Craft Room Project #5 - Work Table

For work space, I knew I would need a table that was at least three foot by six foot.  I determined that by the size of my large cutting mat that I tend to use for projects and the average size of my chalkboard projects.  My table needed to have a smooth finish,  fairly inexpensive, and easily to revamp!!

I thought about finding an old door, but I couldn't find any the right size and none of them were smooth, most of them were paneled.  I would have needed a piece of glass cut to the size of my door tabletop.  I kept scouring thrift stores, online, and garage sales.  I also determined that I didn't want to spend more than $75 on my table project.  

After months of searching, I picked up this table for $60 on an online garage sale!!  It is four foot wide by six foot long, with two leaves that give me about two more feet of work space if I need it.  The crazy thing was that it was located just four blocks from my house!!

Originally, I thought I would just paint the table top white and leave the base alone, but once I got it home, I decided to switch it up and paint the base.  There was a bit of damage to the finish on the base, but nothing a few coats of fresh white paint wouldn't fix.

I first wiped down the base with some dish soap and water and let dry.  I sanded the entire surface down.  I wiped it down again, let dry, and sanded again.  Then, I wiped it down again and let dry a third time.  Next, I painted the base with a coat of primer.

I ended up putting on two coats of primer.  After allowing for drying time,  painted my first coat of white paint.  I tend to load my brush with too much paint, so I always have to go back and check for drips and clean up my mess!!  I then left the paint to dry and sanded lightly.  I ended up painting three coats, because the stain was so dark underneath.  Normally two coats would do.

Then, I pulled out the sander again and roughed up the edges a bit.  I would hold the sander down on a few areas to expose the raw wood or pull out the original finish.  Once I was pleased with the way it looked, I wiped down the whole base again with soap and water.

Once dried, I applied two coats of clear polyurethane, allowing for 24 hours of dry time in between.  

Then it was move in time!!  I loved that this table is two pieces - it made it so much easier to get situated!!  The previous owner had put all the pieces in a ziploc for me and my husband made quick work of putting it back together for me.  

The top of the table has a few nicks out of it, but not enough for me to feel like I needed to paint or stain it.  The leaves are in worse shape, but if I need to I could sand them down and paint them white, but for right now I haven't need the extra work space.

This project was simple, compared to the last two furniture pieces I attempted to revamp.  When I purchase a piece of furniture to paint, I look for something that has a simple design, with few nooks and crannies that I have to figure out how to paint.