Farm Table Made Pretty And My Incredible Journey

Since I started on this blogging journey at the end of January my life has changed dramatically.  What started out as a creative outlet for documenting the changes I was making on our temporary home, has turned into something I wasn't expecting.  The blog has grown tremendously, I've been featured on lots of incredible blogs and I've met some amazing people.  I really never thought when I got around to blogging that it would go as well as it has.  I feel very lucky to have this outlet to share my furniture transformations and a bit of my life.

When I started out redoing the furniture pieces for myself I never thought I would sell anything I transformed.  I never thought anyone would want something I had done or felt I had the talent or abilities to do this.  I came upon this completely by accident.  One day while perusing Craigslist I came upon a great dresser that I wanted to transform.  I thought I had a place for it in my house so I went for it.  When I showed up to the house to purchase this dresser I was offered a few other pieces to purchase at a great price so I thought,,,"HMMM Why not!?  I've already rented the truck!"  I did the first 2 pieces, Nighstand Makeovers, and thought I would keep them.  That was until I realized I didn't have the room I thought I had for them.  In stepped a friend who said she wanted to buy them.  It was flattering to think she wanted to buy them and couldn't believe my luck.  Next up was the dresser that went with the nightstands, Craigslist Dresser Redo, the same sweet woman who bought the nightstands said she wanted the dresser as well.  I got to thinking, could I possibly do this selling furniture thing?  Then came along another friend whose Mother wanted me to redo a cabinet for her, My Biggest Challenge Yet.  This project really pushed me in a way nothing else ever had.  I felt such pressure from myself to make this perfect and wow her Mother.  This was a huge turning point for me.  I realized after doing this cabinet that I COULD do this.  I could sell furniture that I had redone and I finally gained a bit of confidence in my vision and my abilities.

I know you're probably reading this and wondering when I'm going to get to the point!   It's coming...stick with me for a bit.  

While I was working on the cabinet I was selling a dresser I'd done on Craigslist, Flea Market Dresser.  I had a lot of interest in this dresser and one of the people interested asked me if I painted custom furniture for people.  I had to think about that for a minute and I realized the answer was YES, yes I do!  She asked me to paint a farm table for her that she'd bought from a neighbor.  After a few emails,  she dropped her table off and we decided on a color.

Here is a VERY bad picture of the before.  I was working on a few projects at the same time and got carried away when I realized I never took pictures!!  You have to use your imagination and just know the top of the table looks like the bottom...ha ha ha.  Hubby wasn't home so I couldn't flip it over on my own.

As you can see the table was stained in a yellowy, orangey stain.  It's a very well built Pottery Barn table, but not what the client wanted (oohh I feel so cool typing CLIENT!).

When we discussed what she wanted she told me the colors she had in her home and where it was going.  She wanted it to be a light creamy yellow.  She had purchased a small side table I'd redone in Annie Sloan Old Ochre.  She liked this color so we decided to go with that.  

Once I started to think about the table I realized it might look good to have a bit of white coming through in the areas I was going to distress.  I decided to paint the entire table with a coat of white paint first.  The client only wanted the table lightly distressed so this was going to be perfect.

Here it is with a coat of Annie Sloan Pure White.

 This it looks better already.  Ooops!  You can see what fuels me during the day! My Starbucks addiction :-) 

The table has a cute little drawer on the side.  

Here you can see the legs with the Old Ochre paint.  I did 2 coats of the Old Ochre, then a coat of clear wax on top of that.

 I did a bit of light distressing and put a coat of dark wax on one leg to send a test to the client.  She didn't want it like that so I ended up painting the one leg over.    She decided she wanted just the clear wax, which was fine with me.

 Again I was working on a few different projects at the same time so I didn't get anymore pictures of the table in progress, but here it is all done!  There are 3 coats of Old Ochre on top and 3 coats of clear wax to protect the top.  I love how it turned out!

I had made a trip to the flea market the morning I took these pictures and picked up somethings I knew would look great on the table!

 I like how the table has so much character now.  All the turns on the legs show up now as well as that adorable little drawer.

OH and don't you just LOVE that big basket?  It's an antique basket I picked up for $15!  I thought that was a steal for a basket that big!  Not to mention that awesome big, blue Ball jar I got for $5!  I have to also mention the cute little flour sifter.  I'd never seen one that small before and I had to have it!!  

Here's that adorable little drawer.  It had a wood drawer pull on it before, but I had this one knob hanging around from another project and I knew it would look great on the drawer.  I gave it a quick spray of Oil Rubbed Bronze and ouila!  It was perfect!

To top all of this off, the same woman who brought her table to me, also bought my highboy dresser as well, Flea Market Highboy.  All in all it's been a wonderful experience.  I love how life just happens sometimes.  I started out on this blogging journey and it's definitely taken me on some side roads I hadn't expected.  My client hasn't picked up her table yet and I have to say the longer it stays here, the harder it is to part with.   I can't wait to see where life takes me next!

Linking To:

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/