Tags

, , , ,

I found this little glass top table at a local thrift store. This was my first visit to this particular store, and quite the place it was…. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. There was stuff EVERYWHERE… just sort of piled haphazardly on shelves, on the floor, and on top of other stuff… and nothing was priced. At first I didn’t even see anyone that looked like they worked there, just a Siamese cat eating nonchalantly off her dish, sitting on the counter next to the cash register. As I made my way to the back, a lady did appear and when I asked how much a few items were, she made up the prices on the spot, and proceeded to try to sell me several other things as well. She led me to the enormous basement with more STUFF, and showed my how to turn the light on at the bottom of the stairs (I guess she’s into energy saving – which is good… but a little creepy in a huge warehousey type basement…). Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up buying the table for under $10. I’m not sure if this was a good deal or not, because when I got it home and had a better look at it, there were clearly some huge gnaw marks on the legs, where someone’s cat or dog had taken his/her revenge… hopefully with a little  lot of distressing I can make it work!

I used Kilz oil based spray primer on it… I was very impressed with this primer. It dried very quickly and covered nicely. I have used the Zinsser oil based primer which is also excellent, but do NOT like the latex one at all – it does not cover well and you need way more coats to have the same result as the oil based. I sanded lightly after the primer was dry.

Here it is primed:

Originally I really wanted to spray paint this table grey, but could not find grey at Home Depot in anything but a gloss and I wanted a satin finish to be safe – I really don’t like furniture to look too shiny.  So, instead I decided to use the antique white (Behr) paint that I already had on hand at home and have used for a few other projects recently.  I put on three coats and distressed lightly using both 220 grit and 150 grit sandpaper. Then I added a dark glaze to give it a really antique look.

This table may soon be heading to its new home… my stepmother spotted it in our garage last weekend and mentioned that she has been looking for a table to display an African tray that was given to her by her sister.  So, if the tray fits…

P.S. By the way, if you are wondering why this post is titled J.F. Straumfjourd… there is a little brass plaque on the side that says “Made By J.F. Straumfjord”. I googled the name, but no results showed up. Hopefully he or she would be happy to know that this table has been given a makeover and a lovely new home!

About these ads