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.
