's the painted and sanded fabric up close. 

It looks just like leather and after sanding it feels like a very soft and sumptuous suede. 

I am totally pleased with the way this project turned out!

I cleaned the wood with Murphy's Oil Soap then polished

 it up with Olde English lemon oil polish.

And the paint does NOT rub off.

Even if you are wearing white jeans as a test.

This was totally worth the time and money to get myself

 a bright and comfy chair for our living room.

Would I do it again? YES!

Colorful Painted Coffee Table Project

Several years ago when I slipcovered our long couch in chocolate brown, I painted the top of our coffee table to tie together all the colors in the room...namely reds, golds, browns and greens. First I used Kilz primer on the top then painted an abstract design with craft paint. I love that pop of color in our livingroom!

This table was a $7 auction find decades ago and it has served us very very well.

Here is the original cubist abstract design. After painting the colorful top and dry brushing with burnt umber I aged it with walnut Polyshades, which is a stain and sealer in one. It gave the colors just the right vintage patina that I was aiming for.

 In our new home the brown couch and some of the artwork has remained and I've added turquoise blue to my living room mix. I knew it was time to update that coffee table!

I carefully sanded then painted every shape that was formerly green with Apple Barrel turquoise. Then I aged each piece with burnt umber paint and finished it off with walnut Polyshades.

I aged it a bit more to tone down the turquoise and here's how it looks now.

The blues still need further aging but I love how it looks with the red and blue pillows on the couch!

Of course I wanted some turquoise and red decor for the "new" coffee table. I'll post about that right here....

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2014/09/painted-decor-balls-for-my-coffee-table.html

And I'll be joining these linky parties and sharing. Come and visit!

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2014/09/salvaged-old-signs.html

Blanket Chest project

I'll be posting the finish of the family tree project soon, I promise! But the finished painting(s) aren't done yet, so here's another project I finished last summer.




Here is a fun project I did for my livingroom. It started as a lemon yellow $2 toy chest from the flea market which we've used for blanket storage for almost twenty years. We have a dozen crocheted afghans compliments of my talented mom and when the weather's cool everyone is cuddled up in one, and the rest of the time the blankets are in this chest, which is also handy seating when everyone is at the house.




Originally I painted it black and left it that way for years. Then about ten years ago I gave it a faux marble finish with blue and silver veining. Hey, at the time I thought it looked good! One thing about me, I am not afraid to try painting something and then painting it again if I don't like it or I'm ready for a change. It costs me next to nothing and gives me something new and custom made for my house. I even faux marbled an entire office of steel furniture to look like green and black marble, and they came out GREAT! So yeah, I'm pretty much fearless about trying new things with paint.




So the next transition began with a couple of coats of leather brown spray paint. This is right after the first coat.


I found a design I knew I could adapt to the rectangular shape and painted it on top with acrylic paint. I antiqued it with raw umber glaze then sanded it to distress it nicely. This picture is right after it was sanded. Next I used pecan Polyshades, which is a stain and polyurethane finish all in one, to give it a nice vintage look. I like it. I like it alot.



In fact, I liked it so much that I did the same thing to my coffee table, which was a $7 auction buy from the eighties. It also got the faux blue marble treatment years ago but now it matches this blanket chest. They both look great with the chocolate brown slipcovers on the couch and gave my livingroom the punch of color I was looking for!

I'll be linking to the blog parties in my sidebar, come check them out and see all the fun, creative projects out there this week! See you there! And a late addition to the blog party fun, First Monday at Thrifty Decor Chic.