Amy Latta Creations

So Distressed…A Furniture Redo

by 31 Comments

This is a story that starts out well, turns ugly, and then turns into something beautiful.  The other day, as I was getting ready in the morning, I was admiring my stenciled vanity and wishing I had another furniture project to attempt.  I started thinking about the various pieces of furniture around the house and had an A-HA! moment.  Hubby’s night stand. 

There was nothing “wrong” with it {well, except for a dusty bottom shelf…ahem}, but it didn’t particularly match anything in our room.  Plus, I keep trying to add more color in there…the walls are brown, the comforter is white, and our furniture is all wood.  A while ago, I decided to add some turquoise, so I made a pillow, and I also made some fun valances and a monogram canvas that helped bring some color in.  I thought this would be the perfect project; I could paint and stencil it and give it a whole new look!  Here’s the e-conversation hubby and I had on Thursday morning.

Me: “What would you think about me painting/stenciling your night table? {No is okay}.”
Him: “Sure.  Go for it, I trust you.”
Did I mention I love that man?!
So, off I went to Michaels and got me some spray paint and acrylic paint.  Two days and a whole lot of issues later, I ended up with this:

Here’s how I did it…and all my fails along the way!

NIGHT TABLE REDO
Materials: white spray paint, white and turqouise acrylic paint, sponge brushes, sealer, sandpaper, drawer knob, Cutting Edge craft stencil
STEP 1: First, I painted the entire table and drawer white. 
FAIL #1: I’m a terrible spray painter.
I started on the drawer and ended up giving it up because I’m just that bad at it.  I think I’m either too close or too far away or too impatient.  I keep getting funny bubbles and uneven coating and at this point I thought I was going to have to sand it all off and start over.  Fortunately, only the front is really visible when the table is together…
Meanwhile, if you’re a DIY blogger, please don’t ever write in a post, “Oh, then I just spray painted it…” like it’s nothing.  You make the rest of us feel inferior.  🙂
Solution #1: I decided to use acrylic paint and a brush instead.
FAIL #2: I ran out of paint.
Since I was planning on spray painting it, all I had was a small, not-full bottle of white paint.  It quickly ran out, especially since my table required about 82 coats of paint to fully cover some spots.
Solution #2: Mom to the rescue. 
She went to Walmart for me and picked up two huge bottles while I put Little Crafter down for his nap.  Then, when she got back, she helped me apply the 82 coats of white paint.  Isn’t she a saint?
Whew.  Once that part was FINALLY finished, I moved on.
***********************************************************************
STEP 2: Paint shelf turqouise.
FAIL #3: My turqouise paint was too dark.
I took a piece of fabric with me to the store so I could match the shade of the curtains I made, but the only one I could find was much darker than what I wanted.
SOLUTION #3: Mix it with white.
I squeezed the whole darn bottle into an old empty vegetable can and mixed it with white until I got the color I wanted. 
FAIL #4: My stencil wouldn’t fit.
Originally, I wanted to stencil the shelf as well as the top of the table, but the stencil didn’t want to go in there and no way was I cutting it.  It would have been doable, I guess, if I fought with it enough, but I wasn’t in a fighting mood anymore. 
SOLUTION #4: I gave up and painted it solid turquoise.
**************************************************************
STEP 3: Stencil the top of the table.
This part actually went fine, thank goodness.  Hooray for Cutting Edge Stencils!
**********************************************************************
STEP 4: Apply Sealer.

FAIL #5: The sealer made ugly drips and turned my white table brownish in some spots.  {can you see it in the pic?}
SOLUTION #5: Touch up ugly spots with white paint, then use a different spray sealer instead.
**************************************************************************
STEP 5: Distress.
Can I just say this totally freaked me out?
I’ve never distressed a piece of furniture before, nor did I intend to distress this one.  BUT…
FAIL #6: My paint STILL wasn’t fully covering in a few spots.
SOLUTION #6: Distress it and make it look like you meant to do that.
It’s genius, really.  So, I pulled out the sandpaper with no idea what I was doing.  Fortunately, the table did the work for me.  Seriously.  I just started going along edges and the carvings, and poof.  Like it was meant to be.


And so, here it is!  The project I wasn’t sure would be a success turned out to be something I really love.
What a difference, eh?  You’ll notice one tiny adjustment…hubby turned the knob horizontally and we both decided we like that better, although I think it works either way.
Now it’s brightening things up in its new home.  Although, I confess, not five seconds after I saw it all together, I said, “hmmm…now we need a new lamp.”  Hubby just looked at me.
Then he said, “This is a nice lamp.”  Boys.

Happy Crafting!


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Comments

  3. I’ve been wanting to see what happened to the night stand after you shared your conversation with your hubby on facebook. What a good sport! He has a good reason to trust you though; it turned out great!

    Reply

  14. LOL – oh Amy. That’s how all of my projects seem to go and I am totally with you on the spray paint scene. I can’t do it either and I’m sure that it’s impatience. Or technique. I don’t know, but I agree. 🙂

    Reply

  15. Oh what a lot of work and frustration. At least it turned out super cute! I’m not a fan of spray paint either. I made the mistake of my first spray paint project being a set of bunkbeds- huge undertaking and sadly didn’t turn out real well. Oh well, live and learn.

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  21. marvy,looks great and I love turq…makes me happy…So to make yu feel better I JUST FINISHED I think a piece ….4rth time…not 3rd but 4rth…too much…not the right mix tooo much black ….I finally did less is more and hope it sells…so I get the do over kalamities….again looks good and happy 4rth

    Reply

  24. This is a nice lamp :)))) Hahaha! Don’t listen to him, you need a painted lamp for that absolutely gorgeous nightstand. I love the turquoise and the stencil!

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  25. AHHH! Love this! Love those stencils! Thanks for linking up to “Strut Your Stuff Saturday!” Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow at 8pm MDT for this week’s party! 🙂 -The Sisters

    Reply

  26. I love the way your table turned out. I remember the first time I distressed, and it freaked me out too. I was afraid I was going to ruin it and have to start all over again. As for the lamp…spray paint works wonders these days, though I wouldn’t know what to do with the glass part. Does it come off where you could buy a new traditional shade to go with it?

    Reply

  27. You are too dang cute. All your “fails”… I think I have been there for almost all of them. But my favorite was the heart pounding moment you are about to take sandpaper to something that’s taken WAAAAAY too long already. I hear you!
    Well, in the end, you won because that table is adorable!!!
    Visiting via Craft-O-Maniac.

    Great job!
    Anne

    Reply

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